Healthcare

Commentary: The more companies we come in contact with, the more we hear this statement and the more we realize how much employers are relying on their broker, says Beverly Beattie.

There are many Affordable Care Act requirements that employer clients must keep track of, and a benefit administration system can be the answer.

The nation’s largest corporate defined benefit pension plans continue to experience woes as their collective funding statuses dwindle due to unsavory interest rates.

The Obama administration forecast that as many as 9.9 million people will sign up for health coverage under Obamacare this year, 3 million below a previous estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

Advisers need to know what employees want, what the competition is doing and be current on tax law before setting up an executive benefit plan.

Potential Healthcare.gov customers can peek at 2015 prices for the program’s health plans today after the government said it would release a “window-shopping” feature overnight.

Acquired by Towers Watson in November 2013, private exchange provider Liazon is navigating a unique space. It is both owned by a consultancy and used by that firm’s competitors. Alan Cohen, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Liazon, discusses how all brokers fit into the exchange equation and what, in his view, makes an exchange, an exchange.

Adding innovative benefits to a health plan takes money, research and can help attract quality employees, but may also lead to problems if not properly thought out.

The Supreme Court is set to decide the question of whether plan sponsors bound by a collective bargaining agreement have to provide medical benefits for the duration of a retiree’s lifetime, even after the collective bargaining agreement expires.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a challenge to the tax subsidies allowed under the Affordable Care Act, but legal experts predict any high court ruling will have little effect on the law or employers.