Exchanges

It turns out that two of the most common consumer complaints about HIX plans mirror longstanding gripes about traditional health insurance, but there’s a movement afoot to ensure provider network directories are accurate and help patients better calculate and budget for out-of-pocket costs in the nascent online marketplace.

Simply making more employees eligible for overtime pay may not mean more workers will necessarily earn those benefits, benefits analysts suggest.

The DOL’s proposed definition of fiduciary advice remains worrisomely broad, according to financial and legal experts who are calling upon the industry to flood the DOL with letters of concern about the rule’s possible implications.

Employers in the 51-100 employee size bracket are anxious about the prospect of being added to the “small group” market that under the Affordable Care Act currently cuts off at 50 employees (unless states opt to raise it).

Although the Supreme Court upheld subsidies on the exchanges, there remain key aspects of the ACA that broker and employer lobbyist organizations continue to seek to amend and/or repeal.

Friday’s landmark ruling on gay marriage poses both challenges and benefits to employers.

The landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision being cheered as a step toward equality is also poised to carry unintended consequences, including some that could make life harder for employees, gay and straight alike.

Commentary: The next case to watch, launched by Speaker John Boehner last November, could once again put public exchange assistance in jeopardy.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in King v. Burwell that subsides on the federally-facilitated marketplace can continue may present an opportunity for struggling state-based marketplaces to switch to Healthcare.gov, as other challenges remain for exchanges nationwide.

Eliminating subsidies ‘would destabilize the individual insurance market in any state with a federal exchange,’ Chief Roberts says.