Health Care Reform

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners urged federal lawmakers this week to make sure health insurance agents and brokers have a secure future as health care reform moves forward.

With an annual 2010 average per covered employee health cost of just over $10,000, this means employers will see an increase of $100 to $200, which will be in addition to expected average annual cost increases of 8 percent to 10 percent.

Forty-five states and the District of Columbia will each receive $1 million to help improve health premium oversight, the Department of Health and Human Services announced this week.

Almost all (90 percent) of U.S. companies surveyed recently by Hewitt Associates say they anticipate losing their grandfathered health plan status by 2014, with the majority expecting to do so within the next two years.

estimates of the legislation understate the size of the population that might enroll in their parents' employment-based coverage, and the costs of the mandate are expected to increase health insurance premiums 1 percent by 2013.

Compliance headaches and a fast-approaching deadline have benefit administrators scrambling to prepare.