Healthcare plans

The departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services today published final rules amending the definition of excepted benefits to include certain limited coverage that wraps around individual health insurance.

Worksite clinics and private exchanges might appear to be mutually exclusive approaches to rising cost pressures, yet they can be integrated to achieve the same goal – improved health outcomes and lower health care cost trend.

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

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.

How many of your employees will be short of money in retirement if they ignore the prospect of requiring long-term care? Answer: All of them.

Proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act’s summary of benefits and coverage and uniform glossary are coming under fire from business groups who say the implementation time frame does not give them enough time to comply with the new requirements.

Everyone knows healthier employees are more productive employees, and focusing on wellness can help achieve that goal. But there are two things vital to us all missing from the equation: vision and hearing.

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.

Commentary: Three common employer concerns about exchanges and how to address them.

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?

The Affordable Care Act does not appear to have seriously eroded employees’ appetite for and confidence in receiving health benefits from their employer.

In light of federal rules issued late last year, some types of skinny health plans are dead. But are all skinny plans dead? Maybe they just need to bulk up a bit.

Despite predictions that private exchange enrollment will hit 30 million in 2017, employers remain cautious about them, including those early adopters who say they had little choice but to move to one.

If your flexible spending account plan had a year-end deadline of Dec. 31, employees could still have more time to use their leftover FSA funds, if you offer a grace period.

HSS should extend these plans to employers with fewer than 100 employees as scheduled, Small Business Majority CEO says.

A Supreme Court decision in favor of the petitioner in King v. Burwell could trigger the end of the employer mandate, legal experts say, but it’s far from certain how the court will decide.

Commentary: HR professionals must band together to share how we are handling our ACA reporting responsibilities and to pressure our vendor suppliers for better solutions and continued innovation, says Lockton's Matthew Kaiser.

Industry analysts praise one-stop shopping tools as a positive reason why many employers are moving to private exchanges. At Xerox’s Buck Consultants, 100% of employees enrolling through the company’s exchange engaged with its technology — and made an average of 11.5 return visits, says Sherri Brockhorst, leader of the RightOpt exchange at Buck.