Wellness

Commentary: Blogger Sam Fleet submits that in order for a wellness initiative to be truly comprehensive, benefit advisers and their employer clients must look at other components of employees’ lives.

The state of Massachusetts officially repealed the employer pay-or-play regulations that were part of its landmark 2006 health care reform law. Similar to the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act, the state statute required employers of a certain size to either offer health care coverage to their employees or pay a fine.

Estimated enrollment is three times the number consultancy predicted last year.

Virtually all large employers are committed to conventional wellness programs. Because of this market saturation, wellness vendors and their commercial partners, benefits consultants, are now setting their sights on smaller employers. These groups would do well to learn what hasn’t worked in wellness and avoid wellness programs built around health risk appraisals, biometrics, and preventive medical care.

CMS has granted 18 states a delay in enacting employee choice on the SHOP exchange, which some advisers feel is the only incentive for employers to enroll on the exchange at all.

Benefit brokers should be prepared to communicate ACA updates and answer questions both in-person and via new technology to reach employees.

The emergence of public and private health insurance exchanges, as well as the ongoing shift toward placing more responsibility on workers for health plan decisions, is creating a new normal for employers and employees alike.

Potentially a result of complaints from consumers and increased competition on the ACA exchanges, benefit brokers may be pleased to find more options on the 2015 plans.

With some state-run exchanges struggling, brokers and agents contemplate whether a national Healthcare.gov is possible and whether that would be a good or a bad thing for the insurance community.

Employees living paycheck to paycheck need solutions from their employers to meet financial emergencies, yet most employers aren’t aware financial wellness programs and lending solutions exist or that they’re credible.