Healthcare reform

President Barack Obama, in an abrupt policy shift aimed at quelling an election-year firestorm, announced on Friday that religious employers would not be required to offer free birth control to workers and that the onus would instead be put on insurers.

Proceedings of the Supreme Court, long kept out of the view of most Americans, would be televised under a bipartisan bill approved on Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The federal government estimates that the health care system may need upwards of 50,000 additional employees to develop, implement and maintain health information technology in the near future. In light of this projection, results from the survey of 196 health information exchange initiatives show a growing need for workers proficient in health IT.

The Obama administration is willing to work with Catholic universities and hospitals in implementing new rules that require health insurance to cover birth control, a top adviser to the president's re-election campaign said on Tuesday.

American Catholic clergy called on the faithful to write Congress to protest new birth control rules from President Barack Obama's administration, stepping up a campaign that began a week ago with denunciations from the pulpit at Masses across the country.

Tuesday morning, the 2012 Employer Health and Human Capitol Congress kicked off in Washington, D.C., with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) emphasizing the role of employers in pushing for payment reform in the health care system and advancing health information technology, which could drastically change health care spending and costs to both employees and employees.

The Department of Health and Human Services expects soon to publish a final rule to govern establishment of state insurance exchanges to provide one-stop shopping for health coverage, and a proposed rule to establish the long-delayed unique identifier for health plans.

A Senate bill introduced Friday as a companion to legislation in the House that would exclude agent compensation from the Medical Loss Ratio formula has industry organizations optimistic about a permanent fix.

The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to officially repeal the CLASS Act, the long-term care provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Employee assistance programs provide employees with support when they need it - from helping them through relationship difficulties to coordinating treatment for substance abuse. And while 69% of employers offer EAPs through external organizations, the potential still exists for them to be caught in legal entanglements. What are employers' potential liabilities and what can advisers do to help them mitigate risks?

There's one small-government idea that Republican presidential candidates are reluctant to discuss in this retiree-heavy state: their plans to rein in health care costs for the elderly.

The Obama administration told the Supreme Court on Friday that nearly all of the health care overhaul can survive if the court declares unconstitutional the law's centerpiece provision requiring health coverage.

U.S. Catholic bishops and priests across the country read out letters at Mass on Sunday protesting plans by President Barack Obama's administration to force religiously-affiliated nonprofit groups to offer birth-control coverage to women employees.

On the last day of the National Association of Health Underwriters’ 2012 Capitol Conference hundreds of attendees received exciting industry news that made the ballroom erupt with a roar of applause and cheers.

Policy Studies Inc. has a new business process outsourcing service to help address the requirements — and deadlines — for implementing health insurance exchanges and marketplaces, the company reports.

Insurance agents play a “big role” in making sure Congressional legislation comes out the way it does, two members of the House told the National Association of Health Underwriters Capitol Conference Tuesday.

The Obama administration said last week that 28 states have taken steps to establish insurance exchanges under the 2010 health care law, despite the legal and political uncertainties threatening the overhaul.

Thursday morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed a ballroom in Washington, D.C. of more than 200 people invested in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

If the health care law is implemented without the individual mandate insurance premiums would rise by as much as 25%, according to a new report by the Urban Institute Health Policy.

A majority of human resource executives at U.S. hospitals and health care systems expect health care reform to hasten the transformation of the industry’s traditional business model, according to a new survey by Towers Watson. The survey also found that workforce issues, including shortages of primary care physicians, the need for a wider array of staff skills and new leadership models, will rise in importance as the industry grapples with this transformation.