Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Health care exchanges and other issues related to the Affordable Care Act have garnered a great deal of attention. However, additional and less well-known ACA regulations went into effect on January 1. One of these impacts wellness programs, including the myriad initiatives employers have put in place to encourage employees to exercise, lose weight and otherwise improve their health to prevent illness, disability and its costs.

As you work with your investment adviser on the content of your annual 401(k) plan employee education sessions, now is the time to determine whether it makes sense to re-enroll all of your participants into your Qualified Default Investment Alternative funds.

Why are employers still offering health care benefits and increasing worksite wellness activities? It’s not rocket science. Employers don’t offer benefits because they are altruistic. They do so primarily to recruit and retain talent and to ensure workers have the mental and physical capacity to perform their best on the job.

Help your participants stay on the path to retirement readiness. From setting goals to maximizing contributions, here are the key messages to emphasize with 401(k) plan members.

Combining wellness and HSAs is a long-term strategy. However, there can be some immediate benefit for the employer, which typically begins by going from a traditional fully insured plan to a high-deductible plan with a HSA, thereby saving the employer some money right out of the gate.

Whether your business is self-insured or purchases a health plan, it’s time to bend the cost curve in your favor. Using a combination of robust data analytic tools and care management, population health management offers benefit managers a proactive approach to improve the health and well-being for members whose chronic conditions can account for 75% or more of your healthcare expenses.

Six things plan sponsors should expect from their retirement advisers in 2014 annual review season.

With all the implications that the Affordable Care Act has on employer’s health insurance obligations, it’s easy to overlook its effects on workplace wellness programs. Yet these programs are very much affected by Obamacare.

With 2014 here, has everything in the health care landscape changed? Is there joy and jubilation in the streets as the disenfranchised are at long last offered opportunities to join in on the full range of health care services we office-worker types have enjoyed?

From ACA compliance to better employee communications, now is the time to look ahead to 2014 and make the most of your benefit plans.