Owners of insurance agencies — long a community mainstay — need to start pondering their futures now or they may become irrelevant, said the chairman of The Big "I".

Richard H. Thaler, a professor of behavioral science and economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and co-author of the best selling book Nudge, set out to with a former student to investigate their hunch that teams overvalue picking early and pay too much for top draft picks, including trading other picks.

As a sales leader, it’s critical for brokers to understand how to help their team realize their potential and become the most effective salesperson. Kevin Trokey explains why brokers should commit to all four steps to become one of the most valuable resources in their organization.

A new research report from the Commonwealth Fund offers new insights into America’s uninsured.

Employers continue to look to their adviser to guide them through health care reform uncertainty. In fact, 88% expect their adviser to educate them on health care reform and its implications, according to a recent survey.

Employers and brokers should step back and look at the benefit products that are being used and ask: “If we were designing these plans in 2012, what would they look like?” Today, we use dental plans designed over 50 years ago, and vision plans designed over 25 years ago. Both of these predate HRAs, HSAs, and FSAs. All plans from all insurers are almost identical: Same design Mostly insured Multiple rules on frequency, procedures, age, and limits PPO networks …

Liberty Mutual Insurance’s Group Benefits operation became the first to introduce a mobile application that makes it easier for employees and clients to manage their benefits.

Employee engagement is the goal of just about every wellness and health management program. You need to engage employees to be more active, eat better, get more sleep. … You get the idea. So why is engaging employees so hard? Maybe it’s because we haven’t really thought about it from the perspective of the employee – the end-user of the wellness initiative. According to research from a partnership of Aon Hewitt and The Futures Company, most…

Republicans in Congress are getting ready to answer an election-year question that has dogged the party's campaign for months: How would it replace President Barack Obama's health care law if the measure is overturned or repealed?

Although the focus of discussion among health plan thought leaders who convened in Florida last month at The Managed Care Executive Group ran the gamut from care management to meaningful use, to medical informatics, payment reforms, HSAs and more, technology’s role in the industry’s success was evident.

Forty-two percent of respondents have used social media to access consumer reviews of treatments or physicians, 30% have supported a health cause, 25% have posted content about their own health experiences and 20% have joined a health forum or community, according to the Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Despite recent tax reform proposals, experts testified at a House committee hearing Tuesday that cutting the incentives for retirement plans would be detrimental to savings in this country.

Baby boomers wired to their iPads and smart phones are giving U.S. health experts some new ideas about ways to cut the soaring costs of medical care in graying America.

After a long, winding legal road, involving no fewer than six federal court decisions, Ameriprise Financial finally won a suit alleging that it had charged excessively high adviser fees.

U.S. officials on Monday cited two health insurers for excessive premium increases, under consumer protection rules of President Barack Obama's health care reform law that could soon be nullified by the Supreme Court.

The final ruling for the insurance exchange portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is out. The 644-page rule mandates that all 50 states must be ready with an exchange by October 2013. “So far, there are only about 20 states making measurable progress toward the deadline,” says Bob Laszewiski of Health Policy Strategy Associates, LLC. “Most conservative states – 29 states have Republican governors – are sitting on the sidelines waiting to…

Here is a recent roundup of industry accomplishments. Check to see if a colleague is mentioned this week.

Brokers play a key role in helping plan sponsors establish a healthier workplace, but one main problem still affects employers today — dealing with the lack of resources that are available to improve employee health and productivity at the workplace, according to a white paper from The Standard.

Confidence in retirement security is shaky with only 36% of baby boomers saying they have enough assets to live comfortably in retirement, according to a new study.

When President Barack Obama criticized Mitt Romney by name this week for embracing a controversial Republican budget proposal, he worded his attack carefully and with bite.