Voluntary

Welcome to the 5th annual edition of the ABC’s of Employee Benefits. Given the tremendous amount of activity and volatility in the employee benefits space, this version can be summed up in one sentence: Surround yourself with quality, interested, and engaged help or else 2015 will be a very long and painful year.

Employers who tap into the specific generational needs of their employees and address certain desires could provide an upswing in benefit enrollment.

Commentary: Out-of-pocket health care costs are higher than ever. What solutions can benefit advisers offer their employer clients?

Even though each situation is unique, there are a number of best practices for helping employees through reasonable accommodations.

It’s been a year of massive growth for private exchanges, with estimates of more than three million people receiving employer health benefits through them by mid-2014, according to business management consultancy Accenture. Yet, 2015 is expected to see even more growth and acquisitions.

As health consumerism continues to infiltrate employer-sponsored benefits, benefit advisers say that voluntary options have helped to limit out-of-pocket costs for employees and curtail overall costs for their employers.

With 2015 fast approaching, employee benefit decision makers are scrambling to ensure that they stay ahead of the curve – particularly as the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate kicks in next month.

More employers are offering products like roadside assistance and telemedicine to their employees, as well as new voluntary offerings not seen before.

Voluntary benefits have experienced significant growth in recent years, a trend that brokers and carriers are hoping continues in the coming year.

In anticipation of the 2015 tax season, TurboTax is enabling imports of the 1095-A forms, one of the many new tax forms associated with the Affordable Care Act.