Employee benefits

CVS Caremark Corp. halted sales of tobacco products almost a month ahead of schedule, started a smoking-cessation campaign, and changed its name to position itself as an advocate of better health.

Despite the ever-changing world, ERISA remains strong and steady. The average American worker is far better off because of ERISA, which has held up remarkably well over the past four decades.

New data reveals only 46% of middle-market consumers have individual life insurance, and that more than three quarters of consumers age 25-64 say they would benefit from more close guidance from financial services professionals in adding that important voluntary benefit.

Fed up over unpaid enrollment commissions, benefit advisers are suing the Nevada state exchange and its website contractor Xerox.

On the 40th anniversary of ERISA, benefits attorney Howard Shapiro contemplates the differences between this landmark piece of legislation and another, the Affordable Care Act.

The IRS has posted draft instructions for the various Affordable Care Act reporting that will be done for calendar year 2015 and while the instructions provide much needed guidance for employers and insurers, they also confirm the daunting complexity of the reporting task.

Insurance underwriting is hardly dramatic enough to warrant a TV show, but there is a forensic component to the annual renewal process.

Millennials took a big financial hit during the recession, with wounds that are still fresh and unlikely to heal quickly, and a growing, under-utilized industry is hoping to build some new momentum.

With such a wide range of opinions about how much money employees need to save for retirement – estimates vary from eight to 25 times final pay – it can be hard for participants to know what to aim for.

In what could serve as a caution to employers using health and fitness apps to engage workers in their wellness programs, researchers at Brigham Young University are warning over the trend of developers basing their platforms' rewards on gamification.

Survey finds that across all lines of insurance, 18 to 29 year olds are less likely to own coverage than other age groups.

Employers from Starbucks to ConAgra have begun partnering directly with academic institutions to create specialized programs for their employees. It’s a new spin on an older system, as benefit managers are trying to evaluate the long-term benefits of helping to pay for their workers’ education.

Commentary: Financial services company BOK Financial enlists the help of a benefits communication vendor to boost participation in its consumer-directed health plan.

With increased CFO involvement in health care and benefit decision-making, benefit managers are under more scrutiny than ever before to ensure they efficiently manage their health and benefits vendor relationships.

Millennials are 10% more likely to lack health coverage than adults age 30 and over despite paying lower costs, receiving subsidies based on income and possibly staying on their parent's health insurance policy until age 26.

Many benefit managers – especially those at smaller companies – have never had to help an employee with an accommodation at work or help chart their path back to work after a disability leave.

The White House Friday proposed two rules in response to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision earlier this summer that will allow women to receive contraception coverage if an employer refuses to offer it for religious reasons.

Large employers say they don’t have plans to eliminate health care coverage for active employees in 2015, although 35% say they are considering moving their active employees to a private exchange in 2016 or beyond, a recent survey finds.

Commentary: In this digital information age, it’s imperative to closely guard personal information. If you pay attention to the news, you’re familiar with the concept of identity theft, the potential loss of financial information. However, there’s a new emerging type of identity theft — medical identity theft — and it can literally kill you. Here’s how your employees can protect themselves.

The Obama administration has announced a government workaround to allow employees of religious nonprofits access to birth-control coverage even if their employer has opted not to pay for such medicines.