Employee benefits

As the White House kicks off its Conference on Aging this week, one financial services vendor is launching a new education program for its plan sponsor clients focused on creating greater awareness of the nation’s aging population.

Despite the looming Cadillac tax, few employers are planning big changes to their health plans this year.

As employers search for ways to trim health care costs, advisers are increasingly exploring the use of data to steer plan design.

Culture is the single most important factor in your organization’s success or failure.

Zenefits has filed a motion to dismiss an anti-defamation lawsuit filed against it by payroll services giant ADP, continuing a heated row between the two companies that Zenefits says comes down to a a fight for “consumer choice.”

In the constantly changing health insurance business, the only way to stay ahead of the competition is to reinvest in your company, your employees and your technology. That’s what Sparks, Md.-based Kelly & Associates Insurance Group has been doing. What can smaller firms learn from Kelly and why is the continual reinvestment so important?

President Barack Obama asked the U.S. Senate to confirm Andy Slavitt as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Commentary: Waiting for the results of the 2016 presidential election before doing any Cadillac tax planning is not a good benefits strategy.

In a recent trail blazing move, Boston’s Mayor Martin J. Walsh signed an ordinance establishing paid parental leave for city employees.

Have you seen those new BrokerCheck commercials on TV? With the help of these commercials, FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, would like to motivate anyone looking to hire a financial adviser to visit its BrokerCheck website first to vet candidates.

To stay abreast of private exchange trends, advisers, employers, insurers and other legal and industry experts will share their insights about private exchanges at this year’s EBA/EBN Private Healthcare Exchanges conference in downtown Chicago, July 23-24.

Employers are becoming more proactive in asking hospitals to participate in The Leapfrog Group’s surveys.

Commentary: Insurance is complex and relying on technology alone for employee education isn’t realistic.

It’s no surprise that health care costs are continuing to rise and while employers remain committed to providing benefits, many are re-evaluating their benefit strategies.

Pent-up demand for various medical services has been identified among newer public exchange enrollees who deferred or avoided treatment because of financial constraints resulting from a lack of health insurance, notes the first in a series of research papers on so called preference-sensitive services.

Advisers who excel in the vision field do the best job of making the connection between vision and medical plans, some experts say. Shannon Enders, a founding partner at Lakeshore Employee Benefits in Norton Shores, Mich., says when he brings the idea of connecting vision and health data to clients’ attention, “they quickly become very interested.”

Commentary: Delivering fee disclosure notices to both plan sponsors and plan participants has helped some plan sponsors to lower their costs, but the various fee disclosures are still difficult for many to understand. With such a national focus on fees, some plan sponsors have taken the opportunity to review and rethink how they handle plan fees.

Commentary: Columnist Nelson Griswold discusses why sophisticated employee benefit advisers are increasingly discussing self-funding of the health plan with mid-size employers.

Failure to identify all retirement plan fiduciaries is just one common mistake employers make that can lead to trouble.

Narrow-network restrictions help health insurance carriers participating in public exchanges limit their exposure to adverse selection and better manage the cost of patient care, but they’re also an annoyance for health care exchange enrollees who want unencumbered access to doctors and hospitals.