Health and wellness

There has been a lot of information in the news about health care reform and how it affects small businesses. Yet, I still find many business owners scratching their heads trying to understand what it all means for their businesses. To simplify matters, here are five things small employers must know about employee health benefits—especially in a post-health care reform environment:

For most Americans, what they saw and heard surrounding the historic hearings on health care reform last week hasn’t changed their opinion of the law or the Supreme Court.

What better way to take lessons of branding a wellness program than from one of the top-branded companies in the world, Procter and Gamble? The producers of timeless product lines like Old Spice and Tide recently introduced Vibrant Living, P&G’s in-house line of benefits specially designed to help employees live healthier.

While more companies today are focusing on wellness programs as a way to cut health care costs, Ed Jones, president of commercial division at ValueOptions, told attendees at the Institute for Health and Productivity Management conference that adding behavioral health clinicians to the mix can yield even greater returns on overall employer investments in health care and wellness.

China may be on the forefront of economic development, but it has a long way to go in providing health care for its hundreds of millions of workers, according to Hocking Cheng, managing director for health management solutions in China for Aetna. Such health care woes may haunt U.S. multinationals that have to contend with employee wellness issues at home and abroad.

President Barack Obama said on Monday he was confident the U.S. Supreme Court would uphold the health care reform law that has been one of the signature issues of his presidency.

Clients that measure every task in terms of immediate ROI are not getting to the heart of the corporate wellness program - the health of their employees.

ERISA defines a multiple employer welfare arrangement as an employee welfare plan or any other arrangement which is established or maintained for the purpose of providing welfare benefits to the employees of two or more "unrelated" entities. Thus, if a welfare plan is maintained by an employer for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits to that employer's employees, former employees (e.g., retirees) or beneficiaries (e.g., spouses, former spouses, dependents) of such employees, the plan will be considered a "single employer" plan and not a MEWA.

Almost all efforts to drive participation in wellness programs focus on motivation. Initiatives like inspiring messages, rewards and incentives, attempts to "make it fun," readiness-to-change surveys and activity tracking often try to address what common sense tells us is missing: People simply lack the motivation to change.

Among the most controversial requirements of health care reform is a preventive care provision that requires all insurers and nongrandfathered health plan sponsors to cover contraceptives without a deductible or copayment. Coverage includes all FDA-approved contraception methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling.

Would hospitals and health care providers really do a better job if they were paid based on outcomes? A recent push from the federal government and the business community alludes that pay for performance initiatives is an effective health care strategy, but a new study out shows that based on actual outcomes, it is not.

Protesters packed up signs and TV talkers put away their microphones Wednesday night, the beginning of the long wait till the Supreme Court decides the fate of the Affordable Care Act.

Just as bright yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” and American flags flew high in front of the Supreme Court this week, so did the tempers of the crowds of supporters and opponents of health care reform gathered outside.

Wednesday may be the stickiest part of the three-day hearings at the Supreme Court regarding health care reform’s individual mandate, as the issues being argued on this final day have the greatest potential to make HR/benefits managers lives — and those of the employees and families they serve — quite complicated. What is at hand today is the issue of “severability,” whether the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act must fall if the insurance mandate is found to be unconstitutional, or if the other remaining parts of the law can survive.

The Supreme Court steps were abuzz Tuesday morning with supporters, opponents and onlookers, as they either championed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, called it a major setback to religious freedom and personal liberty, or simply wanted to observe the scene surrounding the historical arguments first-hand.

The atmosphere in the chamber on Monday as the Supreme Court Justices began hearing oral arguments on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was “electric” says James Napoli, an employee benefits lawyer for Proskauer, who attended the proceedings. He’s also the counsel of record for the amicus brief filed on behalf of the American Benefits Council concerning the severability of the individual mandate. In this exclusive interview with EBN, Napoli shares his thoughts on what happened at the Supreme Court yesterday and where he thinks things are headed on the second day of arguments Tuesday.

As the Supreme Court wraps up oral arguments on the core of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — the minimum coverage provision that will address the individual mandate — brokers express their concern surrounding health reform and how they are preparing clients for the future with or without it.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared prepared to decide the fate of President Obama's sweeping health care law rather than delaying for years a review of the mandate that Americans buy insurance or pay a penalty.

The Supreme Court heard the first of three days of oral arguments on the constitutionality of the individual mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, sparking speculation, analysis and protests throughout Washington, D.C. and the nation.

Employee benefit brokers and advisers are paying close attention to the proceedings as the Supreme Court takes up an historic test of whether health reform is valid under the country's Constitution.