Employer Strategies

Among employees with adult/elder care responsibilities who’ve used Bright Horizons’ back-up care service within the last six months, nearly 70% said the benefit has allowed them to work on a day they would have otherwise missed.

Many are asking about retirement readiness self-analyses.

Humana Inc. led medical insurers higher in trading today after the U.S. government reversed a decision to cut a key Medicare payment rate, offering them an increase instead.

“Every company lives and dies by the talent it has access to,” says SendHub co-founder Garrett Johnson, who claims he could lose “invaluable” workers once the national supply of H-1B visas runs out.

The program, available to self-insured employers, offers some diabetes supplies and diabetes-related prescription drugs at no charge, as well as no copays for related doctor visits, at an estimated savings of up to $500 a year for participants.

Starting in 2014, workers at companies with fewer than 100 employees were supposed to have been able to choose from a variety of health plans through new small-business insurance marketplaces. They’ll instead wait until at least 2015.

Most participants are not contributing near enough to their 401(k) plans to adequately fund retirement.

A new study shows strong employer objections to state-run plans such as those recently proposed by legislatures in California and Massachusetts.

Freestanding ERs are among the fastest-growing areas of medical care, but many say the facility fees charged by them aren’t justified and lack transparency. Hospitals contend the facilities drain away the privately insured, high-paying patients they need to survive.

Unsurprisingly, employees are fans: 93% of surveyed workers say that telecommuting programs are mutually beneficial, according to the second annual Staples Advantage survey, which reports a greater decrease in stress levels from last year.