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(Bloomberg) – President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law was dealt another blow as a federal judge ruled a key program intended to reduce consumers’ out-of-pocket medical bills is unconstitutional because it relies on money that hasn’t been appropriated by Congress. The ruling on Thursday was a victory for the Republican-led House of Representatives, which challenged […]

With compensation taking up the biggest slice of the benefits pie, employers are paying close attention to the Department of Labor’s proposed changes to the overtime rules – expected to be released as early as this month – under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposed rules bump the salary threshold for overtime from $23,600/year […]

Astute employers are reviewing available options to mitigate the potential economic impact of the imminent release of new federal Fair Labor Standards Act overtime regulations. The Department of Labor estimates that average annualized direct employer costs could total between $239.6 and $255.3 million per year. While the DOL initially committed to issuing the new FLSA […]

Low-wage workers face difficult choices in today’s high-out-of-pocket health care system. By Bruce W. Sherman, MD and Wendy D. Lynch, PhD Faced with escalating health insurance costs, employers have been making tough choices in recent years. Given a finite human resources budget, should companies sacrifice wages, benefits-eligible workers or health benefits? Evidence suggests some of […]

It’s no secret that small businesses have a lot to offer: collaborative cultures, less bureaucracy, more relaxed attitudes and, in many cases, they provide employees with the chance to build something from the ground up. That said, small businesses may be lagging behind when it comes to benefit offerings. Only 46% of small business employees […]

Oregon may have 10 carriers returning to its individual major medical market in 2017, but not because they earned solid profits in 2017. State regulators were making 2017 individual market rate filings for at least 10 carriers public on Oregon’s section of the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF) rate review portal. A […]

Even though the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate is in effect, few employers have updated their employee handbooks to reflect the ACA. Here are some ways employers may bolster their ACA compliance—and avoid ACA penalties—through an ACA-focused employee handbook review. Patricia Moran While employers are undoubtedly already fatigued by ACA compliance, there are several reasons […]

Pet lover Dani Kahn has a dream job. As the pet director at the Trupanion, a pet medical insurance company located in Seattle, she manages all the pet benefits offered by her employer. That includes a program allowing employees to bring up to two dogs or cats to work with them every day. “We have […]

Benefit selection data from nearly 2,400 mid-size employers (100-999 employees) reveals that few of these organizations offer high-deductible health plans, but the average PPO plan carries deductibles high enough to legally classify them as HDHPs under government limits. The study, based on internal files of the cloud-based benefits enrollment and communications platform Benefitfocus, is a […]

You might eat a balanced diet and squeeze in a mix of cardio and weight-lifting workouts every week to stay healthy. But to be truly healthy, you’ve got to focus on more than just working out and eating well. Believe it or not, you’ve also got to focus on oral health. The link between oral […]