Healthcare benefits

Benefits decision-makers continue to struggle with the notion of financially justifying their wellness dollars, as wellness ROI is still exceptionally elusive.

Too many employee benefit plan audits are deficient, finds a new report from the U.S. Department of Labor, putting up to $653 billion and 22.5 million plan participants and beneficiaries at risk.

Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently released some new proposed regulations on wellness programs, employers are still grappling with how to incorporate new health technologies into their programs.

Commentary: Recent guidance issued jointly by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury clarifies how the Affordable Care Act's requirement to provide cost-free coverage for preventive care applies to several types of products and services.

The federal government has erased any residual doubt about how out-of-pocket limits set by the Affordable Care Act will govern family members covered under a group plan.

Employers looking for good news on patient safety got a mixed bag of recent news – especially the discouraging report that nearly half of American hospitals fall short in nursing standards.

The ACA’s mandated expansion of the definition of the small group market would limit employers’ health plan options and lead to premium increases, according to employer groups that are urging the repeal of the mandate before it takes effect in 2016.

The possibility of specialty drug pricing financially overwhelming business and union health plans is very real.

A new partnership will soon give independent insurance agencies access to a program designed to help brokers change their service model and increase profitability.

Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling in the Burwell v Hobby Lobby Stores case addressed in broad terms how exceptions to the Affordable Care Act’s mandate for contraceptive benefits coverage can be granted in the private sector, it left some unresolved questions both in the for-profit and in the nonprofit world.

A win for King would have economic benefits for both individuals and employers, according to one think tank.

Commentary: The midpoint of the tax year is almost upon us, and many still have work to do to prepare for the new IRS 1094-C and 1095-C filings.

For 22 years, she has ‘worked tirelessly on our behalf with acumen that is unmatched.’

Commentary: When executed efficiently, this strategy can bring a variety of benefits, says AmWINS’s Sam Fleet.

Is your PBM contract up for renewal? Here’s what you need to know.

Brokers need to change the conversations they are having with clients away from the Affordable Care Act and toward other topics, including voluntary, since little will change with the law until the next presidential inauguration, a carrier rep says.

Health care consumers in some parts of the U.S. may face higher premiums next year if some insurers struggle to cover their costs and Congress continues to require that the risk-corridors program established under the ACA be self-sustaining.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield first learned in May 2014 of malware on an information system that was hacked a month later, according to two health information security consultants. But the Blues plan apparently did not realize the malware was not completely eradicated and the system was hacked a month later.

Commentary: Expatriate health plans are — here are key definitions and relief as well as the recent IRS guidance on calculations for the 2014 and 2015 fee years.

Commentary: Providing accommodations for workers will disabilities can help reduce employee absenteeism and presenteeism, the type of productivity loss associated with employees working through medical conditions.