Employer Strategies

Small business owners are more hopeful about the national economy and less concerned about systemic threats to their businesses, according to the Hartford, but more rate their risk-taking as conservative.

Reform proposals from the Securities and Exchange Commission could have a significant impact on your clients and their plan participants.

Certain requirements must be met in order to terminate these small business plans.

401(k) plans are largely outscoring 403(b) plans in some key plan features, writes The Principal Financial's Aaron Freidman, who equates this to a pre-season football game.

Insurers are getting faulty and incomplete data from the new federal-run health exchange, which may mean some Americans won’t be covered even after they sign up for an insurance plan.

Your errors and omissions insurance might not cover what you think it does.

Staff at Walgreens stores will direct customers who ask about the exchanges to the GoHealth Marketplace, where they can shop and compare health insurance plans, enroll and find other tools and information.

Exchange prep, however, will go a long way to help employers prepare for the delayed employer mandate. Figure out whether you are an applicable large employer and if you are, start measuring. Otherwise, you could be left scrambling.

While the public exchanges offer a good solution for early retirees and COBRA-eligible participants, at least one expert says the exchanges are not the best option for current employees. Employers are also showing little confidence in public exchanges.

Eager to meet client needs — and keep their business — brokers hunt for information on individual exchanges, but are cautioned not to ignore the SHOP market. HR managers should be aware of the trend.