Employee benefits

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 employer community has made its voice clear on the Affordable Care Act’s excise tax. Legislators seem to have heard. Will it make a difference?

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.

Robo retirement firms entering the small-plan 401(k) market won’t replace human advisers, industry leaders say.

Fitness device maker Fitbit now will enter into HIPAA business associate agreements with corporations, health plans and self-insured employers that want to offer its wellness platform to employees.

Waiting to “see what happens” with your workplace culture is a recipe for disaster.

Commentary: Is it possible to look at the tea leaves and forecast possible disruptions to the way health care benefits are delivered to employees over the next five to 10 years?

Actively managed funds still represent the largest chunk of most 401(k) investment lineups, but passively managed investments have risen in recent years because of fee disclosure regulations, target-date funds and the notion that managed accounts have been unable to beat the returns of index funds.

Workers value personalized benefits information yet few employers have implemented a tailored communications approach.

Commentary: Data breaches, cost transparency and telehealth rank among the Health Research Institute’s top trends plan sponsors need to pay attention to.

The public employees responsible for overseeing $600 million in contracts to build Healthcare.gov were inadequately trained, kept sloppy records, and failed to identify delays and problems that contributed to millions in cost overruns, a new government report finds.

Is the U.S. health care system overrated and overpriced?

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

Commentary: Many plan sponsors believe that just by hiring an adviser they do not have a fiduciary obligation to understand the investments in their plans. This is fundamentally wrong.

There’s a huge discrepancy between what millennials want from their benefits and what their employers think they want. What does this mean for open enrollment?

In the first year of open enrollment on its private benefit exchange, brokerage Lovitt & Touché made some mistakes. But the firm won’t be repeating them, says the Phoenix-based brokerage’s senior vice president.

Having developed robo platforms for retail clients and advisors, Betterment is expanding further into the asset management industry with a 401(k) offering for businesses. As can be expected from its CEO Jon Stein, the scope is grand as the digital-first firm sees a $4.6 trillion market ripe for disruption.

Measuring wellness results with credible data is a laudable goal, but it’s an incredibly tricky endeavor.

A number of states are looking to establish state-run DC plans for workers who don’t have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Commentary: Benefit professionals should take advantage of new technology and services to protect employees and help them resolve ID theft situations, says VEBA’s Tinker Kelly.