Healthcare

Whether an employer continues to offer health insurance once state-run insurance exchanges take effect in 2014 will largely depend on the size of the employer, according to a survey by Mercer.

Although voluntary turnover has dipped significantly this year, a new PwC Saratoga study says employers are giving more attention to career development and performance management in anticipation of increased turnover as the economy improves.

Dave Cirulis recently was named head of voluntary marketplace strategy for distribution at Lincoln Financial Group, which has spruced up its product portfolio as well as enrollment, service and technology capabilities. He reports directly to Robert Risk, the insurer’s vice president, group protection sales.

In response to a new American Payroll Association survey showing 43% of employees valuing health benefits more important than higher wages, Dan Maddux, the group’s executive director has suggested that employees consider pretax voluntary payroll deductions and flexible spending accounts to ease the sting of rising health care costs and uncertainty about health care reform.

Podcast: Strategic alliances can serve as an inexpensive foothold into the voluntary benefits marketplace for vendors that seek to broaden ...

Long-term care (LTC) insurance is back in the headlines, with several leading insurance carriers seeking rate increases to help offset investment shortfalls in an ultra-low interest rate environment and greater-than-expected plan usage.

The SPARK Institute has sent a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission asking it to modify its proposed 12b-1 fee rule.

Following sweeping Republican gains in the 2010 midterm election, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) underlined his belief that the election was a referendum against health care reform. "That means that we can — and should — propose and vote on straight repeal, repeatedly," McConnell said of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in a Nov. 4 speech at the Heritage Foundation. …

Flush with victory from election night, Republican strategists are delving into possible measures to repeal or significantly hamper existing health care reform legislation.

The Department of Labor’s new 401(k) fee disclosure requirements that take effect Jan. 1, 2012 go far beyond disclosing mutual fund expense ratios to cover every nook and cranny of expenses in plans, right down to indirect service providers, speakers said at the FundForum USA 2010 conference in Boston Nov. 1.