Employee benefits

The fight over the Affordable Care Act in Washington is as fierce as ever, with a Republican budget plan that would repeal the health care law Democrats passed five years ago. In the rest of the country, opposition to the law appears to be easing.

An Affordable Care Act-fueled surge in self-insurance for medical benefits among smaller employers appears to have leveled off somewhat, but not due to any disenchantment with the cost-management strategy.

A lack of understanding about the benefits of having both an individual retirement account and a 401(k) or 403(b) may help explain why some Americans are not contributing or considering an IRA as part of their retirement strategy.

Commentary: Employers who start revising their FMLA policies to address this change should also use it as an opportunity to review their benefit plan language to make sure it accurately reflects the updated definition.

Recent guidance from the National Labor Relations Board includes details about the types of employer policies and rules likely to be considered to unlawfully interfere with employees’ rights.

California's struggling to pay for health care for retired state employees, with an estimated $72 billion in medical costs coming in the next 30 years. Gov. Jerry Brown's solution: Make workers start contributing money to pay for the health care they'll need after retiring.

Aflac says it will now pay out certain voluntary benefit claims in one business day, an announcement that industry experts say will likely force competitors to follow suit.

The funded status of all U.S. multiemployer pension plans dropped from 81% at the end of 2013 to 80% at the end of last year.

Earning less money and a lack of financial knowledge make saving more difficult for women, who are turning to advisers for help, research shows.

Commentary: All retirement plan sponsors should be working with investment advisers who have signed on to their plan as fiduciaries.

It’s time to talk about something that most benefits professionals have left on the backburner for the last couple of years: the impending Cadillac tax.

Like the Obama administration, agency chair calls for a new regulation that would make brokers put the interests of their clients ahead of their own.

Although employee “well-being” programs remain highly popular, few employers actually have a strategy behind them.

The departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services today published final rules amending the definition of excepted benefits to include certain limited coverage that wraps around individual health insurance.

Premera Blue Cross, serving the Northwest and Alaska, was hacked beginning last May, and even more sensitive data was exposed than in the Anthem hack.

Like the recycling of paper, glass and plastic, the recycling of retirement savings through automated portability benefits everyone and is easy to implement.

Commentary: CMS has issued a special enrollment period for certain individuals to sign up for health care coverage on the exchanges. Blogger Craig Hasday wonders if the administration's leniency is also hurting its credibility.

Worksite clinics and private exchanges might appear to be mutually exclusive approaches to rising cost pressures, yet they can be integrated to achieve the same goal – improved health outcomes and lower health care cost trend.

Controlling rising health care costs is crucial for all employers, and conducting regular dependent eligibility audits can help.

Mid-year enrollment of voluntary benefits is gaining popularity, but benefit experts caution the strategy is not right for everyone.