Advisers Latest

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have issued guidance aimed at making it easier for taxpayers to be automatically enrolled in retirement plans such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans by their employers, simplifying the correction methods if errors are made.

As 403(b) plans look more like 401(k)s, plan sponsors are turning to advisers to help with plan design and administration.

Commentary: Yes, employers can distribute plan documents electronically, but they must follow the rules, and don’t assume intranet posting is enough — because it is not.

Young benefit advisers are spearheading many of the efforts that promise to keep the benefits profession relevant in the 21st century. EBA’s 2015 Rising Stars in Advising are not just navigating the benefits industry, they’re paving its new frontier.

States should not step in and establish their own exchanges if subsides are ruled illegal on the federal health care marketplace, a recent national study found, but industry experts say that is not the national consensus and point to the wording of poll questions to support the discrepancy.

While the U.S. Supreme Court ponders its decision in King v. Burwell, a senior economist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation suggests that the time may have come to re-evaluate the tax-favored status of employer-provided health benefits coverage to offset the costs of lost subsidies, maintain budget neutrality and end a bifurcated system that favors the wealthy.

Commentary: Proactive case management is the first step to creating a process for disability leave management that clients can count on, says The Standard’s Sandy Johnson.

Voluntary business is a well-known tool for brokers to increase their revenue while offering new products. But many employers are hesitant to add these products because of additional administrative burdens they can require. Enter the private health care exchange, says Carlos Ferrera, COO of Solstice Benefits and the Solstice Marketplace. With an exchange, the burden is gone, he says.

Sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn’t just stay on the Strip – it blows across the Sagebrush State like a wayward tumbleweed. Case in point: Nevada Health Link enrollees have been reporting mistakes on the 1095-A IRS forms to calculate their premium tax credit on the federally supported state-based HIX.

The decrease in compensation is negligible since the medical loss ratio took effect, study finds, but other industry organizations disagree.