Wellness

Commentary: Despite all the media coverage of the Affordable Care Act, there is still a fair amount of confusion and misunderstanding about the law, even among employees whose job it is to administer benefits.

While debate continues about the long-term effects of the Affordable Care Act, many employers report minimal changes in their health care premiums as a result.

When prompted with direct financial incentives, including contributions to their HSAs, employees tend to show much stronger involvement in workplace wellness offerings.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a proposed rule today on wellness programs, removing what at least one business group calls a “big cloud” that has been hovering over employers as they struggle to ensure their wellness incentive programs don’t run afoul of the EEOC.

Ownership of life insurance has been on a steady decline, and the reason many experts point to are other more pressing financial priorities — particularly with retirement income becoming such a hot priority.

Technical difficulties may have marred public exchanges' first year of operation, but at least providers were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief about not being inundated with a sharp increase in new or sick patients scheduling appointments.

The Affordable Care Act has increased the burden for benefit professionals and forced employers to alter their business practices to comply with the health care reform law, industry experts told Congress.

Employees say nothing in their total rewards package stands out, and this perceived lack of differentiation could be damaging employers’ attraction and retention efforts.

As one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy and with thousands of employees spread out across the country, there is a lot riding on the health of the employees at Dominion Resources.

A third of employers say they’ve experienced fines and penalties in the past year because of non-compliance with government regulations, many of which they are simply unaware of. For many, expert advice from benefit advisers could be a real solution.