Healthcare benefits

The “profoundly evil” impression the fastest growing small-group employee benefit brokerage in the country has made on some firms is wrong, says Zenefits’ Parker Conrad. The outspoken CEO shares where Zenefits is headed — and why he wants you to work for him.

Commentary: Critical considerations that make a stop-loss plan successful for clients of all sizes, according to Sun Life’s Brad Nieland.

An Affordable Care Act-fueled surge in self-insurance for medical benefits among smaller employers appears to have leveled off somewhat, but not due to any disenchantment with the cost-management strategy.

California's struggling to pay for health care for retired state employees, with an estimated $72 billion in medical costs coming in the next 30 years. Gov. Jerry Brown's solution: Make workers start contributing money to pay for the health care they'll need after retiring.

Aflac says it will now pay out certain voluntary benefit claims in one business day, an announcement that industry experts say will likely force competitors to follow suit.

It’s time to talk about something that most benefits professionals have left on the backburner for the last couple of years: the impending Cadillac tax.

Premera Blue Cross, serving the Northwest and Alaska, was hacked beginning last May, and even more sensitive data was exposed than in the Anthem hack.

Commentary: CMS has issued a special enrollment period for certain individuals to sign up for health care coverage on the exchanges. Blogger Craig Hasday wonders if the administration's leniency is also hurting its credibility.

Controlling rising health care costs is crucial for all employers, and conducting regular dependent eligibility audits can help.

Mid-year enrollment of voluntary benefits is gaining popularity, but benefit experts caution the strategy is not right for everyone.

Increased utilization of EAP and wellness services, the emergence of fatigue management programs and more demand for mobile health applications are a few of the predictions for this year, according to Chestnut Global Partners.

Novartis’ Zarxio is the first biosimilar product approved in the United States, ushering in a new era for the drug industry, consumers and third parties who manage medical and drug benefits.

Commentary: True employee engagement comes from understanding the decision-making process and the broker’s critical, proactive role, says columnist Nelson Griswold.

In a last-minute push before a special enrollment begins Sunday, officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Treasury Department Friday wanted to remind consumers to sign up for coverage and avoid noted fees seen in this year’s tax season.

Year two under the ACA saw improved user experience, more choices for consumers and millions of Americans qualified for subsidies, Kevin Counihan says.

The patchwork of marriage laws across the country imposes an administrative and financial burden on employers, says a recent amicus brief filed on behalf of large employers in an upcoming Supreme Court case.

The broker-carrier relationship, especially one as long-lasting as Bob and William Taylor’s with Florida Blue and Darnell Smith, is dynamic and continuously evolving. EBA examines what makes this necessary partnership tick and introduces the top large-group insurance carriers in the country.

More employers are making disability income benefits available to employees, at the same time that the proportion of those employees who have access to disability income DI coverage choosing to take advantage of it is edging downward.

One key consumer-operated and oriented plan based in the Midwest recently lost the battle for hearts, minds and pocketbooks along the highly competitive landscape of an emerging online marketplace when it was forced to liquidate, but does that spell doom for other CO-OPs?

For companies transitioning to a consumer-directed health plan, the most important point to keep in mind is that the health plan a business adopts may not be as critical as how the business handles the transition to the plan.