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Lawmakers in Springfield, Ill., decided this week to green light a new statewide private sector retirement program that will consist of individual retirement accounts to be funded by automatic employee payroll deductions.

Biometric screening offers value in identifying employees at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other costly and debilitating chronic conditions. However, employers will probably not see a return on their investment if their employees don’t act on the results.

As the holidays move into full gear, what should be the most wonderful time of the year is often not that way for many employees. During this potentially overwhelming season, it is important that employees have access to help.

Sam’s Club, the big-box members-only warehouse, decided to offer health insurance to its customers through a private health care exchange because those small business owner-members were asking for it. In October, the retail chain said it was partnering with Aetna to offer health insurance to members through a private exchange to small businesses.

The Jan. 1, 2015 ACA compliance deadline for large employers is quickly approaching and your employer clients may have unanswered questions. Here are some of the most common employer concerns still looming and the answers you can provide them.

The Affordable Care Act continued to dominate the conversation among brokers, many of whom spent the year dealing with a big shift in the way they conduct their businesses. EBA’s AdviserTV series showcased discussions on the major topics of 2014 — almost all of which focused on the ACA and private exchanges — with experts such as The Galen Institute’s Grace Marie Turner and our Advisers of the Year.

This year, a number of rulings and hearings relating to labor and employment issues were decided at all judicial levels, up to the Supreme Court, that many say will have significant ramifications for employers and benefit plans in the coming years.

As if employee benefit brokers and advisers in California haven’t had enough uphill battles trying to preserve their standing along the changing HIX landscape, some of them also now have to worry about being paid for helping enroll more than 500,000 residents in the state-run public exchange. But at least one industry insider believes it’s much ado about nothing. …

With the help of predicative analytics, employers, and more importantly their HR and benefit departments, are now able to better administer health and benefit plans to their employee populations.

Open enrollment has been an annual headache for employers, even before the presence of the Affordable Care Act and the numerous plan changes towards more employee consumerism that followed.