Cost-Containment

Unemployment rates rose in more than half of U.S. states in July and fewer states added jobs, echoing national data that show the job market may have lost some momentum.

A Towers Watson study turned up evidence that employers may not be getting even partial value from these plans, and, perhaps worse, that employees dont really value them anyway.

The biggest study of its kind suggests autism might be linked with inducing and speeding up labor, preliminary findings that need investigating since labor is induced in increasing numbers of U.S. women, the authors and otherautism experts say.

CareFlash's online communities are designed to help employees deal with a relative's illness while helping employers address absenteeism and presenteeism.

Now that FEMA has ruled it wont financially help out families who were victims of a deadly forest fire in June, the state of Arizona might be the only government body to come to their rescue.

The largest health carrier in the U.S. says it believes plan providers too often take a passive role in cost-containment. Payers, too, have a bigger role to play.

The theory? People working for the health coverage will quit, find coverage through an exchange, and do whatever it is they really want to do instead of go to a job.

About 60 percent of insured American workers already are in self-insurance plans and many more could soon find they are, too.