Employer Strategies

In a new series, EBA goes one-on-one with the heads of private exchanges. What makes one exchange different from the rest, and how do brokers fit in the mix? First up: Don Garlitz, bswift's executive director of exchange solutions.

For the third time in recent months, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has launched legal action against a private employer, claiming discrimination on the part of the company’s wellness program.

Commentary: Why group benefit brokers are behind the curve when it comes to voluntary benefit sales — and how to fix it.

Benefit brokers say employers are more and more looking toward financial wellness programs to assist employees saddled with increased health care costs.

The number of employees participating in employer-based retirement plans increased in 2013 for the first time in several years, pointing to a national economy slowly mending itself and an increasing employment rate in the aftermath of the recession, the Employee Benefit Research Institute says.

In a $600 million cash transaction, Optum, the IT and business services unit of UnitedHealth Group, is buying health management vendor Alere Health, which provides services to more than 200 regional and local health plans, 89 Fortune 500 employers and 29 states, covering about 22 million people in the U.S.

A passive portfolio management approach is appropriate for many 401(k) plan participants and individual investors. But indexing isn’t right for everyone.

After multiple delays, early access to the federally-facilitated Small Business Health Options Program launched Monday in five states.

Four decades after its introduction, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act has done much to help American workers create a small sense of financial security as they ponder their post-working years.

Alongside the IRS’ announcement last week to increase contribution caps to 401(k) plans, the Department of Labor issued guidance that will ease plan sponsors’ abilities to offer annuities as part of their retirement plans.