Wellness

Benefit advisers working with employers offering medical plans — take note. Two important final regulations issued jointly by the IRS, DOL and HHS apply to plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2014. Are your clients compliant?

A boom in private exchanges and a changing distribution system for health care will create a new landscape for benefits managers and advisers, with more emphasis on consumer-directed health care.

A proposal up for vote in the most populous state would give the insurance commissioner veto power over health insurance rates, among other things, and has brokers fearful of the trend spreading to other states.

The Senate Wednesday failed to get enough support for its reversal plan of the recent Supreme Court Hobby Lobby ruling that will allow some employers to decline providing insurance coverage for some forms of birth control based on religious grounds.

Millions of Americans sought help from navigators and assisters during the ACA's first open-enrollment period, but many were more satisfied with help from a benefit adviser.

Wellness and retirement educational tools are paramount in an ever-changing landscape of employee benefits, and Mercer has taken a unique approach in its newest endeavor, Mercer Benefits U.

In what’s being described as the first comprehensive research examining the health status of HIX enrollees, the Kaiser Family Foundation has confirmed industry suspicions that public exchanges would cover a sicker population than traditional avenues.

The status of payments to brokers for their work signing up consumers across the nation varies from state to state and broker to broker, with some missing nearly 50% of commissions and others reporting no problems whatsoever.

For most employers, the Hobby Lobby decision will have little impact, meaning they will have to comply with the ACA as written. Looking for loopholes can be risky, not just for ACA compliance but also for ERISA compliance, generally.

Millions more Americans have gained coverage as a result of the health reform law, increasing the workload for benefit advisers, but not necessarily the compensation they receive.