Practice management

Sam Smith, a member of California’s SHOP exchange advisory group and president-elect of CAHU, predicts a bright future for adviser involvement in PPACA’s state health insurance.

Nelson Griswold on what insurance brokerages need to keep up with health reform.

John Lamb on how financial drivers of HIXs may outweigh traditional benefits approach.

Mel Schlesinger on how brokers, advisers can redesign a benefit proposal.

Jack Kwicien on how to engage clients in a meaningful way

Craig Davidson on what health insurance stores should look like under health reform.

According to most experts, the number is small and keeps getting smaller. We speak, of course, of the number of companies with 50 or more employees that will drop employer-sponsored insurance in 2014 - opting to send employees to state-run insurance exchanges and pay per-employee fines levied by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. After a McKinsey & Company study in 2011 famously concluded that 30% of employers would "pay" rather than "play," survey after survey has revealed that fewer than 5% of employers plan to eliminate employee health benefits. Even the Government Accountability Office, which originally reported as much as 20% of employers would drop coverage, now has backed off that estimate to around 2%.

Twenty-seven years after women first complained in 1986 about bumping against an invisible barrier — dubbed the glass ceiling — when they aimed for top jobs, just 21 are chief executive officers of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Now, a rash of books, from Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg to former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter, are soon to be published, seeking to empower women.

A glass-half-full crowd of benefits brokers and agents – that could be the theme of this year’s National Association of Health Underwriters Capitol Conference. The organization concluded its three day lobbying stint Wednesday with a morning of discussion panels on health reform, remarks from a Republican congresswoman, a talk with a representative from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and an address from NAHU’s president.

Buck Consultants is the latest benefit and consulting firm to form a private exchange. The move aims to reduce employer uncertainty about 2014 by reducing costs and increasing employee health care options.

Sometimes the Service is explicit about its enforcement priorities. Other times officials drop hints in public speeches. And sometimes they just keep quiet in hopes plan sponsors will not let their guard down thinking they are out of the danger zone.

According to the soon-to-be-released UBA Ancillary Benefits Survey, of the 8,557 employers answering questions about employee assistance programs, only 21.8% of employers offer EAPS. That percentage drops to 9.4% among small (fewer than 50 employees) businesses and 19.2% among midsize companies (fewer than 500 employees). As advisers, we shouldn’t forget to incorporate these programs into our clients’ benefits plans. Though sometimes stigmatized, these programs are important, not only to help employees with personal crises such as divorce, substance abuse and financial or legal troubles, but also when an organization is reeling from an employee death, hurricane recovery or even tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Early bird gets the worm. That’s an applicable motto for the National Association of Health Underwriters Capitol Conference attendees, who packed into a hotel on Capitol Hill early Tuesday morning for an overflowing session of speakers, from a senator to a president of a health insurance enrollment non-profit to Mercer and Wellpoint representatives.

This new feature will start your week with three important facts, developments or conversations from recent and upcoming events. This week, we look at NAHU’s Capitol Conference, new details on Mercer’s private exchange and what’s up for sequester as the Friday deadline looms.

The labor market is healing faster for immigrants than for U.S.-born workers as the growing economy favors those at the low and high ends of the pay scale.

President Barack Obama’s administration released a state-by-state report on how $85 billion in automatic spending cuts will degrade programs from defense to education to public health as White House officials say they don’t expect to avert reductions to start March 1.

Mercer is one of the latest companies to enter the private exchange game, and the consulting giant gave employers an opportunity to check out the service during a conference call Thursday. Company executives revealed some of those specifics during the call, especially during the Q&A period for the audience.

The National Association of Health Underwriters hosts its annual Capitol Conference on Capitol Hill this week, bringing business leaders and bipartisan legislators together to discuss the changing marketplace and pending health reform regulations. Employee Benefit Adviser will be on site at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill to bring you coverage from this summit.

Most of us are aware of the 5500 filing requirements for companies with 100 or more employees covered on their health and welfare plans. Might there be service differentiator and prospecting opportunities available if we have a thorough understanding of the mechanics of the 5500 process?

Are you scared of Twitter? Are you on Twitter personally, but having a hard time selling it to your organization as useful for the larger brand? Consider this a resource to help you make the business case for Twitter.