Wellness

Retirement account balances reached a record high $91,800 in the first quarter of 2015, and more than 1 million people increased the rate at which they are putting money aside for the future.

The Internal Revenue Service needs to do better at ensuring that health insurance policy issuers and self-insured plan sponsors pay a fee required under the Affordable Care Act known as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research fee, according to a new government report.

Three plan sponsors share their inventive – and sometimes controversial – strategies for getting employees more deeply involved in retirement savings.

Wellness programs have been at the forefront of employers’ minds, and in light of the recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s aim to tackle the questions lingering on what plan sponsors can or cannot do, employees are voicing a disconnect in wellness program engagement.

The Affordable Care Act brings new administrative complexity to employers offering health plans, making real-time reporting even more critical.

Health insurance plans purchased through public health care exchanges often generate levels of member satisfaction higher than plans obtained through employers, according to a J.D. Power study.

Two-thirds of tax filers among H&R Block’s client base who received health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act via the state or federal insurance marketplaces had to pay back an average of $729 of the Advance Premium Tax Credit, cutting their potential refund by nearly one-third.

There are a variety of solutions available that brokers can suggest to clients who are seeking to attract and retain millennials, who often have yet to build financial savings.

Comparing wellness program participants to nonparticipants is a widely repeated mistake. It continues because employers are not schooled in research study design.

CMS says it will pay close attention to compliance with agent/broker standards during audits of qualified health plans offered in the FFM in 2015.