Healthcare

Only a tiny percentage of pet owners in the United States have insurance for their pet, but according to the American Pet Products Association, about 62% of U.S. households have a pet. Clearly, the pet insurance is a market ripe for growth. "The message there is in the opportunity to increase participation for consumers and for groups," says JoAnne Novak, VP, business development with Hartville Group, Inc., and its flagship brand ASPCA Pet Health Insurance.

Sun Life Financial Inc. recently enhanced its emergency travel assistance service for group basic life customers by adding identity theft protection.

Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company recently enhanced its Resource Advisor member-assistance service to include Beneficiary Companion and Identity Theft Victim Recovery Services programs at no additional cost to customers.

One pet peeve of employers, brokers and carriers is that employees don’t spend enough time reviewing their benefit plans during open enrollment.

The boundary between voluntary and employer-paid benefit sales is disappearing in an increasingly competitive climate where more brokers are abandoning territorial patterns, suggests new research from Eastbridge Consulting Group.

Communication beats out critical thinking (73%), collaboration/team building (72%), and creativity and innovation (66%) as competencies that are the top priorities for employee development, talent management, and succession planning in the next one to three years, according to a new survey from the American Management Association.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always believed the primary consideration for employees in whether to accept, keep or leave a job is money. It’s not the only consideration, of course, but it’s the top one. Right?

After some pretty dour retirement news last Friday, I’m afraid I have more Gloomy Gus news today — this time related to health care.

While the U.S. economy is showing signs of recovery, nearly three-quarters of Americans are worried about their jobs and are trying to make ends meet, according to a recent national survey by The Hartford.

I came across a blog post yesterday by Michael Maslanka, who, while during some pro bono work, tried to assist an employer in crafting a fair and legally sound corporate bereavement policy.