Health plans that violate Section 2713 could be subject to penalties of $100 per day per affected employee as long as the violation continues.

Participation in employer-sponsored insurance plans by workers ages 30 and under trailed the rate of their elders by as much as 20 percent.

As employers scour their health plans with an eye to controlling costs, they appear to be using an upper limit set by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to adjust the out-of-pockets limits skyward.

Plans that held off on de-risking their plans were the biggest benefactors of the strong equity performance.