Employer Strategies

The President, Washington lawmakers and state legislators are all trying to chip away at the backbone of employee retirement benefits. Benefits managers hoping to reinforce the successes of their 401(k) programs need to take action now to help protect the system.

Commentary: Blogger Michael Klachefsky shares ways that disability insurance providers and absence management vendors can help with some unexpected consequences of the health law.

Start by constructing an employee education policy statement for your 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Many plan sponsors never put together this document and, as a result, have no idea if they are achieving any worthwhile education objectives.

Commentary: Blogger Mark Gaunya discusses a niche way some smaller employers might find appealing as a self-funding strategy to control health care costs. It’s called a captive solution.

All of the delays related to the Affordable Care may be seen a sign of the law's failure, but one employment law expert said Monday employers can view the delays as a good thing – an extra year or more to figure out what to do.

Modest equity market gains last month weren’t enough to offset the growth in pension liabilities among defined benefit plan sponsors in the S&P 1500.

Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions signal a need for benefit advisers to review clients’ plan documents and ensure they include thorough enforceable terms.

Obamacare reduced the percentage of U.S. adults without health insurance to its lowest point since 2008 even as the law remains unpopular with the public, separate surveys showed.

Commentary: Guest blogger Rich Fahn, a small business-focused benefit broker, gives advice for the challenging conversations brokers will have to have with many small groups as premium hikes are mounting.

Helping employers with benefits education is often cited as a key advantage of private health care exchanges, and while educating employees on their benefit choices was noted as a top challenge in a recent employer survey, only 2% of those surveyed have opted for a private exchange.