Healthcare reform

Advisers looking to protect themselves and their clients from professional negligence or malpractice suits need to enter into an engagement letter, according to an ERISA attorney.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell was confirmed Thursday by the U.S. Senate as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, replacing Kathleen Sebelius and signaling a new stage for Obamacare.

Commentary: Blogger Rob Lieblein offers insight as to why private exchanges really are the future of benefits and where benefit brokers and advisers should be in the process of hopping on the exchange train.

Industry experts say that while unlikely, the historically stable product line may have the potential for price changes as its sales continue to rise.

CMS says benefit brokers and advisers are expected to be able to enroll their small business clients on the federal SHOP exchange online by sometime later this year.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced training and registration dates, along with requirements, for benefit advisers and brokers who want to enroll small business employers on the federally facilitated SHOP exchange.

Benefit advisers are poised to close the gap between employers’ need to control health costs and comply with the health law and employees’ lack of interest in taking ownership of their health care choices.

Benefit insiders predict a steep decline in small business group health insurance sales in the coming years, which could prove harmful for many independent brokers and agents.

The IRS this month clarified for benefit advisers and their clients that employers cannot escape ACA penalties and taxes via pre-tax premium reimbursement plans.

Benefit broker compensation problems, an existing health law and a tough exchange board have forced advisers in this state to take a backseat to the implementation of Obamacare.

Commentary: An additional option is available for certain consumers to continue to enroll in the ACA marketplaces, guest blogger Laura Kerekes explains.

Evidence shows that more insurers bring down premiums on the ACA exchanges, which could ease conversations benefit brokers have with the uninsured about affordability of coverage.

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.

With lack of information and resources deterring most of the uninsured who did not enroll for coverage on the exchanges in 2014, advisers are poised to play a pivotal role in 2015.

After a backlash from the broker and agent community, final rules on this topic show some changes from the government agency.

Variable hour and other part-time employee determinations are tough. Here’s how to advise your employer clients on what to do and what not to do.

After the exchange board moved this week to switch their state-run marketplace to the Feds’ model, brokers were cautiously optimistic about the next step because the last open enrollment experience was a “nightmare” and “fiasco.”

In follow-up to two broker-friendly bills introduced in late March, a group of five U.S. Democratic senators are asking the agency again for changes that will help ACA-certified agents better enroll consumers.

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.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry is sounding the alarm that many children aren’t getting the dental care they need — even though the ACA includes pediatric dental care on its essential health benefits roster for small-group plans.