Healthcare plans

Perhaps the hottest trend in benefits right now is the exchange distribution model. In EBA’s ongoing series of discussions with heads of the country’s top brokerages, these leaders share their approach to the exchange system and how they see private exchanges impacting the future of benefits.

What health, retirement, technology, voluntary, and wellness issues will benefit professionals be wrestling with next year? The editors of Employee Benefit Adviser and Employee Benefit News have put together a web seminar series with top benefit experts to offer insights on the biggest 2015 trends.

No short-term effects are expected from House GOP’s ACA subsidy lawsuit, but industry experts expect long-term implications on presidential authority and upcoming elections.

Prenatal and postpartum care programs are not only a benefit for employees who are expecting, they can also help employers avoid unnecessary costs related to preterm births.

Wizened consumers who are able to analyze their entire out-of-pocket exposure. That’s the goal of ConnectedHealth’s private exchange, says Joe Donlan, the company’s president. However, he predicts that increased consumer engagement is just part of the wave toward more employers adopting private exchanges. Donlan shares his view on where the industry is headed and how brokers fit into the exchange system.

U.S. House Republicans made good on a vote to sue the Obama administration over implementation of the 2010 health-care law with a lawsuit naming the Department of Health and Human Services and the Treasury as defendants in what they claim to be a case of constitutional overreach.

The IRS plans to close a major loophole in the ACA by banning employers who offer ‘skinny’ medical plans without hospitalization coverage from qualifying as minimum value plans under the health reform law.

A majority of employers – regardless of workforce size – are planning to keep their health plan coverage going into next year as the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate takes effect.

Health insurance industry has lowest satisfaction rating in nearly a decade, report says.

Commentary: Private exchanges are not the one-size-fits-all solution some in the benefit industry think they are, says broker Judy Miller. The veteran adviser shares her opinion about the promises and pitfalls of the private exchange solution.

The 2014 midterm elections did more than just make paid sick leave benefits mandatory and increase minimum wage; ballot measures also approved recreational use of marijuana in various states and regions.

The HIX marketplace may offer Americans more choice when it comes to health insurance, particularly as public exchange options expand, but it continues to complicate life for HR professionals.

A majority of brokers have seen some of their employer clients drop group coverage altogether in reaction to the ACA and double-digit rate increases. That trend, they say, will rise and advisers need to adjust the way they do business if they hope to survive.

Commentary: Are private exchanges just a flex benefits reboot? Lockton’s Mike Smith shares what he thinks will affect their success and adoption.

With an expected 5.5% rise in health care costs in 2015 – the same year the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate takes effect – employers have high hopes that spending can be reined through increased employee consumerism.

On Saturday, the first day of enrollment for 2015 Obamacare plans, the federal insurance website was working well enough that 100,000 people submitted applications, U.S. health secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell reported.

One-third of business owners have no plan to control health care costs, however, most plan to handle their benefits strategies on their own, study finds.

The Affordable Care Act’s inclusion of pediatric dental coverage as an essential health benefit has small employers facing a dilemma: Whether to embed dental coverage within a medical plan or offer dental benefits as a stand-alone plan. Market confusion about what these plan options include and exactly what the health reform law requires highlights the need for expert benefit adviser help.

As an effort to comply with the ACA, some employers have been considering offering employees a lump sum of cash to purchase health care coverage on the exchanges, but the DOL now says such an arrangement isn't going to cut it.

Commentary: Individuals and small businesses in NY can't get quality health coverage, and New Yorkers should exercise caution when considering moving to a single-payer system.