Health insurance exchanges

United Parcel Service Inc.’s decision to drop health benefits for 15,000 of its workers’ spouses may be a sign of the future, as U.S. businesses grapple with rising medical bills and the added burdens of the ACA.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Thursday that navigator grants have been awarded in the federal and state partnership exchange states to the tune of $67 million.

Online health insurance broker EHealth Inc. won permission from the U.S. government to enroll customers for subsidized plans offered under the federal health care law.

Health insurance premiums will drop by about 50% on average for consumers in New York who buy new plans through a state-run marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act.

CMS outlines navigator and broker roles in its latest ruling on the Affordable Care Act.

Industry insiders are beginning to find holes in the Affordable Care Act employer mandate delay announced last week by the Obama administration and U.S. Department of Treasury.

At NAHU’s annual conference this week, brokers said navigators couldn’t begin to replace the roles that they’ve held in their communities for years. The real question remains: what’s the point of navigators at all?

The Affordable Care Act’s initial success next year depends on President Barack Obama’s ability to coax at least 2.6 million people who are young and healthy to sign up for health insurance.

Opponents of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act are gearing up for a new round of attacks, this time targeting the legislation’s insurance exchanges that would expand coverage to millions of Americans.

The delay of the feature of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act intended to help small businesses was because of concerns raised by insurers, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday.

Can’t decide which way to go on a public or private health insurance exchange, or how those two models even differ? Stumped by the merits of a single-carrier vs. multi-carrier exchange? Want to know which of the industry’s many players will turn out to be the right HIX partner?

From the Land of 10,000 Lakes to the Land of Enchantment, two more states have taken steps toward establishing their own health insurance exchanges.

It is estimated there are more than 100 private exchanges in existence, with each one promoting unique or distinguishing characteristics in a crowded marketplace. Given the enormity of services offered to employers of many shapes and sizes, there are bound to be some conflicting claims that require an asterisk to eliminate any confusion for prospective customers.

When it comes to the public health exchanges, the broker experience may vary drastically from state to state. For example, while Maryland officials say they plan to communicate certification timing to brokers this month for their state exchange, HHS says it will happen sometime between now and August.

Small-business employees will have to wait a year before they can choose their own medical plans after the Obama administration delayed a part of PPACA intended to provide them with coverage options.

On the anniversary of President Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, we take a quick look at important dates on the passage, implementation and rollout of the law that’s set to change America.

Nearly half of all health plan members in the group and individual markets nationwide say they are interested in using a state exchange to purchase health insurance, according to a new survey by J.D. Power and Associates.

EBA speaks with Jonathan Gruber who created health care reform in Massachusetts

Sam Smith, a member of California’s SHOP exchange advisory group and president-elect of CAHU, predicts a bright future for adviser involvement in PPACA’s state health insurance.

According to most experts, the number is small and keeps getting smaller. We speak, of course, of the number of companies with 50 or more employees that will drop employer-sponsored insurance in 2014 - opting to send employees to state-run insurance exchanges and pay per-employee fines levied by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. After a McKinsey & Company study in 2011 famously concluded that 30% of employers would "pay" rather than "play," survey after survey has revealed that fewer than 5% of employers plan to eliminate employee health benefits. Even the Government Accountability Office, which originally reported as much as 20% of employers would drop coverage, now has backed off that estimate to around 2%.