Wellness

Limitations with how the federally-run health insurance exchanges present information misleads consumers and induces them to spend many thousands of dollars a year more than necessary on health coverage, according to Consumers’ Checkbook, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization and web site.

The dissatisfaction, disappointment and frustration with launch of the federal health insurance exchange could be expected, especially with the constantly elevating level of consumer expectations for e-commerce and other online systems. Meanwhile, the number of private exchanges continues to grow and are in a very good position to succeed.

For millions of low-income Americans, the road to health care reform in 2014 could prove to be a jagged line as they bounce between public exchanges and Medicaid as their income fluctuates over the year.

In a sign of just how difficult it is to rein in out-of-pocket costs, 35% of 2014 bronze-level plans in the Small Business Health Options Program exchange had deductibles that exceeded suggested annual caps under the Affordable Care Act.

Copayments and co-insurance fees have increased on average 34% compared with those of the pre-Affordable Care Act individual insurance market, according to the results of a new HealthPocket study released Thursday.

From ignoring chronic disease to failing to align vendor and employer goals, defined-contribution health strategies through private exchanges are not right for every employer.

This is spurring a new push into communities to sell the state’s program face-to-face.

With the issuance of the final employer mandate regulations, employers mandate can now make employee coverage decisions and prepare for enforcement beginning as early as Jan. 1, 2015.

This week started out with the much anticipated employer responsibility ruling and first shocked us with the additional employer mandate delay. But there’s much more to the ruling that advisers and plan sponsors need to be aware of in the coming months.

Fewer people are getting their primary health insurance coverage through their employers, according to a Gallup Poll released Wednesday, which also reported the number of uninsured Americans has reached a five-year low.