Employee benefits

Encouraged by Rep. Paul Ryan’s focus on fiscal responsibility, many brokers and advisers remain satisfied a week after Gov. Mitt Romney announced his vice presidential pick, saying the seven-term Wisconsin congressman brings a fresh perspective to the presidential election.

If it’s okay to charge higher premiums on employer-provided health insurance to smokers or employees who refuse to take a health-risk appraisal, then why, asks guest blogger Bruce Shutan, is it wrong for the government to help us take better care of ourselves?

Employee morale continues a slow but steady decline from 2008 levels, but the benefits enrollment season, vastly approaching, offers employers the chance to positively engage their employees, according to recent research from Unum.

As carriers ramp up to gain market share ahead of PPACA, Aetna acquires Coventary —increasing its overall share of government health plans to more than 30%, and nearly 42 million members nationwide.

A U.S. bankruptcy court judge has denied a request by American Airlines parent company to abandon collective bargaining agreements with its pilots in an effort to save more than $1 billion a year in labor and benefit costs.

While most benefits professionals responding to a recent poll have seen improvements in their benefits communication efforts in the past three years, a sizeable portion are either unsatisfied with or ambivalent about their current strategy.

Working Americans would receive a set of capped tax credits to cover their health care costs under a proposal by Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, who believes excluding employer-provided coverage from federal taxes provides an unfair advantage.

Of the 14 life insurance firms monitored by Corporate Insight, Liberty Mutual and USAA were cited as having the strongest social media performances and were awarded top grades.

A nearly four-fold increase in custom strategies for target-date fund assets held by 401(k) plans is projected by 2016 compared with the 2011 asset level of $46.4 billion.

Experts who have crunched the numbers on retiree medical cost estimates that factor in Medicare premiums, prescription drugs and the occasional illness project frightening bills – even for healthy individuals.

Corporate America, take note: A new report sheds light on the national obesity epidemic’s regional trouble spots, as well as areas that are successfully battling bulging waistlines.

Truck stops are getting a makeover as companies add amenities to combat the growing shortage of a precious commodity: drivers.

With an increasingly youthful workplace come dramatic implications for employee benefits from the standpoint of recruiting and retaining top talent, but the biggest challenge will be tailoring strategies to multiple generations.

Citing family obligations and the desire to revise a textbook, Therese (Terri) Vaughan will step down as CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Her effective resignation date in the first quarter of 2013 has not yet been determined.

Research suggests that a slow but steady decline in employee morale from 2008 levels presents an opportunity to improve employee engagement during the upcoming benefits enrollment season.

Employers that develop a culture of health are able to bend the cost curve, but one potentially serious impediment is an alarming national obesity epidemic that has triggered multiple co-morbidity factors that run up expenses.

Although it’s unclear when obesity is deemed “severe” enough to constitute an ADA-protected disability, it is now clear that “morbid” obesity” warrants such protection.

More than a third of retirement plan participants admitted that they either “guessed” or “made up” their estimates for how much income they would need in retirement, according to a new survey, while only 30% said they consulted with a professional for help in setting their goals.

Financial literacy is so critically important to working Americans that it can make them more productive and less vulnerable to major economic uncertainty, according to a new survey, but only about half of employers said they provide basic workplace financial education.

PPACA compliance is expected to hit employers with large part-time employee populations hardest, while some firms may need to think twice about low-paid workers qualifying for Medicaid.