Employer Strategies

Commentary: A few months ago, two major announcements were made in the retirement plan space that profoundly affected retirement plan sponsors and participants.

The Affordable Care Act’s Small Business Health Options Program will not succeed without the broker community, the heads of three state-run exchanges said at a HIX policy conference.

The Department of Labor is giving the financial services industry and consumer advocates more time to comment on its controversial fiduciary conflict-of-interest rule proposal.

If employees are not well prepared for retirement it should be a major concern for both employees and their employers, experts say.

Commentary: At the end of an unsuccessful enrollment campaign, an adviser may wonder why participation was so low after they spent time and money on communications. It’s simple, says David Melton: Brokers employing the same old strategy will not succeed.

Only 10% of some 480 employers in 36 industries responding to a recent poll have implemented an in-house or outsourced solution to comply with Affordable Care Act reporting requirements.

Does giving employees multiple choices of health plans drive competition and empower them pick plans offering the greatest value and highest quality care –the theory underlying the Affordable Care Act and many employers’ benefit plan designs?

Whether participating in private exchanges or not, some say similar programs have been in place for decades, pointing to the government’s 50-year-old Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan as early example of what many employers are dealing with today.

Whatever employers have spent to comply with the Affordable Care Act so far, some feel the costliest years are yet to come.

Just over one year ago, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Labor to “restore the common sense principles” related to overtime.