Employee benefits

Buck Consultants estimates the average salary increase in 2013 will be 3%, and two-thirds of surveyed companies plan to focus on retention, not hiring.

The Department of Health and Human Services has laid out 10 categories of benefits that must be included in health insurance plans offered through an exchange.

A report published this week claims there’s no such thing as resistance to aspirin, and that expensive prescription blood thinners may be overused.

A majority of high-deductible health plan enrollees misunderstand what types of care are applied to their deductible, leading some to avoid preventive physician visits and tests unneccesarily.

The vote by the American Psychiatric Association follows a seven-year debate that split the mental health community over whether the changes will spur over-diagnosis of some autism spectrum disorders, and limit treatment for others.

With health reform moving full steam ahead, most employers will continue to offer employee coverage, but will make alterations to how they provide it, said a speaker at the Workplace Benefits Transitions conference Tuesday.

In a brush up on voluntary, Prudential's Jim Gemus explains the advantages in offering voluntary to you, your clients and their employees in this challenging business environment.

“Investors are concerned about rising health care costs, and they should be,” says one expert with T. Rowe Price, noting that medical expenses topped a list of surveyed respondents’ recent concerns.

It’s likely no one pays more attention to retirement plan fees than the plan fiduciary, says The Principal Financial’s Aaron Friedman. After all it’s their job to work with the service provider and financial professional to make sure the fees paid by the plan are “reasonable.” But what exactly does “reasonable” mean and what does it have to with cars?

Health care reform means that many patients can no longer be denied health insurance because of preexisting conditions. But there’s a big catch: Coverage for many Americans without insurance will come at a potentially unaffordable cost.

Executives are at risk, as the average long-term disability plan may not take care of them

How Tussey v ABB is a new frontier in ERISA class-action litigation

2012 election and victory of Obama over Romney means health care industry will change

The healthy as well as sick employees deserve attention in high deductible health plans.

EBA editor Elizabeth Galentine explains how to view the whole picture.

Two decades of experience and a genuine enthusiasm for the product make Dan McNeill EBA’s 2012 Voluntary Adviser of the Year

The pros and cons of a benefit practice offering retirement plan services.

Post-election, for those who were waiting for something to happen that might change the course of health reform, you can stop waiting. A recent Mercer study found 15% of clients were waiting on the election to start implementing health reform, anticipating a change in administration would either repeal it, fundamentally change it, or roll back some of the provisions - which was probably more feasible. That not being the case, I think everybody out there should start making plans for 2014 based on the law as we know it.

A smoker’s need for a support network is one reason smoking-cessation programs in the workplace have a good chance at success.

As private exchanges expand and companies consider a future beyond the traditional employer-sponsored health care system, benefits experts weigh in on consumers’ readiness for defined contribution health.