Healthcare reform

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.

Individuals could pay more than twice as much for prescription drugs with certain exchange plans, as employers that provide health coverage gain another asset to leverage.

Washington, Virginia and Indiana have new carriers signed on for next year, evidence that competition is growing stiffer in the government-run marketplaces.

As the HHS adds more opportunities for consumers to obtain health coverage outside of open enrollment, the broker and agent association says it’s not enough.

Everyone understands that advertising helps sell products and that was the top way to sell health plans through the public exchanges. But looking back on the first open enrollment, which advertising techniques worked and what lessons were learned to raise the number of enrollees further for 2015?

The breakdown of states running their own health insurance exchanges versus those using the federally facilitated marketplace will change in due time – but exactly how it will change is still up in the air, said a speaker at Wednesday’s National Health Insurance Exchange Summit, held in Washington, D.C.

High first quarter profitability means benefit agents and brokers could see a record-breaking year in 2014, including bigger bonuses from carriers.

An increasingly discussed abandonment of the ever-delayed portion of the ACA would not eliminate your employer clients’ need to comply with the health law.

As insurance industry professionals, brokers are living with the ACA and tackling its compliance mandates and issues every day for clients. But what’s to come for the law after the next presidential election?

Insurer groups this week shared ACA reform ideas with Congress, including the creation of a copper plan.

Knowing how many companies your client owns is critical to meeting ACA compliance. Here’s what you need to know about your clients that own more than one company under a controlled group.