Amber Taufen

In a year when major insurers like Aetna and Humana are pulling out of state exchanges left and rightleaving some 35,000 people in 45 counties with no insurance options, and 3 million more in 1,388 counties with just onea growth story like Oscar's is not only rare, it's virtually unheard-of.

Saving money while raising the quality of health care has been the central focus of the health care industryfrom providers to health insurance carrierssince the arrival of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

When employers win awards for their wellness programs, it's worth asking what theyre doing differently and how others can emulate their success.

What Aetna-Humana and Centene-Health Net could mean for the benefits world

Zenefits filed a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by ADP.

The conflict between Zenefits and ADP has only heated up, but will customers ultimately be the ones hurt?

Do wellness programs really work?

As employers and insurers continue to navigate the intricacies of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, theyre finding that managing wellness programs and non-discriminatory incentives (or disincentives) can be tricky.

Its only when you explain the Zenefits model to one or two employees at a small or mid-sized business that the public begins to get excited about the concept the brand represents. Thats whats got the insurance industry frightened.

Because new payment models require effective and seamless care coordination among providers, new methods of delivering care have also been experiments in the living laboratory. Two in particular have become especially prominent.

The fee-for-service model that's served us for so long is being replaced with different models, ones that typically move some of the burden of risk from payers (and employers) to care providers.

Carriers have become savvier about how to portray their earnings.

As the 2015 benefits enrollment season approaches and employers gear up for their second year of coverage mandates, as outlined in PPACA, it seems some employers still offer non-compliant health plans.

Critics of the fee-for-service model of paying providers argue fee-for-service payments force providers to increase the volume of procedures or visits in a day, and as a result, the value each patient receives is diluted.