Healthcare reform

Half of Americans say Republicans should stop demanding that President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act be defunded as part of legislation to keep the government running even as they voice concern about the law’s impact.

EBA follows up on how broker training is going in states across the country.

Largely lost in the furor have been the ways in which employers could potentially benefit from the ACA and the launch of the new public health insurance exchanges, starting six days from now on October 1.

In effect, the ACA’s biggest promise becomes its most formidable challenge: unprecedented access to care for a needy population when the nation is already grappling with overtaxed emergency rooms and a shortage of physicians.

Health insurance under the Affordable Care Act will cost individuals at least $2,988 a year on average, a price that Republican opponents may target as out-of-reach for many Americans who don’t qualify for U.S. subsidies.

Shutting down the government won’t shut down the health care law.

In the not-so-distant future small employers may stop offering employer-sponsored health coverage because employees will demand it, said a speaker at the Workplace Benefits Summit in New Orleans Monday.

Answers to your clients’ questions before they ask them.

California, the most populous U.S. state, says the health insurance exchange it’s building as part of the Affordable Care Act will be ready on Oct. 1.

Once you have seen one private health care exchange, you have seen just one exchange, as they are all unique, concluded a panel discussing the new marketplaces at a conference Sunday in New Orleans.

Speaking at the Benefits Forum & Expo, sponsored by EBN’s parent company, SourceMedia, Tina Provancal, health care exchange product development leader at Aon Hewitt, said that there is a specific reason why we got to where we are today in health care.

The four-year slowdown in U.S. health care spending will end next year, and there is no sign the Affordable Care Act will significantly curb the acceleration in costs, government actuaries said in a report.

In one of the biggest steps for private health care exchanges so far, Aon Hewitt has announced that it will be offering health benefits for more than 330,000 American employees of some well-known companies, including Walgreens, Sears Holdings and Darden Restaurants – parent company of Red Lobster and the Olive Garden.

While some are expecting technical glitches come Oct. 1, others point out the enormity of what’s at stake and quell widespread fears.

At 2 p.m. ET on Oct. 2, EBN and EBA will offer a web seminar on issues relating to ACA implementation and what they mean for employers – whether or not they plan having their workers participate in ACA marketplaces.

Randy Osban’s job selling ribs and brisket from a yellow trailer on Texas’s state road 71 offers a sweeping view of the hill country beyond Austin. One benefit his business doesn’t provide is health insurance.

House Republicans return to Washington today still at loggerheads over how to thwart the ACA without shutting down the federal government on Oct. 1.

A recent ruling by the DOL prevents HRAs from being used by employers as the only vehicle for supplying medical benefits.

Effort to coincide with open enrollment.

Republicans are strategizing a delay of the ACA to avoid a government shutdown later this month and also voted last week to delay new subsidies for the soon-to-be-open exchanges.