Insurance

Numerous states and cities across the country decided during last week’s midterm elections to raise their minimum wage, which has legal and retail employment experts predicting changes to other benefits could occur as a result.

The wisdom of offering 401(k) loans has long been debated, with some arguing that allowing them is an incentive for employees to participate in the plan, while others believe they do more harm than good since employees often reduce or stop saving in their 401(k) plan after taking a loan from it.

The Affordable Care Act’s inclusion of pediatric dental coverage as an essential health benefit has small employers facing a dilemma: Whether to embed dental coverage within a medical plan or offer dental benefits as a stand-alone plan. Market confusion about what these plan options include and exactly what the health reform law requires highlights the need for expert benefit adviser help.

As an effort to comply with the ACA, some employers have been considering offering employees a lump sum of cash to purchase health care coverage on the exchanges, but the DOL now says such an arrangement isn't going to cut it.

Preparing Americans for retirement is at the forefront of priorities for lawmakers and industry, as putting off saving for retirement for even a few years will woefully shortchange employees in their golden years.

Delays, limited awareness, competition and insufficient subsidies among problems outlined in a Government Accountability Office report on state and federal small group exchanges. CMS says brokers will play a key role in any future growth.

Rather than ignoring emails, employees may be more inclined to remember to take part in health offerings such as immunization clinics if notices are sent out via text messages - given our text-obsessed culture.

Focusing on quality of care, data analytics tools and consumer-oriented websites are innovations discussed at National Business Coalition on Health conference.

The pro-Affordable Care Act national non-profit group Enroll America is expanding its outreach staff and launching new technology-driven tools in order to reach the still uninsured and enroll them in health insurance during open enrollment, which starts Saturday.

As retirement confidence among employees remains low, small business owners and their workforces may even be less prepared due to the scarcity of formal retirement education and established retirement savings plans to help this demographic.

The Supreme Court did not appear overly supportive of the so-called Yard-Man presumption during arguments this week in M&G Polymers USA, LLC v. Tackett.

The funded status of some multiemployer pension plans has not seen any drastic improvements since the great recession. But now, as proposals lurk in Congress to eliminate pension liabilities and improve the overall insolvency of these plans, there may be changes on the horizon.

Depression in the workplace can affect anyone and it takes an emotional toll on those affected, and can also have a significant financial toll on employers. A new program developed by the American Psychiatric Foundation and Employers Health Coalition aims to provide both employers and employees with the tools needed to help combat depression in the workplace.

If employers only look at wellness from a 9-to-5 point of view, they are missing valuable opportunities to engage employees. Wellness doesn’t end at 5 p.m., said one expert at the National Business Coalition on Health’s annual conference.

Knowing all sides of a client’s benefits plan helps both retirement and health benefit consultants make better recommendations.

It’s not every day that you hear about a financial services company that is pushing the envelope when it comes improving the health and well-being of its workforce. Prudential Financial’s chief medical officer, Dr. Andrew Crighton, explains the success behind the company’s health, wellness and work-life programs.

The nation’s largest corporate defined benefit pension plans continue to experience woes as their collective funding statuses dwindle due to unsavory interest rates.

The Obama administration forecast that as many as 9.9 million people will sign up for health coverage under Obamacare this year, 3 million below a previous estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

Advisers need to know what employees want, what the competition is doing and be current on tax law before setting up an executive benefit plan.

Potential Healthcare.gov customers can peek at 2015 prices for the program’s health plans today after the government said it would release a “window-shopping” feature overnight.