Employee benefits

Low cost, no minimum investment and daily trading are reasons for their increased use over the past 10 years.

How can employers get more out of their wellness programs without also growing their budgets?

Historically, financial planners have advised that retirees could expect to derive their retirement income from three sources: Social Security, corporate retirement plans and personal savings. That might not be the case anymore.

Employers will devote more mind share to retirement programs in the coming year, in part because of increased confidence about compliance with the Affordable Care Act.

When evaluating the merits of a private exchange, one industry insider suggests pursuing an overall financial strategy built around achieving “true savings” rather than simply shifting costs onto employees – a warning that has been sounded for years in the traditional marketplace.

As health care reform continues to unfold, employers are re-examining the role of their benefit programs in their overall human capital strategy and coming around to the idea that attracting, retaining and engaging workers hinges on the total employee experience, not health care benefits alone.

Despite great investment returns recently, the nation’s largest corporate defined benefit pension funds have been defenseless against growing liabilities resulting from dropping discount rates.

Employers considering private health care exchanges should leave themselves plenty of time to make the switch, say two employers who’ve made the move in recent years.

Wellness programs are gaining popularity and the Cadillac tax is still a mystery for many employers, but no major changes to benefits are expected next year, study says.

Despite pressure from clients to provide an immediate solution for rising health care costs – brokers need to proceed slowly and cautiously when discussing solutions such as private exchanges, according to a speaker at Employee Benefit News’ Private Healthcare Exchanges conference.

Lawmakers in Springfield, Ill., decided this week to green light a new statewide private sector retirement program that will consist of individual retirement accounts to be funded by automatic employee payroll deductions.

Biometric screening offers value in identifying employees at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other costly and debilitating chronic conditions. However, employers will probably not see a return on their investment if their employees don’t act on the results.

As the holidays move into full gear, what should be the most wonderful time of the year is often not that way for many employees. During this potentially overwhelming season, it is important that employees have access to help.

Sam’s Club, the big-box members-only warehouse, decided to offer health insurance to its customers through a private health care exchange because those small business owner-members were asking for it. In October, the retail chain said it was partnering with Aetna to offer health insurance to members through a private exchange to small businesses.

As if employee benefit brokers and advisers in California haven’t had enough uphill battles trying to preserve their standing along the changing HIX landscape, some of them also now have to worry about being paid for helping enroll more than 500,000 residents in the state-run public exchange. But at least one industry insider believes it’s much ado about nothing. …

With the help of predicative analytics, employers, and more importantly their HR and benefit departments, are now able to better administer health and benefit plans to their employee populations.

Open enrollment has been an annual headache for employers, even before the presence of the Affordable Care Act and the numerous plan changes towards more employee consumerism that followed.

Does the rising use of HSAs pose a threat to the 401(k) as the deferral vehicle of choice? The two products can work hand-in-hand to position employees for a better future, if implemented effectively.

Increased competition in the HIX marketplace is expected to pave the way for branded health options with strategic tiers or regional provider partnerships that offer a leg up on narrow networks, especially with 25 million Americans projected to sign up for exchange plans over the coming decade.

Anyone who thinks private exchanges are a new fad should speak with Choice Administrators, the organization that runs CaliforniaChoice. It’s been around close to 20 years, since 1996. President and CEO Ron Goldstein talks with EBA about the business model and how grandmothered plans under the Affordable Care Act could make a big impact in the new year.