Health and wellness

Judith Mayer Lynn, uninsured and battling breast cancer, should be a fan of the Affordable Care Act. Instead, she barely knows about it.

Fareed Zakaria gave the opening address at the Society for Human Resources Management 2013 conference, and the 15,000 people attending heard from him that, though the market recovery has been slow and painful, world markets will rise together.

A broker-friendly bill to combat the financial impact of the medical loss ratio requirements contained in the Affordable Care Act was filed in the U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday.

Forty-nine percent of organizations feel that new grads lack basic skills and knowledge of writing in English, 18% worry about math proficiency and 13% believe graduates lack English speaking skills.

In a new Mercer survey of nearly 900 employers, 9% of respondents say ACA will have little or no cost impact on their bottom line (adding less than 1%), down significantly from the 25% who thought so in 2011.

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle weigh in on the health care reform act at a policy forum in Washington.

Less than five months before the Affordable Care Act fully kicks in, hospitals are improving care and saving millions of dollars with one of the least touted but potentially most effective provisions of the law.

Survivors of childhood cancers are likely to have chronic ailments such as lower lung function and heart conditions that require medical attention as they become adults, researchers say.

The three-legged stool of social security, pension and personal savings is going to be a thing of the past for most of today’s workforce.

Association health insurance has always been challenging, one expert says, and some groups may try to set up their own private exchanges, or possibly turn to self-insurance.

President Barack Obama’s use of federal loans to bankroll untested businesses is sparking controversy again, this time over a $6 billion program to create nonprofit competitors to commercial health insurers.

A new study confirms that a majority of large and mid-size U.S. employers are planning to change provider payment models to become more cost effective.

The Kaiser analysis, penned by Cynthia Cox, Gary Claxton and Larry Levitt, says that if MLR had not been in effect, premiums for individual health insurance would have been $1.9 billion higher in 2012.

Anne Filipic, who helped Barack Obama secure a turning-point victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, plans to send thousands of volunteers door-to-door this year on a new campaign: to help the president sell the Affordable Care Act to the nation’s 50 million uninsured.

Historically, voluntary benefits have been dismissed by busy agents as more trouble than they are worth, but with the Affordable Care Act moving closer to full implementation, agents looking to keep existing clients and gain new business should give them a closer look. Still not convinced? Following are five reasons for incorporating voluntary benefits into client proposals: …

Since its passage in 2008, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act has largely just affected HIPAA notice requirements and wellness plans. But this month the EEOC settled its first case under the law and should serve as a reminder to employers about what it really means.

U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she talked with health care companies she regulates, including Johnson & Johnson, about helping a nonprofit group publicize the Affordable Care Act.

Nathan Schwegman was just 25 when his doctor told him he had a 3% chance of surviving the melanoma that had spread into his lungs and spine, soon leaving him in so much pain he could hardly move.

When choosing an employer, about 87% of prospective employees favor a company that has a wellness program in place, finds Virgin HealthMiles. But with the return on investment of such programs in question, will they continue to gain favor with employers as well?

UnitedHealth Group Inc. will offer coverage in just a dozen of the Affordable Care Act’s new insurance exchanges, in the latest sign big insurers see little gain from quickly plunging into the new markets.