Employee benefits

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule March 31 that establishes the Medicare Shared Savings Program authorized in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

While health care costs are inevitably going to rise in the future, a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2011 will likely spend $230,000 on health care throughout their retirement, Fidelity estimates.

Last month, I made the case that health risk assessments are a poor tool for measuring the health of a population or a single individual, and the data they produce are not necessary for the design of good wellness programs. ("No more master key: Health risk assessments unnecessary for wellness plan design," EBN March)

HighRoads, a Boston-based compliance and benefits management firm, conducted a survey months after approval of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, finding that, in general, employers believed that outsourcing costs for health benefits administration will increase because of the law.

How one company used a virtual benefits fair to tame employees' inertia and boost engagement during open enrollment.

Browsing the Web could soon beat out baseball as the American pastime. Many of your employees use the Internet to research their health care options, their new diagnoses or their new diet. The problem is, there are thousands, if not millions, of health care websites.

Workplace clinics give literal meaning to the phrase "Taking care of our employees." However, savvy-thinking employers are taking strategic steps to determine what's in and what's out when it comes to health services rendered onsite.

When it comes to addressing end-of-life needs and services, most people know it's important to plan ahead in order to make sure that their family will not be burdened with overwhelming decisions during a difficult time. Even so, many people put it off because they would rather not have to think about the topic.

Years ago when I approached a crusty old broker from down south about enrolling his voluntary benefits cases, he told me he didn't sell voluntary because, "Boy, the juice ain't worth the squeeze."

The decline in plan sponsor appetite to change recordkeepers has dropped at a steady rate, not in spikes, which makes it likely that we will not see a dramatic increase any time soon. Meanwhile, many of the larger, more established recordkeepers are having record years; that means the rich keep getting richer while the rest are suffering.

Without delving too deeply into philosophy, it is probably safe to say that some people are compelled to do the right thing only because of the fear of punishment. As a young child, if I had the opportunity to take an extra cookie and not get caught, I may very well have taken full advantage of the situation. However, more often than not, the fear of getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar prevented me from doing it.

From analyzing the developing definition of fiduciary to discussing the best ways for advisers to differentiate themselves from the competition, the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries' "10th anniversary 401(k) SUMMIT" gave more than 950 attendees plenty of tricks of the trade to improve their business and stay informed on industry developments. Held March 6-8 in Las Vegas, the SUMMIT drew a range of retirement advisers, recordkeepers, plan administrators and others from across the country.

The 2010 annual enrollment season saw the opening of the floodgates regarding dependent eligibility, as employers were required under the health care reform law to extend coverage to all dependent children - regardless of student status - to age 26. This includes both married and unmarried dependent children, as well as those who are no longer dependents on their parents' tax returns.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, all plans must cover certain preventive care services with no member cost-sharing - with an exception for grandfathered plans - as of plan years beginning on or after Sept. 23, 2010.

In this post-health care reform environment, benefit advisers - and their employer clients - face a new world order. For instance, with new restrictions on capping lifetime maximum benefits, the burden of managing the potential financial risk posed by even one employee's catastrophic illness looms large.

Cigna Corp is expanding its business that provides health coverage to those working abroad by offering a product directly to individuals.

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals study evaluates performance in 10 areas: mortality; medical complications; patient safety; average patient stay; expenses; profitability; patient satisfaction; adherence to clinical standards of care; post-discharge mortality; and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure, and pneumonia.

Consumers are spending $363 billion a year on ancillary health care, according to a new study by Deloitte.

The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a group of large pharmaceutical companies cannot be sued by a California county for allegedly overcharging for prescription drugs in violation of federal law.

Standard & Poor's, the world's leading index provider and publisher of the widely followed Standard & Poor's Index Versus Active Fund scorecard series, has launched the industry's first comprehensive, periodic scorecard for target-date mutual funds. The S&P Indices Target-Date Scorecard provides performance comparisons, equal- and asset-weighted peer averages, and volatility comparisons for U.S. target-date funds versus their relative S&P Target-Date Index.