Health and wellness

California, the most populous U.S. state, says the health insurance exchange it’s building as part of the Affordable Care Act will be ready on Oct. 1.

Once you have seen one private health care exchange, you have seen just one exchange, as they are all unique, concluded a panel discussing the new marketplaces at a conference Sunday in New Orleans.

Speaking at the Benefits Forum & Expo, sponsored by EBN’s parent company, SourceMedia, Tina Provancal, health care exchange product development leader at Aon Hewitt, said that there is a specific reason why we got to where we are today in health care.

Adopting a diet rich in unprocessed foods combined with moderate exercise and stress management over five years increased the length of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes linked to aging.

The four-year slowdown in U.S. health care spending will end next year, and there is no sign the Affordable Care Act will significantly curb the acceleration in costs, government actuaries said in a report.

In one of the biggest steps for private health care exchanges so far, Aon Hewitt has announced that it will be offering health benefits for more than 330,000 American employees of some well-known companies, including Walgreens, Sears Holdings and Darden Restaurants – parent company of Red Lobster and the Olive Garden.

Deaths from cancer have dropped by more than a million in the past two decades, but could an aging population change that?

While some are expecting technical glitches come Oct. 1, others point out the enormity of what’s at stake and quell widespread fears.

At 2 p.m. ET on Oct. 2, EBN and EBA will offer a web seminar on issues relating to ACA implementation and what they mean for employers – whether or not they plan having their workers participate in ACA marketplaces.

Randy Osban’s job selling ribs and brisket from a yellow trailer on Texas’s state road 71 offers a sweeping view of the hill country beyond Austin. One benefit his business doesn’t provide is health insurance.

House Republicans return to Washington today still at loggerheads over how to thwart the ACA without shutting down the federal government on Oct. 1.

A recent ruling by the DOL prevents HRAs from being used by employers as the only vehicle for supplying medical benefits.

Effort to coincide with open enrollment.

Republicans are strategizing a delay of the ACA to avoid a government shutdown later this month and also voted last week to delay new subsidies for the soon-to-be-open exchanges.

While most employers are focused on the larger 'Obamacare' fines than be levied against a plan, they shouldn't lose sight of a slew of smaller penalties that can really add up.

The computer hub, a frequent target of Republicans, is designed to route data on customers using new insurance exchanges from seven federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration.

“We want to offer some constructive suggestions” to President Barack Obama, says Fred Redmond, a vice president with the United Steelworkers Union and a member of the AFL-CIO executive council.

“High levels of participation are critical for wellness program success, but companies are falling short when it comes to outcomes-based incentives,” says the executive director of bswift.

A computer system underpinning the U.S. health care overhaul has completed security testing and is ready to go, the federal government says.

As long as retirees enroll with the private insurance exchange, IBM will subsidize their health care premiums at a similar level, the company says.