Today, more and more advisers and their clients are looking to an employee assistance program as a source of health and wellness benefits.

Before we get too far into the new year, I'd like to recommend checking out two new features we've added to our website recently.

Looking for a way to promote his latest venture, a website where consumers can select an agent at the same time they buy their policy online, Alan Katz decided to start his own blog both as a hobby and in hopes that linking to it would increase the search engine optimization of the insurance website.

Beginning in 2014 all employers with at least 50 employees must buy comprehensive heath insurance for all full-time employees or pay a penalty of $2,000 dollars per employee.

Guardian Life will withdraw its medical insurance product line in all states, and will wind down its existing business over the next two years.

As the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approaches its one-year anniversary, the focus on the law is shifting from the issues of extending coverage and insurance reforms to the structure of the upcoming insurance exchanges, accountable care organizations and the definition of "essential benefits."

After a week’s delay following the shootings in Tucson, Republicans in the House of Representatives will kick off their health reform effort overhaul today. Yesterday the House began debating the Republicans’ measure, “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” (H.R. 2).

A vote in the House of Representatives on the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” (HR 2) scheduled for Jan. 12 has been postponed in the wake of last weekend’s shootings in Arizona, and although a new date has yet to be scheduled, Capitol Hill watchers expect the legislation to resurface soon.

There are two proposed pieces of legislation sitting in Congress that would seem to be no-brainers for helping people save for retirement and helping advisers help their clients.

If you were one of the millions of professionals who were out of the office between Dec. 24 and Jan. 3, welcome back to the grind.

Hopefully you all had a wonderful holiday season, and are back to work energized and ready to tackle the many important decisions that await you.

From childhood on, we have mentors for everything we do - parents, teachers, coaches, counselors. Everywhere we turn, a mentor is there to guide us through uncharted territory and help us succeed.

In the voluntary benefits business for more than a decade, Nashville's Karen Quigley knows a tidal change when she sees one. With carriers increasingly entering the core voluntary market and health care reform looming large over the whole industry, Quigley knew it was time to adapt.

Communication portals for employees have been the mainstay of benefits communication for the past decade. Increasingly though, brokers are finding that communication solutions focused on benefits alone are being subsumed by corporate intranets.

As a Texas-based benefit adviser, I can speak from experience about the article "Building value through health data transparency" (p. 14). In January 2008, Texas passed House Bill 2015, under which for groups between two and 50 lives I can get data on month-by-month covered lives, premium paid and claims paid. I can also get a listing of large claims in excess of $15,000. On groups with 50+ lives, I get all kinds of information on ER visits, office visits, prescription drugs, etc.

Some years ago, I was a researcher for a major employee benefits educational association. I learned that changes in federal legislation mean big business for advisers because of the demand they create for education. So here is my educated prediction for the new year: the equation in 2011 will be education equals sales.

With the new year in mind, I have a question for you: Are you working from a blueprint for success in 2011, or are you simply doing exactly what you did in 2010 and hoping for a different result?

Though January is just another month on the calendar, it is filled with hope - and sometimes, with trepidation. So in keeping with that spirit, here are some thoughts on what is likely to happen this year.

David Marom saw a need in the benefits marketplace, and he's using two decades worth of industry experience to meet it. This quarter, Marom Tech launches its Benefits Analysis Reporting application to help benefit advisers and consultants meet client needs through five avenues:

In a year replete with bad news, one of the most encouraging pieces of good news in 2010 was an uptick in the rate of growth of consumer-directed health plans. By the end of this year, more than 60% of U.S. employers are expected to offer a CDHP, according to a July 2010 GAO report.