Benefit plan design

The potential cost increases due to offering transgender health benefits is minimal because the population is small, says Human Rights Campaign.

Commentary: Many employers don't know what their PBMs are doing today to actually manage their specialty drug programs, says Lockton's Sarah Martin. It's up to advisers to shine a light on PBM practices.

The merging of health benefits and retirement planning on an exchange platform is a trend worth taking note of.

Five ways to tell if your employees are getting the service they deserve from your benefits company.

Employers more than ever are seeking innovative solutions for health care cost containment from their benefit advisers, and one industry expert says emerging strategies to help brokers thrive in the coming decade should include voluntary benefit sales and plan integration.

Increased regulatory requirements and rising health care costs have spurred more employers to consider defined contribution health care plans, a trend industry experts at EBA’s Workplace Benefits Summit say is a result of a more transformative approach to health care benefit strategy.

Despite thousands of dollars spent on marketing, one key item is missing for critical illness insurance sales. What is it and how can four simple questions help improve sales?

Questions over program effectiveness, legality and data storage have employers hesitating to implement such plans.

Commentary: Although in their infancy, private exchanges have not yet met predicted adoption rates. Wells Fargo’s Dan Gowen shares why this may be the case.

Commentary: The “teachable moment” remains one of the most important potential benefits of a health assessment. Well-designed assessment tools provide a catalyst for lifestyle change by creating receptivity to health-related information and recommendations.

Commentary: Our focus on each item that comes along in the employee-employer relationship blinds us to the bigger picture issues.

A potential plan to pool the health care purchasing power of Detroit’s Big Three automakers in the form of a CO-OP or similar entity sounds intriguing to industry insiders, but they also caution that it wouldn’t be an easy road.

Despite the regulatory uncertainty about how the Affordable Care Act’s excise tax will apply to employer-sponsored care offered through onsite clinics, employers appear committed to the concept.

Commentary: Many brokers underestimate the impact a comprehensive disability management philosophy can have on the total cost of an employee benefits program.

Commentary: Just because vendors are promising you will avoid penalties because you were able to provide a “good faith” effort, doesn’t mean you actually will be penalty-free.

The number of employers who could be subject to the ACA’s Cadillac tax is predicted to rise if employers remain stagnant on health care plan changes, underscoring a need to make plan adjustments sooner rather than later.

The Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges primarily affects the administration of benefits and almost exclusively applies to employers in those states that previously did not recognize same-sex marriage.

Commentary: EBA columnist Nelson Griswold says benefits RFPs are universally awful and HR should abandon them. Advisers, he says, should also be wary of them.

Commentary: Specific innovations in benefits administration software are paving the way and supplying the technological framework to a future primarily based in cyberspace rather than buildings filled with people.

Commentary: Employee leave is right in the middle of policy and business management discussions. Benefit managers would be wise to get ahead of the curve.