Benefits Think

Plan sponsors should limit loans to hardship criteria, allow just one at a time and refer potential borrowers to an employee assistance program for financial counseling.

If the GOP moves forward with it, companies will lose a major incentive to provide benefits and the true problem — reducing costs — will not be addressed, says adviser Craig Hasday.

Benefits such as caregiving and concierge programs serve a genuine purpose and have a meaningful impact on employee well-being.

Keep workers interested by reducing obstacles such as multiple passwords that are undermining participant access, says Hodges-Mace’s Eric Helman.

Concerns about cost, flexibility and complications often keep employers from offering coverage.

Employee benefits advocacy can turn insurance users into savvy consumers, long before they enter an emergency room.

Employees with grinding financial woes are tapping into their retirement accounts at alarming rates. It has an impact on employers, too.

In defending the unpopular and flawed House bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, a common Republican refrain is that it fully protects health-insurance coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions.

Advisers and clients should take extra measures, such as holding training events, to safeguard data from a cyber breach.

The financial stressors that are most important to workers are not being addressed, says Mark Singer.