Healthcare

When it comes to voluntary auto and home insurance, brokers can't be afraid of the unknown, says Liberty Mutual's Mark Parabicoli.

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king condemned by the gods in the afterlife to pushing a huge boulder to the top of a steep hill, only to have it slip from his grasp each time and roll back to the bottom, a frustrating and unproductive task to be repeated over and over.

Health reform is in such a chaotic state and will continue to be so even after the Supreme Court ruling on the constitutionality of PPACA - and the November election. This is where scenario planning can help. At the April conference for the Institute for HealthCare Consumerism, I listened to a panel on alternative planning scenarios in regard to health reform using scenario planning. Let's see how it works.

It is nearly impossible for an adviser to effectively help an employer manage their DC plan without doing what it takes to make them a functional fiduciary. Realizing that many advisers, or those that were traditionally called brokers, could not become named fiduciaries, others that could do so used it as a weapon in head-to-head competition.

Despite recent tax reform proposals, experts testified at a House committee hearing April 26 that cutting incentives for retirement plans would be detrimental to savings.

With employers seeking to show the value of all their benefits in this ever-increasing competitive job market, Benefitfocus, a benefits technology company, recently debuted an online marketplace for employees to shop for benefits, voluntary products and more.

What do Babe Ruth and Humphrey Bogart have in common? They developed oral cancer - a deadly disease that will be diagnosed in more than 40,000 Americans this year, according to the Oral Cancer Foundation.

With health care reform's medical loss ratio rebate reporting starting this month, there is still much uncertainty among employers about how the rebates will work, leading to an opportunity for brokers to fill that all-important trusted adviser role.

Anyone doubting the sustainability and projected growth of mobile technology should take heed of these statistics from technology and communication leaders Qualcomm Life and Virgin HealthMiles.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I met with a financial planner for the first time. Setting up the appointment was my idea - I suppose three and a half years of constant exposure to press releases entailing Americans' alarming lack of retirement preparedness will do that to a person.