Healthcare reform

Employers are begging for information on compliance with the Affordable Care Act, and as their benefit adviser you can and should offer them guidance — or risk losing them to an adviser who will. Attorney Peter Marathas of Proskauer Rose LLP has outlined four ACA issues you should already be discussing with your clients.

Consumers shopping on the Obamacare exchanges are thriftier than the general public, with more picking health plans based on price rather than their choice of doctors, a study found.

A panel of voluntary carriers shares tricks of the trade at EBA’s Workplace Benefits Renaissance in Atlantic City, N.J.

While this might not be the easy tactic, it’s an important transformation in the long run, Employee Family Protection's Vinnie Daboul told attendees at EBA’s Workplace Benefits Renaissance in Atlantic City, N.J.

The employee benefit adviser’s role is a critical one that must be protected in dealing with the “sheer confusion” of the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Kelly Ayotte told NAHU members at the organization’s annual Capitol Conference, where she also proposed several GOP-led repairs to the law.

Among the top Republican alternatives to the Affordable Care Act are bills that focus on price transparency, income taxes changes and tort reform, the Republican National Committee’s Sharon Day told attendees at NAHU’s annual Capitol Conference.

As federal funding for state-run SHOP exchanges runs out in 2015, voluntary benefits may be the key to exchange sustainability, according to Ryan Howells, vice president and general manager of Connecture.

Health insurers participating in the Medicare Advantage program, including Humana Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc., face a base payment cut of about 3.55% next year, the U.S. government said. The ACA could bring cuts up another few percentage points.

The Affordable Care Act is overcoming its initial problems and is making progress in accomplishing its mission of expanding and improving coverage, New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan said.

LIMRA survey finds 70% of advisers predict the ACA will slash group medical sales, with many saying health care reform will drive employers out of the market altogether.

Republicans' alternative to the ACA, the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act, would do away with exchanges and include a cap on employer-provided health insurance that working Americans could exclude from their taxable income.

More than 820,000 people have selected a Covered California health insurance plan through the Golden State’s public marketplace through the first two weeks of February, exceeding the state’s open enrollment goal through March 31 of 700,000 enrollees for 2014, officials said Wednesday.

It’s never too early for employers to examine ways they can minimize their exposure to the 40% excise tax slated to take effect in 2018 on so-called Cadillac-style health plans under the Affordable Care Act.

President Barack Obama’s repeated postponement of deadlines in the rollout of his health care overhaul has sparked accusations from Republicans that he’s straying into dangerous territory by rewriting the law.

Most Americans are avoiding the lowest-priced health plans on the Obamacare insurance exchanges, taking advantage of government subsidies to seek more protection against high treatment costs.

The world is getting smaller and smaller by the day. And as a result, brokers’ potential to work with clients from other towns, other states and maybe even other countries is getting bigger and bigger.

A survey found U.S. employers are increasingly looking at this option, following the lead of companies like Walgreen Co. seeking to reduce costs..

The president of the NBGH, who is retiring this spring, shares her thoughts about health reform and the future of employer-sponsored health coverage.

If the last few years were an age of reform, then we’ve definitely entered a new era — a time of compliance.

Contrary to expectations, the latest findings from healthcare researcher Decision Resources Group reveal that several of the state-based health insurance exchanges that were expected to perform the best are performing quite poorly, while some of the exchanges in Republican-dominated states openly hostile to the Affordable Care Act have fared surprisingly well to date.