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In my August EBN editorial, I voiced my growing pessimism about the chances for full health care reform this year. Although at presstime, there still was a small chance for passage of legislation before the August recess, we now know that Congress' self-imposed deadline has come and gone.
Two costly cautionary tales that made recent headlines should send a chill up your spine and then running to double and triple check your wage and hour compliance. In one case, an Indiana trial court has awarded $42.4 million to current and former Indiana state employees who were required to work 40-hour workweeks from 1973 until 1993, even though other state employees holding the same positions were required only to work 37.5-hour workweeks for
Proposed legislation by the House Committees on Education and Labor, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce known as America's Affordable Health Choices Act earned rave reviews from lawmakers in a news release announcing the measure, but was resoundingly panned by proponents of the employer-based system. The legislation, which includes both an employer and individual mandate to cover 97% of the population by 2019, doesn't fully address the root cause of why the nation's health
You know the job market is tight when people are sending companies their resumes in baby shoes and pizza boxes. But those are just a couple of the kooky and creative ways job seekers are using to get your attention, according to news from Office Team. The firm receently asked pros like you to recount the most unusual thing they have seen or heard an applicant do to stand out from the crowd. Following
As members of Congress pressure one another to discard ideas for reforming the nation's health care system, they also might want to seriously consider how to incorporate a recent success story into any final legislation. Roll Call Executive Editor Mort Kondracke suggested in a column that the 2003 Medicare prescription drug law could serve as a model for health care reform. 'Passed amid rancor and predictions of catastrophe, the law has proved to be an
I'm a bit puzzled by the latest survey results from Colonial Life, and I'm hoping you pros can help me out. The insurer finds that employers overwhelmingly believe it is for employees to understand and appreciate their benefits — fully 92% of pros surveyed say it's very important to their business. Okay, that's great.
Massachusetts has emerged as a model for creating universal health care coverage at the federal level, but a former insurance executive now running for governor of the Bay State warns that the experiment isn't working. Charlie Baker, who recently stepped down as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim, noted in his blog for the nonprofit health plan that as a result of merging the individual and small group insurance markets, individual premiums plunged an estimated 25% while
Okay, I know the economy isn't exactly going like gangbusters, but there have been a few teeny glimmers of hope in recent weeks in stabilizing markets, rising home sales and moderating job losses. However, about half of us are still Negative Nellies, according to a recent survey from Stewart and Partners.
Published reports suggest that the idea of taxing employer-provided health insurance is losing ground, though still on the bargaining table. Sen. Kent Conrad (D.-N.D.) has noted that such a proposal appears to be unpopular with voters. Indeed, a recent Quinnipiac University poll of 3,063 people found that 63% of the respondents opposed a tax on employer-provided health benefits, while 55% favored limiting tax deductions for families earning more than $250,000 a year.
Daily Diversion readers: As the Employee Benefit News/Employee Benefit Adviser family mourns the loss of EBA Editor Robert L. Whiddon, DD will cease production this week. We will resume posting on Tuesday, July 28. The staff sincerely thanks the benefits community for their outpouring of condolences and offers of support at this difficult time.
A new survey by PBM Prescription Solutions and a UnitedHealth Group finds that many consumers don't get that generics are a health care rarity just as effective as the more expensive alternative, but without the sticker shock. Many Americans have an idea in their minds that the most expensive drug (or the one they see advertised on TV by their favorite celebrity) is the most effective one. Not so, says Jacqueline Kosecoff, Prescription
Okay, DD readers, I admit I'm a bit of a crier, but I don't think you could read this month's 'View from the Andes' and not be affected, if not a little teary. Contributing Editor Karrie Andes writes with love and insight about her mother and stepfather and their fight to maintain adequate insurance coverage.
If employers were teachers and the 401(k) a student, the plans would get a 'B' grade, a Charles Schwab survey reveals, finding that a majority of senior finance and HR execs support the 401(k) as an effective savings tool for retirement. Polling more than 200 pros from large companies in various industries nationwide, Schwab finds: * 80% think greater access to 401(k) investment planning advice is more important for employees now than a year
Full disclosure: As a working mom of two, I'd be willing to lose a finger just to have employer-supported child care, so count me among the yays in the latest Workplace Options survey that finds 48% of working parents would feel more freedom to concentrate on work and home responsibilities if their employer provided support for child care. Another 50% say knowing they had back-up care options when their regular provider is unavailable would help
Tri-Tec Manufacturing in Kent, Wash., faced a nearly 40% increase in its health care premiums at renewal in 2007 to cover 38 employees. Then after changing insurance carriers, the same scenario unfolded two years later a timeframe during which deductibles soared from $200 to $1,500. That's when the company decided on a radically different approach for its March 1 annual benefits enrollment: contract with a seven-physician group called Qliance, which charges patients $49
In case you didn't have enough incentive to go green, here's another: Public company officers and directors could face real liability from shareholders and securities regulators over improper disclosures over their greenhouse gas emissions, one attorney concludes. Mia Mazza, a securities litigator with law firm Morrison & Foerster, examines this new corporate risk and outlines steps for how companies can get ahead of potential securities problems in their environmental policies. 'Investors are becoming increasingly interested
A Lewin Group study estimates that 119 million Americans would trade their private health insurance for a public option if reimbursement rates are similar to Medicare. The figure amounts to 70% of 171.6 million people with non-group or private employer coverage. Families on average would save about $2,500 a year and, thus, flock to a public plan in droves, observes John Sheils, the Falls Church, Va.-based firm's vice president.
C'mon, all the cool kids have one and well so does everyone else. Not too long ago, I coined the new saying 'Opinions are like health care reform proposals everybody has one.' As proof, here's the latest, this one from Samuel H. Fleet, president of AmWINS Group Benefits. 'Policymakers are missing many of the key opportunities to address what is really broken about the system.' To pick up where he believes lawmakers
The latest news from Adecco Group might scare you: 'The most serious threat to managers in this recession may be the recession's end.' Why would the end of the recession spell doom for you, pros? Because according to Adecco, 54% of employed Americans say they are likely to look for new jobs once the economy turns around. Be ready for a lot of suspiciously long lunch breaks, and the occasional dentist appointment that requires a
About 600 licensed insurance agents and brokers from five producer associations will descend on Capitol Hill July 14 to 15 as part of a massive health care reform lobbying effort on behalf of the employee benefits industry. Key players include the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, which calls itself the Big 'I,' AHIA, the health and employee benefits arm of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Council of Insurance Agents