Practice management

A massive defined contribution storm is about to crash onto the employee benefits landscape. You can choose to ride it out to continued - or even greater - profitability, or you and your firm can get swept away. I've written that employer interest in the defined contribution model will explode in the next 12 months.

Talking with the head of my account management team, I asked her if there was anything she'd like brokers to be more aware of. Quite emphatically, slapping her hand on her desk, she said that brokers need to include their software vendors in the benefits planning process. Also, she said they need to understand how important user acceptance testing is to the success of a technology project.

Our brethren on the direct pay side of compensation and benefits preach total rewards to their clients and employers seem to lap it up. Employee benefit advisers would serve themselves and their customers well to do the same. Are you selling insurance products and services with a total rewards wrapper?

As you read this article, the various notices for the 2014 plan year are freshly mailed. It is now time for plan sponsors and their advisers to sit down and review what worked in 2013 and what improvements can be made for 2014.

Over the last 15 years, Daymark Advisors has worked with hundreds of benefits professionals and voluntary benefits firms across the nation. We've observed that some of the most successful practices create strategic plans for their clients. These observations are consistent across all types of firms and goals. The very best advisers are highly consultative and strategic in their approach to client engagement.

More than a third of the ‘back end’ infrastructure still remains to be built in the federally-run marketplace, top IT official at CMS says Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

Consultants hired by the Obama administration told top officials at the White House and U.S. health department as early as March that construction of the government’s insurance website was at risk of failure, according to a document released by congressional Republicans.

Wellness is not just about fitness or smoking cessation anymore.

Smoking cessation programs offer insight to the real issues affecting health contingent programs.

The executive benefits market is off and running again after the economic downturn.

Flexible spending account advocates expect most employers to embrace rollover provision.

The technology issues plaguing the federal exchanges have hampered enrollment in state-run exchanges — which are largely free of glitches — causing some states to modify their marketing techniques.

The ACA's pediatric dental requirement brings increased attention to this popular benefit.

Wayne Sakamoto of Naples, Fla. works hard to keep up with the ACA.

President Barack Obama pressed top U.S. insurers to help consumers cope with the rocky start of his health care law as the Republican-led House passed a bill that would let Americans keep their current policies through 2014.

A broker and former Golden State-exchange staffer say that enrollment numbers do not reflect billing or payment.

More than a million worksites could be affected if the Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration changes who submits work-related injury data and how, but is this just another example of “regulation by shaming”? Meanwhile, OSHA has led the charge attacking employer safety plans which measure their success based on this same injury data.

A NAHU representative testified Thursday on Capitol Hill about the positives and negatives of self-funding before a committee interested in touting it to small business owners.

An agent explains the difficult steps that would need to be taken to renew canceled plans, while a health insurance trade group says the president’s announcement Thursday could “destabilize the market.”

With the decision, state governors and insurance commissioners would have the authority to keep would-be canceled plans active until the end of 2014.