Healthcare

Today’s aging workforce isn’t fully taking advantage of its vision benefits, and is therefore missing out on a critical preventive care opportunity and leaving itself at higher risk for age-related vision problems, eye diseases and chronic conditions that affect eye health and compromise productivity. This is according to a new study by Transitions Optical, Inc.

Employee assistance programs provide employees with support when they need it - from helping them through relationship difficulties to coordinating treatment for substance abuse. And while 69% of employers offer EAPs through external organizations, the potential still exists for them to be caught in legal entanglements. What are employers' potential liabilities and what can advisers do to help them mitigate risks?

Not only is it painful for an employee to hear the news that their loved one has suffered a heart attack, but the unforeseen costs of health care will soon take a physical, emotional and financial toll if they are not prepared.

While working for a benefits enrollment firm, I managed to get a coveted appointment with the senior vice president for voluntary benefits at a major regional brokerage. He started the meeting with an invitation to pitch: "We already work with several enrollment firms. Why should we work with you?"

Offering a retirement plan can be one of the most challenging - yet rewarding - decisions an employer can make. The employees participating in the plan, their beneficiaries, and the employer all may benefit when a retirement plan is in place. Administering a plan and managing its assets, however, requires certain actions and involves specific responsibilities governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Though the 401(k) and defined contribution market gets lots of attention from all sectors of society and has a significant amount of assets, there are only about 110 national providers and advisory firms focused on this market.

Employees do not save enough for their eventual retirement needs, research shows. But, with tools, help and education from financial advisers that paradigm may shift - benefiting not only the employee but the employer and adviser.

The health care system is "so screwed up in where we invest our money," and that needs to change for costs to become manageable, said a health researcher in late January.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'social?' In today's connected world, you probably answered social media. Chances are, so did your clients' human resource professionals. Social media is definitely on everyone's radar, but when it comes to a corporate wellness program, you need to tune into another kind of frequency - social culture.

A pharmacist takes a 30-day prescription and inputs it as four weekly prescriptions - quadrupling the Medicaid dispensing fee.