Benefits Think

As news has spread that AIG -- beneficiaries of more than $170 billion of our money in government bailout funds -- is paying out $175 million in executive bonuses this week, the response has been unfavorable, to put it mildly.

In this month's EBN, contributor Karin Landry outlines how the current recession may present an opportunity for benefit managers to consider turning to captives to reduce benefits costs and manage risk.

A week ago today, some employers cringed as Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced the Employee Free Choice Act in the House and Senate (known in less-approving circles as "card check").

I'm not a fan of cannoli myself, but EBN Contributing Editor Karrie Andes sure is, and wants to share it -- so to speak -- with you, her benefits peers.

Stay tuned plan sponsors and providers. Fresh off the news that Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) was taking up legislation on 401(k) fees, here is more legal froth on fees reported by colleagues at EBN sister publication Money Management Executive:

Psst! PBMs don't want you to know about a class-action settlement involving prescription medicine pricing could result in drug-spend savings of 0.7% to 1.6% for plan sponsors. (Every penny helps these days, right?)

In what may be another sign of the (recession) times, CVS has announced it will close 90 of the retail MinuteClinics located in its stores until next flu season, citing an effort to align clinic open hours with consumer demand.

Aetna this week released results from a six-year study of its consumer-driven health plan offerings that show the plans saved employers saved millions and empowered consumers to seek more preventive care and routine screenings, use generic prescriptions and visit the ER less often.

EBN's 22nd annual Benefits Forum & Expo will be held Sept. 13-15 in Atlanta, and we have a peach of a program lined up for you, including an expanded agenda and two dynamic keynote speakers.

The folks at RescueTime, a firm producing a software tool to help employers make workers spend their time and attention more effectively, estimate that daylight savings time, which began last Sunday costs employers -- ready for this? -- $480 million in lost productivity. Yes, million, with an "m."