Healthcare plans

Why the CEO’s ability to sign paychecks may also make them liable as plan fiduciaries; and how you can help your employer clients avoid this slippery slope.

EBN’s annual i-COMM Awards recognize the best in internal communication of benefits. In this four-part series, we highlight this year’s winners, including the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, winner of Best Use of Social Media.

EBN's annual i-COMM Awards recognize the best in internal communication of benefits. In this four-part series, we highlight this year’s winners, including Robins & Morton, winner of Best Intranet/Employee Portal.

Two major trends in employer-sponsored health care continue: a slower rate of premium increases and greater use of high-deductible health plans, especially among small employers, Kaiser study finds.

With the release of its new Apple Watch and Apple HealthKit app, the tech giant is literally putting health care in the hands of the consumer. What does this mean for employer-based health care management?

Apple's new watch shows promise to improve medication adherence by tracking when medications should be taken and sending a reminder to an individual who is wearing the watch.

EBN's annual i-COMM Awards recognize the best in internal communication of benefits. In this four-part series, we highlight this year’s winners, including Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., winner of Best Print or Online Newsletter.

Saddled with the high cost of emerging specialty drugs, employers are looking to their benefit advisers for strategies to manage their medical plan’s drug spend.

Commentary: Open enrollment time means employer clients will be reviewing fee disclosures. Columnist John Ludwig discusses several steps plan sponsors should take when reviewing the disclosures for accuracy and to determine if fees are fair and reasonable.

As private exchange providers introduce voluntary benefit offerings, how will broker commissions be affected?

Several factors, including the economy and technological advances, are contributing to a slowdown in the health care cost growth rate in the U.S., studies show.

As the gap widens on whether e-cigarettes are part of the solution or still part of the greater problem of employee smoking cessation, their popularity is still on the rise. Experts from the health management group HealthFitness have provided some additional tips for employers taking on the challenge of creating e-cigarette policies in the workplace.

EBN’s annual i-COMM Awards recognize the best in internal communication of benefits, and are awarded in four categories: Best Overall Communications Campaign, Best Print or Online Employee Newsletter, Best Employee Intranet or Portal and Best Use of Social Media. In this four-part series, we highlight this year’s winners, starting with AECOM, i-COMM winner for Best Overall Communications Campaign.

Diana Andersen’s efforts to educate employees made the Affordable Care Act a ‘nonevent’ for Zions Bancorporation. Andersen is EBN’s 2014 Benny Award winner for Benefits Leadership in Health Care.

Commentary: Under the ACA, clinical trials offer an expanding frontier for plan sponsors and insurers, says Symetra’s Marien Diaz.

The IRS has released long-awaited draft instructions for the forms employers will use to comply with the ACA’s employer mandate, giving benefit advisers and their clients a glimpse of the work ahead for 2015 and how to begin preparing now.

Court rules verbal COBRA notice is sufficient, but benefit advisers caution employers to follow-up with written notice, as well.

CVS Caremark Corp. halted sales of tobacco products almost a month ahead of schedule, started a smoking-cessation campaign, and changed its name to position itself as an advocate of better health.

On the 40th anniversary of ERISA, benefits attorney Howard Shapiro contemplates the differences between this landmark piece of legislation and another, the Affordable Care Act.

The IRS has posted draft instructions for the various Affordable Care Act reporting that will be done for calendar year 2015 and while the instructions provide much needed guidance for employers and insurers, they also confirm the daunting complexity of the reporting task.