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Okay, DD readers, I admit I'm a bit of a crier, but I don't think you could read this month's 'View from the Andes' and not be affected, if not a little teary. Contributing Editor Karrie Andes writes with love and insight about her mother and stepfather and their fight to maintain adequate insurance coverage.
July 17
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If employers were teachers and the 401(k) a student, the plans would get a 'B' grade, a Charles Schwab survey reveals, finding that a majority of senior finance and HR execs support the 401(k) as an effective savings tool for retirement. Polling more than 200 pros from large companies in various industries nationwide, Schwab finds: * 80% think greater access to 401(k) investment planning advice is more important for employees now than a year
July 17 -
Full disclosure: As a working mom of two, I'd be willing to lose a finger just to have employer-supported child care, so count me among the yays in the latest Workplace Options survey that finds 48% of working parents would feel more freedom to concentrate on work and home responsibilities if their employer provided support for child care. Another 50% say knowing they had back-up care options when their regular provider is unavailable would help
July 16 -
Tri-Tec Manufacturing in Kent, Wash., faced a nearly 40% increase in its health care premiums at renewal in 2007 to cover 38 employees. Then after changing insurance carriers, the same scenario unfolded two years later a timeframe during which deductibles soared from $200 to $1,500. That's when the company decided on a radically different approach for its March 1 annual benefits enrollment: contract with a seven-physician group called Qliance, which charges patients $49
July 16 -
In case you didn't have enough incentive to go green, here's another: Public company officers and directors could face real liability from shareholders and securities regulators over improper disclosures over their greenhouse gas emissions, one attorney concludes. Mia Mazza, a securities litigator with law firm Morrison & Foerster, examines this new corporate risk and outlines steps for how companies can get ahead of potential securities problems in their environmental policies. 'Investors are becoming increasingly interested
July 15 -
A Lewin Group study estimates that 119 million Americans would trade their private health insurance for a public option if reimbursement rates are similar to Medicare. The figure amounts to 70% of 171.6 million people with non-group or private employer coverage. Families on average would save about $2,500 a year and, thus, flock to a public plan in droves, observes John Sheils, the Falls Church, Va.-based firm's vice president.
July 15 -
C'mon, all the cool kids have one and well so does everyone else. Not too long ago, I coined the new saying 'Opinions are like health care reform proposals everybody has one.' As proof, here's the latest, this one from Samuel H. Fleet, president of AmWINS Group Benefits. 'Policymakers are missing many of the key opportunities to address what is really broken about the system.' To pick up where he believes lawmakers
July 14 -
The latest news from Adecco Group might scare you: 'The most serious threat to managers in this recession may be the recession's end.' Why would the end of the recession spell doom for you, pros? Because according to Adecco, 54% of employed Americans say they are likely to look for new jobs once the economy turns around. Be ready for a lot of suspiciously long lunch breaks, and the occasional dentist appointment that requires a
July 14 -
About 600 licensed insurance agents and brokers from five producer associations will descend on Capitol Hill July 14 to 15 as part of a massive health care reform lobbying effort on behalf of the employee benefits industry. Key players include the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, which calls itself the Big 'I,' AHIA, the health and employee benefits arm of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Council of Insurance Agents
July 13 -
Fresh off a new Congressional Budget Office scoring of their health care reform bill that drops the price tag from $1 trillion to just over $600 billion, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee members have returned to marking up the Affordable Health Choices Act with renewed enthusiasm -- at least from committee Democrats.
July 13