Health and wellness

Employers across America face unprecedented challenges in providing competitive employee benefits while still controlling costs. Public-sector employers face additional obstacles from revenue shortfalls and increased public scrutiny of government spending. Yet employers, both public and private, have access to many proven solutions that can help them control and even reduce costs while continuing to offer a strong benefits package. …

With the Supreme Court tackling constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act during oral arguments March 26-28, the Kaiser Family Foundation has published a 10-page primer of the issues and arguments before the court.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — specifically the health care reform law’s individual mandate — starting on Monday and is not expected to rule until as late as June 30. The justices could throw out the entire law or uphold it. They may also issue only a partial ruling, striking down the mandate, for example, or overturning the planned expansion of the Medicaid health program for the poor. Or they could put off a decision until after the law comes into full force in 2014.

Building a culture of health at any organization can be challenging, but developing a supportive workplace not only stunts escalating health care costs, positive tactics engage employees and guide them to make healthy decisions. A health director from Dow Chemical shared how leadership buy-in and individual accountability thrust her company toward a healthy culture.

The Obama administration began laying out its blueprint last week for accommodating the moral concerns of religious institutions that oppose its policy of requiring free coverage for women's contraceptives through employer-sponsored health plans.

The U.S. Supreme Court said on Friday it will release audio recordings and transcripts of oral arguments in the health care challenge immediately after the March 26-28 sessions, responding to what it called "extraordinary public interest."

The estimated net costs of expanding health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have been reduced by $48 billion through 2021, though fewer people would be covered under private insurance plans, a new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows.

Anticipating the impact of health care reform, nearly four in 10 health plan members with employee-sponsored insurance say they would shop for coverage through a health insurance exchange if they had the opportunity, according a survey released yesterday.

A large annual survey of consumer satisfaction with health plans finds 41% of members of employer-sponsored insurance plans would shop for coverage through a private health insurance exchange if their employer provided vouchers for purchasing insurance independently.

About 44% of employers believe they will provide employee health benefits through a corporate exchange in the next three to five years, according to a new study.

The Obama administration on Monday released broad new operating rules for state-run health insurance exchanges, which form a key part of the 2010 federal health care reform law that will face landmark Supreme Court hearings in just two weeks.

It’s an appealing proposition, to set a certain price to what you’ll spend on employee’s health care costs. Long gone may be the days of having to wait an entire year to know what your numbers are for this year and basing future strategy on numbers you don’t have. It’s the appeal of an exchange, where employers could release their employees to the winds to choose what kind of coverage they want.

The Obama administration on Monday released broad new operating rules for state-run health insurance exchanges, which form a key part of the 2010 federal health care reform law that will face landmark Supreme Court hearings in just two weeks.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors Monday praised the Department of Health and Human Services for acknowledging in its final rule “the significant role agents will play in the state health care exchanges.”

The Obama administration on Monday released broad new operating rules for state-run health insurance exchanges, which form a key part of the 2010 federal health care reform law that will face landmark Supreme Court hearings in just two weeks.

In 2002, the most expensive health conditions were heart disease, cancer, trauma, mental disorders and pulmonary conditions. These conditions plague employers, and last week, leaders in business met to discuss ways to manage them affectively to not only get a healthier workforce, but a more cost-efficient one.

Much has been left up in the air around the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, with several mandates not yet fully realized because of delays in rules and the possibility of the Supreme Court ruling parts of the law as unconstitutional.

Employers want more timely access to reporting and more transparency from their wellness vendors, according to a recent survey of 430 employers conducted by OptumHealth.

The U.S. Senate narrowly backed a key plank of President Barack Obama's health care law last Thursday by rejecting a sweeping Republican measure that would have allowed employers to opt out of birth control coverage and other services on moral grounds.

While there is still much discussion about whether and how incentives really work for engaging employees in wellness programs, most companies still plan on increasing the dollar value of the incentives they offer. That’s according to a survey of 139 employers from Fidelity and the National Business Group on Health released last week to analyze the growth of health-improvement programs in the workplace, which usually entail condition-management services (e.g., managing insulin treatments), lifestyle-management services (e.g., weight-loss advice) and health-risk management services (e.g., onsite flu shots).