News Feed

UnitedHealth Group’s $12.8 billion purchase of pharmacy benefit manager Catamaran Corp. continues a trend of PBM acquisitions, and there’s more to come, industry consultants say. In the long term, that may mean lower costs and more data availability for employers.

Commentary: Three reasons Individual contracts are incompatible with ERISA plans and how to handle it, according to The Principal’s Aaron Friedman.

Commentary: While these FMLA changes don’t require any immediate action or changes to employers’ benefit plans, they could serve as a catalyst for federal officials and agencies to further extend their reach into benefits programs, says Sam Fleet.

Fraud can occur in a myriad ways, from email scams to ID theft to manipulation of investment valuations. See a dozen common frauds — and ways advisers can help prevent them.

Despite predictions by consultancies of more than 18 million active enrollees in private exchanges by 2018, many large employers are hesitant to make the jump. Here are the five reasons that employers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Business Group on Health, whose 80 members have more than 1.5 million employees nationwide, say are preventing them from changing.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. agreed to buy Catamaran Corp. for about $12.8 billion, bulking up its drug-benefits business to get better negotiating power in talks with pharmaceutical companies over prices.

Commentary: Retail and restaurant workers, who come into more direct contact with the average customer than any other job, are the least likely to have paid sick leave as a benefit.

As the Affordable Care Act last week celebrated its five-year anniversary, the majority of employers say they have not considered reducing hours for part-time employees as a result of the law’s mandate that employees working 30 hours a week be offered health care coverage.

For many taxpayers, their first introduction to the ACA may be the Form 1095-A that they receive in the mail, and bring with them — or forget to bring with them — to their tax preparer. Many have questions about the form, and state exchange call centers have been inundated with inquiries. Here are top five questions being asked about Form 1095-A.

There’s room to grow in the investment-only variable annuity space, and educated advisers are the key.