Healthcare

Certain requirements must be met in order to terminate these small business plans.

401(k) plans are largely outscoring 403(b) plans in some key plan features, writes The Principal Financial's Aaron Freidman, who equates this to a pre-season football game.

As many of you may have predicted – or secretly feared, or even hoped for – October has indeed been one incredibly wild ride for anyone connected in even an ancillary fashion to the ACA. Or those of you who happen to have anything to do with the daily operations of the federal government.

Insurers are getting faulty and incomplete data from the new federal-run health exchange, which may mean some Americans won’t be covered even after they sign up for an insurance plan.

Staff at Walgreens stores will direct customers who ask about the exchanges to the GoHealth Marketplace, where they can shop and compare health insurance plans, enroll and find other tools and information.

Exchange prep, however, will go a long way to help employers prepare for the delayed employer mandate. Figure out whether you are an applicable large employer and if you are, start measuring. Otherwise, you could be left scrambling.

While the public exchanges offer a good solution for early retirees and COBRA-eligible participants, at least one expert says the exchanges are not the best option for current employees. Employers are also showing little confidence in public exchanges.

Eager to meet client needs — and keep their business — brokers hunt for information on individual exchanges, but are cautioned not to ignore the SHOP market. HR managers should be aware of the trend.

Eager to meet client needs — and keep their business — brokers hunt for information on individual exchanges, but are cautioned not to ignore the SHOP market.

On Facebook, brokers were quick to share their experiences of looking at and attempting to work with the exchanges.