Insurance

Increasingly diverse workforces are creating a benefit communications challenge for employers and their advisers.

Commentary: Last month reminded blogger David C. Smith of the last 10 minutes of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. In the last four weeks, Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services settled their business in a concerted effort to make clear what would be permitted or prohibited when it came to compliance with the law.

Is it legal for employers to drop health care coverage and pay for employees to go to the exchanges? One industry expert says yes — if you use this payroll option.

Commentary: With the use of intermittent leave, a type of Family and Medical Leave Act job protection, on the rise, The Standard's Lincoln Dirks says this type of leave potentially may become a growing burden for your clients.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear the case of King v. Burwell, with the legality of federal subsidies for ACA exchange enrollment hanging in the balance. If the high court rules that subsides on the federal health care exchange are illegal, consumers would on average see premiums rise 255% — but industry analysts say it is unlikely to get to that point.

HHS has issued a final rule saying it will not qualify employer-sponsored health plans that fail to cover inpatient hospitalization as meeting the minimum value health plan standard under the ACA.

AXA S.A. is entering the U.S. employee benefits market, citing its assessment that employers with between 20 and 200 employees are under-served.

The majority of employers spent 16% or more of their total health care budgets on pharmacy benefits last year, up from 71% in 2013.

Plan sponsors need to know their definition of domestic partners, how to verify their status and how they apply the plan terms.

In a Congressional committee hearing Thursday, Kevin Counihan, the CEO of Healthcare.gov, was repeatedly grilled by members of Congress for details on enrollments, tax data and coverage for immigrants, but failed to provide answers to many questions asked.

Employers collectively pay for more than one-third of all deliveries in the U.S., through employer-sponsored health insurance plans. According to new data, there are many opportunities for improvements that would save lives and money.

The many tradeoffs that health insurers had to make from both a regulatory and plan-design standpoint in order to adapt under the Affordable Care Act appear to be paying off as the landmark legislation approaches its five-year mark.

Legislators urge brokers to contact Congress to help shape future policies.

The Internal Revenue Service will not try to collect additional taxes from those taxpayers who have already filed their taxes after receiving incorrect information from the federal health insurance marketplace, Healthcare.gov.

Embracing private exchange solutions is, some say, imperative for brokers who want to survive in the industry, yet many remain confused about just how to do so.

More tools are needed to support brokers as they help consumers navigate the complex health care law, Healthcare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan says.

The IRS and Dept. of Treasury are seeking comments on several issues related to the Cadillac tax, including what constitutes employer-sponsored coverage and different approaches for determining the cost of applicable coverage.

This year, sign-ups for private health plans in California, New York and other states that opted to build and run their own insurance markets has stagnated. Yet in more conservative parts of the country that declined to participate and where enrollment is run by the federal government, sign-ups have surged.

Consumer products giant Kimberly-Clark is the latest defined benefit pension sponsor to transition significant pension liabilities to the insurance industry.

With the support of the White House, the DOL today submitted to OMB its revised fiduciary rule proposal for retirement brokers, a move industry stakeholders are calling an ‘attack’ on retirement advisers.