Healthcare plans

“Being able to afford health care and the support I need in my old age,” had 26% of respondents “highly worried,” the most common response in a new survey from UBS Wealth Management Americas.

State exchanges top Americans’ wish list for what they would like the government to set as 2013 health care priorities.

The second-biggest U.S. health insurer’s 2013 forecast reflects “uncertainties” that include a flu outbreak, U.S. budget negotiations and implementation of President Obama’s health care overhaul.

The earnings of the largest American medical insurer met analysts’ estimates, the company reported, along with a bump in enrollment that came with a Brazilian acquisition last year.

Workers underestimate what employers spend on their health care, but overestimate their own health status.

Two of the largest U.S. drugstore chains, said they are running short of influenza vaccines as an earlier and more severe flu season drives up demand from Michigan to New Jersey.

UnitedHealth Group Inc., the largest U.S. provider of medical coverage, will join the Mayo Clinic in a research alliance designed to merge insurance records and medical data to find more efficient ways to deliver care.

In a government-sponsored study this week, America ranks below its high-income, industrialized peers in both longevity and disease prevention, despite spending more per capita on health care than any other nation.

The U.S. influenza season is off to a fast start, which may hurt insurers, hospitals and people lulled by the milder outbreaks of the recent past.

Spending on hospital visits, medications and other care grew 3.9% to $2.7 trillion in 2011, matching the slowest growth in 52 years of recordkeeping, according to federal data released this week. Before the 2007 recession, growth was close to 8%.

Health-care spending in the U.S. grew at less than half the pre-recession level for the third straight year, as employers shifted more costs to strapped workers and state governments limited payouts for the poor.

Most employees believe that their employer offers them the best health plan they could, and that they might be at a loss to ensure the same on their own, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The biggest U.S. medical insurer is learning to sell health insurance to consumers the way other companies sell shoes, office supplies or iPhones — through a storefront — as PPACA’s sweeping reforms take place.

Brokers may need to be concerned about how a proposed change by the NAIC to the current stop-loss model could essentially trap their clients and remove their options for affordable care – effectively forcing them into state exchanges and eliminating the role of the broker, writes EBA Blogger Sam Fleet.

Experts from Mercer offer up a priority list for benefits providers in 2013. The first one: Prepping for 2014.

United Benefit Advisors recently released the results of its 2012 Health Plan Survey. Since it’s the largest and most comprehensive health plan benchmarking survey in the industry, the results are always interesting, says the company's CEO.

Workplace difficulties faced by the hearing impaired highlight the need for corresponding benefit coverage

Exchange choices mean broker value opportunity

IFEBP research confirms majority will offer insurance coverage in 2014

Insurance Reform