Healthcare plans

Final regulations implementing the ACA’s nondiscrimination rules for wellness programs became effective in January, but many employers are still unclear about how the regulations have changed. The changes are subtle, but noncompliance can carry heavy penalties.

UBA’s chief executive officer Thomas Mangan has left his position with the industry group to serve as president of employee benefits for the Market Financial Group.

Even though more than one-in-four Americans have received treatment or therapy from a mental health professional, few people know that health insurers are required to provide coverage for mental health, behavioral health and substance-use disorders that is comparable to coverage for physical health.

Individuals could pay more than twice as much for prescription drugs with certain exchange plans, as employers that provide health coverage gain another asset to leverage.

Mirroring a recent HHS initiative, some state-run marketplaces such as Covered California have extended a special enrollment period for COBRA-eligible individuals, allowing them to enroll in a marketplace exchange plan through July.

Everyone understands that advertising helps sell products and that was the top way to sell health plans through the public exchanges. But looking back on the first open enrollment, which advertising techniques worked and what lessons were learned to raise the number of enrollees further for 2015?

While health care costs are growing more slowly than in years past, the increases are unsustainable over the long-term, say those in the industry.

The breakdown of states running their own health insurance exchanges versus those using the federally facilitated marketplace will change in due time – but exactly how it will change is still up in the air, said a speaker at Wednesday’s National Health Insurance Exchange Summit, held in Washington, D.C.

The concept of limiting coverage of spouses through the implementation of a surcharge or waiver program has been talked about for years. This is a microcosm of the employee benefits environment where employers are considering every possible cost-control strategy.

There’s an end to ambiguity on whether direct payments — for certain kinds of coverage — are taxable or not.

Eliminating drug plan copays for specific, targeted groups of patients is an easy administrative fix employers can implement to help reduce disparities in care, says the co-author of a study on reducing ethnic disparities in cardiovascular care.

Insurer groups this week shared ACA reform ideas with Congress, including the creation of a copper plan.

Millions of Americans could benefit from expanded coverage of preventive services under health savings account-qualified high-deductible health plans, says new research from the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design and Harvard University Medical School.

Employers concerned about the Affordable Care Act’s excise tax continue to consider adopting high-deductible health plans with health savings accounts.

Employers remain unclear about the benefits and drawbacks of switching their health plans to a private exchange, but the majority of those that will evaluate exchange vendors in the future plan to seek guidance from a benefit adviser.

The Supreme Court will hear a case this fall that holds implications for employers that still offer retiree health benefits.

American workers are increasingly satisfied with their retirement plans and interested in investing in them, a trend advisers and employers use in their favor.

Commentary: Blogger Mark Gaunya discusses a niche way some smaller employers might find appealing as a self-funding strategy to control health care costs. It’s called a captive solution.

Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions signal a need for benefit advisers to review clients’ plan documents and ensure they include thorough enforceable terms.

Obamacare reduced the percentage of U.S. adults without health insurance to its lowest point since 2008 even as the law remains unpopular with the public, separate surveys showed.