Healthcare plans

Retiree health coverage options have been a declining benefit for many larger employers. But today, as only one in five employees work at organizations that offer these benefits, the pre-65 population has new options thanks to the Affordable Care Act

Brian Klepper joined the National Business Coalition on Health last month as the organization’s new CEO. He chats with EBN about his goals, his concerns about private health care exchanges and why the cost of health care is a threat to the competitiveness of U.S. businesses.

As more large brokerages seem to be opening their own platforms, one company wants to provide a means for the smaller independent agent to have a branded, customized private exchange, too.

The number of American adults with health insurance coverage from September 2013 to mid-March 2014 increased by 9.3 million – shaving the uninsured rolls to 15.8% from 20.5%, according to a new RAND survey. At least one skeptic, however, says the numbers are skewed and defy conventional wisdom.

The change in leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services will have little effect on employers and the continued rollout of the Affordable Care Act, say benefit industry experts. Some expressed surprise at Kathleen Sebelius's resignation while others did not.

Legal analysis: Are employees hired through a staffing firm or professional employer organization considered full-time employees under the ACA? Answering this question wrong could cost your clients a great deal.

Engaging and empowering employees to make better health and health care decisions, evaluating health exchanges and dealing with the lack of health care price transparency are three of the biggest challenges for Texas employers, finds a recent survey by the Texas Business Group on Health.

While all eyes had been on HIX enrollment numbers during the ACA’s first open-enrollment period, millions of Americans also chose health insurance options off the exchange. What does this mean for adverse selection and future premium pricing?

The number of uninsured Americans has dropped to its lowest level recorded since 2008, a new Gallup poll finds, attributing the decrease to ACA successes.

While it’s not surprising that in 2013 the trend of employers shifting rising health care costs to employees continued to grow, it also appears employers have begun to design health care plans with looming Affordable Care Act provisions in mind.

After a sharp increase of 6.9% from 2010 to 2011, health plan premiums rose at a rate of 1.7% between 2013 and 2014, according to data from ADP.

Employers have always been concerned about the potential for worker reclassification, but health care reform and a recent National Labor Relations Board decision take this issue to an entirely new level.

Yes, the ACA open-enrollment deadline has passed. No, that doesn’t mean employers cannot terminate or change their health plan — because employees can still enroll on the exchange.

A majority of Americans remain uninsured and many based the decision to stay uninsured on the cost of coverage, with many not even visiting an exchange to see a price estimate, a new study from consultancy Market Strategies International finds.

Going uninsured is about to get very expensive. New estimates by NerdWallet show the minimum amount of lifetime penalties for someone who is uninsured is more than $36,000.

Most Hispanics have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act, but need more information about it to understand the law and how to enroll in the health insurance exchanges, HolaDoctor, a leading health website for Hispanics, says.

Americans are becoming less divided about the Affordable Care Act, as the gap between favorable and unfavorable views of the law has narrowed among both the general public and the uninsured, a new survey finds.

A new report card tracking health care price transparency finds that 45 states failed to offer essential information to consumers shopping in the U.S. health system, a significant step back since easier-to-understand public health solutions were to have become the norm in this post-Affordable Care Act world.

Voluntary benefit sales are enjoying rapid growth as employers prepare for the impact of the Affordable Care Act by revamping their medical plan designs to include more products such as accident and critical illness benefits.

A divided U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday debated whether companies can assert religious rights, hearing arguments in an ideological clash over the Affordable Care Act and rules that promote contraceptive coverage.