Health and wellness

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are asking for public input on a proposed health care reform rule that would make it easier for employers to determine whether the health insurance coverage they offer is considered “affordable” for employees.

Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services issued proposed regulations under the privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The proposed regulations address the changes to the accounting requirement under the HIPAA privacy rule, pursuant to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. The regulations also create a new requirement that covered entities - health plans, health care clearinghouses and health care providers - provide an access report to individuals upon request.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, prescription drug spending is expected to rise to $457.8 billion in 2019 from its current amount of $274.5 billion. With sobering numbers like these, it's no surprise why benefit plan sponsors and participants are continually seeking ways to cut medication costs.

Nationwide Better Health, part of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, closed its doors Sept. 1 after five years in the wellness and productivity business. The company announced on May 25 that Nationwide would sell its productivity services to Sedgwick Claims Management Services Inc. and wind down disease management and wellness programs.

Prior to joining ValuMarket - a family-owned chain of grocery stores in Louisville, Ky. - Amy Bisig had no experience in wellness programming. She clearly made a great impression on CEO Greg Newman, who hired her anyway to be the company's corporate wellness director.

This story is part of EBN's year-long BeneFIT Success series, which chronicles employers' and employees' wellness triumphs. Find the entire series online at ebn.benefitnews.com, keywords "benefit success series," and view the accompanying slideshow - featuring several of our profile subjects at various points in their wellness journeys - at ebn.benefitnews.com/slideshow. Learn how to submit your company's wellness story at the end of this article.

Hospital employees spend 10% more on health care, consume more medical services, and are generally sicker than the rest of the U.S. workforce, according to a study released on Monday.

A federal judge in Pennsylvania says the insurance-buying mandate in President Obama's health care overhaul in unconstitutional, the latest ruling over an issue likely to be taken up by the Supreme Court.

A U.S. appeals court handed President Barack Obama a victory for his signature health care law on Thursday, ruling against challenges by the state of Virginia and others seeking to invalidate the law as unconstitutional.

South Carolina does not want any more federal money to set up an insurance exchange, the state's health regulator said on Thursday, citing fears about the strings attached to the funds.

Starting Sept. 1, health insurance rates for the individual and small group markets will face stricter scrutiny to determine whether they are reasonable under new rules required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will review rates in nine states that lack the authority to adequately do so. The remaining 41 states will conduct their own reviews.

South Carolina does not want any more federal money to set up an insurance exchange, the state's health regulator said on Thursday, citing fears about the strings attached to the funds.

I always have had an ear for conspiracy theories. I still watch Oliver Stone’s “JFK” almost religiously and freeze frame during the shooting incidence. But when it comes to the health care exchanges created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, even I cannot start to consider a deep-seated conspiracy. The more I look at it, the more obvious the answer becomes: It's simple economics, that greatest leveler of them all.

The clock is ticking. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges are targeted to come online in 2014, which means open enrollment must begin in the fall of 2013. Every state is determining its approach, and everyone in the industry is strategizing on how to tap into a projected market of 25 million enrollees by 2016. The states will take different approaches, but the common denominator is technology. This month we'll look at how technology will be utilized in exchanges and identify other corresponding services that will be necessary to make the exchanges a success.

Accounting firm CCR is walking its way to wellness. Staff from the Boston and Glastonbury, Conn., offices will compete in the firm's new Wellness Trek to San Francisco.

For all the discussion about lowering the cost of health care and providing health benefits, is there a more important arbiter of employer satisfaction with a health plan than holding down cost trends? Maybe so, according to the results of the latest survey from J.D. Power and Associates.

When Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced rules for the new state health insurance exchanges back in July, she did so with an air of caution, telling stakeholders to expect more modifications before they become final. That may prove to be an understatement.

Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, released a report recently showing access to child-only health insurance plans has declined significantly since passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Cardiovascular disease accounts for roughly $286 billion in health expenditures - including the direct costs of medical care and indirect costs associated with lost productivity - according to the latest numbers from the American Heart Association. Spending on cardiovascular medications accounted for 20% of drug plan costs, according to Medco's 2011 Drug Trend Report.

[IMGCAP(1)] HONG KONG | Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:56am EDT (Reuters) - Obesity is most widespread in Britain and the United States among the world's leading economies and if present trends continue, about half of both men and women in the United States will be obese by 2030, health experts warned on Friday. …