Employee benefits

Employers that are considering incorporating wearable fitness devices into their wellness programs are facing important decisions about the cost of those devices, and must also be prepared to allay employees’ concerns about data security.

With mental health and substance abuse disorder services deemed an essential health benefit under the Affordable Care Act, employee assistance program providers are taking on a new role – helping employers and health plans sniff out fraudulent health care activity among substance abuse and mental health treatment facilities.

While pharmacy benefits utilization was roughly the same during the first half of 2014 for individuals enrolled in public health insurance exchanges and traditional insurance market plans, a new analysis shows the utilization of specialty drugs is much higher in the HIX marketplace.

Earlier this year, the Employee Benefits Security Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor, outlined initiatives to educate and protect 401(k) plan participants. Along with those initiatives comes an increased risk of a DOL audit for companies that don’t take the necessary steps to ensure their benefit plans are compliant and being properly administered for their employees.

Volatility has returned to the equity markets with a vengeance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fluctuated by hundreds of points on many recent trading days. During these times your 401(k) plan participants can become very nervous.

Although the ACA’s excise tax doesn’t go into effect until 2018, employers are already fearful — benefit advisers should be offering ideas and solutions to calm their fears.

For employers fighting to maintain grandfathered status, consultants and benefit managers predict the Affordable Care Act’s ongoing implementation will mean the end of these health plan structures in the near future.

A large majority of workers prefer signing up for benefits online, a PlanSource survey finds.

With companies granting over $110 billion in equity each year to employees, the stakes are very high for employers to demonstrate a strong return on investment from their equity compensation plans. And yet, there appears to be a disconnect in how these companies and their employees perceive equity awards.

Benefits firm WorkforceTactix and tech company Digital Health Innovations are using data analytics and an innovative health app to predict and prevent clients’ high-cost claims, increase transparency and rein in health care costs.

Companies are waking up to the fact that supporting the emotional, physical and cognitive health of their employees makes sense — and affects their bottom line.

Employee purchases have increased $18 billion in the past decade, Unum study finds

Commentary: Blogger Kevin Hilst shares tips for benefit advisers and professionals on how to make sure a vision RFP zeroes in on what distinguishes a great product from a commodity.

Several tech companies this week announced they would be adding egg freezing benefits to their health plan. While that may sound like a nice perk to some, making this and other benefit plan changes comes with risks that your employer clients, with your help, should consider.

On the heels of news about Aon Hewitt’s estimated more than 1.2 million HIX enrollees exceeding its expectations for 2015, Bright Choices Exchange operator Liazon is crowing about its own expansion plans.

The new CEO of the federal health insurance marketplace, Kevin Counihan, knows there is room for improvement, but says new processes have Healthcare.gov ready for 2015 open enrollment.

What's keeping female employees from getting more deeply involved in their own retirement savings? Better plan design and more personalized communications can help offset women's reluctance - or perceived financial inability - to help make savings plans.

A fix is in the works to ensure agents and brokers can identify themselves and therefore receive commissions for their work on the federally-facilitated marketplace, an agency official at The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight said Tuesday.

Initial numbers for 2015 open enrollment put participation in Mercer’s Marketplace exchange at nearly five times the size of 2014 rates. The consulting firm also added 40 additional clients to the exchange who were not previously with Mercer.

Using an electronic, cloud-based system to help with your open enrollment can allow employees to take the extra time to make sure they're getting the most out of your voluntary offerings.