Employee benefits

Various months are designated throughout the year to educating consumers about the need for a particular insurance product line or service to ease financial burdens.

One-third of recently surveyed physician practices and 14% of surveyed hospitals do not conduct a regular security risk analysis of their electronic health information.

Whether an employer continues to offer health insurance once state-run insurance exchanges take effect in 2014 will largely depend on the size of the employer, according to a survey by Mercer.

Although voluntary turnover has dipped significantly this year, a new PwC Saratoga study says employers are giving more attention to career development and performance management in anticipation of increased turnover as the economy improves.

Dave Cirulis recently was named head of voluntary marketplace strategy for distribution at Lincoln Financial Group, which has spruced up its product portfolio as well as enrollment, service and technology capabilities. He reports directly to Robert Risk, the insurer’s vice president, group protection sales.

In response to a new American Payroll Association survey showing 43% of employees valuing health benefits more important than higher wages, Dan Maddux, the group’s executive director has suggested that employees consider pretax voluntary payroll deductions and flexible spending accounts to ease the sting of rising health care costs and uncertainty about health care reform.

Podcast: Strategic alliances can serve as an inexpensive foothold into the voluntary benefits marketplace for vendors that seek to broaden ...

Long-term care (LTC) insurance is back in the headlines, with several leading insurance carriers seeking rate increases to help offset investment shortfalls in an ultra-low interest rate environment and greater-than-expected plan usage.

The SPARK Institute has sent a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission asking it to modify its proposed 12b-1 fee rule.

Flush with victory from election night, Republican strategists are delving into possible measures to repeal or significantly hamper existing health care reform legislation.

The Department of Labor’s new 401(k) fee disclosure requirements that take effect Jan. 1, 2012 go far beyond disclosing mutual fund expense ratios to cover every nook and cranny of expenses in plans, right down to indirect service providers, speakers said at the FundForum USA 2010 conference in Boston Nov. 1.

It’s November, which means three things: open enrollment, turkey dinners and long-term care. Today (Nov. 1) marks the beginning of Long-Term Care Awareness Month, a concentrated push to get employees thinking about how they plan to receive and fund care in their later years.

Most employers say they value their employees. After all, it would sound pretty harsh for an employer to say that its employees are, with a few exceptions, a bunch of idiots who can seldom do anything right.

Only a tiny percentage of pet owners in the United States have insurance for their pet, but according to the American Pet Products Association, about 62% of U.S. households have a pet. Clearly, the pet insurance is a market ripe for growth. "The message there is in the opportunity to increase participation for consumers and for groups," says JoAnne Novak, VP, business development with Hartville Group, Inc., and its flagship brand ASPCA Pet Health Insurance.

Sun Life Financial Inc. recently enhanced its emergency travel assistance service for group basic life customers by adding identity theft protection.

Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company recently enhanced its Resource Advisor member-assistance service to include Beneficiary Companion and Identity Theft Victim Recovery Services programs at no additional cost to customers.

One pet peeve of employers, brokers and carriers is that employees don’t spend enough time reviewing their benefit plans during open enrollment.

The boundary between voluntary and employer-paid benefit sales is disappearing in an increasingly competitive climate where more brokers are abandoning territorial patterns, suggests new research from Eastbridge Consulting Group.

Communication beats out critical thinking (73%), collaboration/team building (72%), and creativity and innovation (66%) as competencies that are the top priorities for employee development, talent management, and succession planning in the next one to three years, according to a new survey from the American Management Association.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always believed the primary consideration for employees in whether to accept, keep or leave a job is money. It’s not the only consideration, of course, but it’s the top one. Right?