Employee benefits

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption releases its annual list of companies with the best adoption benefits.

Ensign Services’ Jennifer Weinstein transforms the way her company delivers benefits.

American Heart Association uses Hotseat app to get employees to move more.

These plans hold appeal in an unpredictable economy but must be well-designed to avoid employee dissatisfaction.

Altered by the ACA, limited medical plans may actually increase in popularity for some workers.

The highest-priced hospitals in 13 cities studied are typically paid 60% more for inpatient services and almost double for outpatient care than the lowest-priced hospitals in the same communities.

Topping the list again this year is the Wendy’s Company, which offers a combination of up to $25,300 in adoption assistance and up to six weeks of paid adoption leave.

A 25-year-old New Yorker earning $25,000 a year will pay as little as $62 a month for health insurance next year, and a peer living in Vermont may pay nothing, according to a 17-state survey of premiums under the U.S. health care overhaul.

A recent delay on out-of-pocket spending could be complicated for those who think they have a single-vendor system, should their health care provider and pharmacy be considered separate internally.

Just 38% of parents said they’re extremely comfortable talking about insurance, while 55% are fine discussing the intoxicants, according to a survey released today by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

Concerns about finances, fears of unexpected death and more make this ethnic group a potential target for advisers.

Why it could affect their plan participants.

Definition of “reasonable” is a central focus of IRS audits.

Guest blogger Linda K. Riddell warns employers not to be wowed by vendors' "whiz-bang" options and the quantity of their reporting.

A recent delay on out-of-pocket spending could be complicated for those who think they have a single-vendor system, should their health care provider and pharmacy be considered separate internally.

The U.S. Department of Labor has provided guidance on Family and Medical Leave Act protections for same-sex couples. The guidance follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which fundamentally changed how the federal government treats same-sex marriages.

Despite the modest increase “rising health care costs remain a serious concern for U.S. employers,” said Helen Darling, the group’s president and CEO.

The number of Fortune 500 companies offering health care benefits to same-sex partners has surged in a decade, to about 62% last year from 34% in 2002, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign.

More than a third of survey respondents plan to make a change to their HR structure before the end of 2014. Towers Watson says that among those organizations planning change, 74% say it’s to improve operational efficiencies.

A new poll shows a large gap between the amount of life insurance necessary and what consumers think they have.