Employer Strategies

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.

Consumers and some health insurers, led by Aetna, Inc., say the facility fees charged by many of the new ERs aren’t justified and lack transparency.

The largest exchange-traded fund tracking the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal-bond market is selling at a discount to its underlying assets for the longest stretch since 2011.

If you’re an adviser who works with business owners, you know that the “retirement plan season” is the end of the year. It’s that time when many business owners decide to set up a retirement plan before the year end deadline.

A brokers’ role with end of life products is to know their clients and give them choices.

The burden of saving and investing has shifted to the plan participant