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Employers are more likely to implement value-based health care strategies now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act, suggests a new survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. To help multiemployer and public employer health plans implement VBHC strategies in the workplace, the foundation has released a white paper on the topic. It identifies existing VBHC practices used by multiemployer and public employee health plans and provides a framework for building cultures of health.

That is the tricky choice thousands of former General Motors Co. employees must make by July 20. It is also a decision that many more workers will make as other companies move expensive pension plans off their balance sheets. Rival Ford Motor Co., for example, will begin offering pension buyouts this summer to 98,000 white-collar retirees and former employees who are vested in its pension, potentially cutting roughly one-third of Ford’s U.S. pension liability.

Guest blogger Ed Bray shares why benefits professionals should be proactive about involving the finance function in benefits strategy decisions.

Long-term care liability loss rates and claim severity are now at an eight-year high and could grow steadily into next year, according to Aon Global Risk Consulting’s “2012 Long-term care General Liability and Professional Liability Actuarial Analysis,” which was created in partnership with the American Health Care Association.

The Hartford, a provider of defined contribution retirement plans, has enhanced its website for 401(k) plan participants in an effort to provide greater control and track user progress toward meeting individual retirement goals.

Access to employer-provided benefits was greater in medium and large private industry establishments than in small establishments in March 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Think most employees can truly stay away from the office while on summer vacation?

Insurance is labeled an early adopter of social media in a new report from the International Data Corporation (IDC), titled “2012 U.S. Social Media Trends by Vertical.” The banking industry was cited as being a late adopter.

Employers who communicate about PPACA's free preventive care for women provision sooner, rather than later, are better poised to manage employee expectations, says guest blogger Ed Bray.

In the first half of the year, the MIB Life Index is up 2.8% year-to-date (YTD) compared to the same six months last year.