Employee Benefit News back issues from June 2008:
HSA tames cost hikes.(health savings accounts)
Jun 01, 2008; ... In 2005, the Preservation Society of Newport County, also known as the Newport Mansions, was at a crossroads. The nonprofit organization paid 87% of the health care premium for its 87 full-time employees. Premium increases had run 25% to 30% for five consecutive years. When forecasting ...
Health reform standing front and center: Democratic presidential candidates agree.
Jun 01, 2008 ... With the presidential election campaign in full swing, health care remains among the top three issues that are important to voters, alongside the war in Iraq and the economy. In debates and speeches, the two Democratic candidates have laid out health reform proposals that are largely ...
Increases in retirement plan loans, withdrawals no cause for concern.
Jun 01, 2008; ... While the media has made much of employees raiding their 401(k)s to pay bills, the upward trend in loans and hardship withdrawals from retirement plans is not raising red flags among plan sponsors, providers or industry experts. Press coverage suggesting a significant increase ...
Find teachable moments on retirement.
Jun 01, 2008 ... My husband and I currently are working with our two-and-a-half-year-old son on making either/or choices, and how his decisions have consequences. Generally, such teaching moments revolve around food. Inevitably, he will ask for a snack before dinner, and we'll explain to him that if he has ...
March editorial about dependent audits still roiling readers.
Jun 01, 2008 ... Unforgettable audit experience I read your article regarding the dependent audit and found it quite interesting. I work for a small organization and conducted an audit that resulted in a number of the employee dependents being dropped from the coverage. I was glad that I could ...
Benefits Guy counsels after a steep stock drop and a disappointing tax bill.
Jun 01, 2008; ... Dear Benefits Guy, This year, I started contributing to the 401(k) plan at work, which has a nice 50% employer match. Well, the first quarter statement I received had this cute new feature called "your personal investment return." My investment strategy, a mixture of large, ...
Ask the Auditor: Holding your TPA accountable.(third-party administrators )
Jun 01, 2008; ... Under ERISA, plan sponsors utilizing third-party administrators and other outsourced providers have a fiduciary responsibility to properly monitor the services provided by those organizations. Thus, it's paramount that your ERISA compliance plan consists of properly selecting, monitoring, ...
A look at employee benefits around the world.
Jun 01, 2008 ... Japan mandates screening for metabolic syndrome In an effort to stem the swelling cost of health care, the Japanese government started requiring companies to screen employees who are between 40 and 74 years old for metabolic syndrome, a combination of medical disorders, ...
How to recession-proof your business.
Jun 01, 2008 ... There are a multitude of trite expressions about how trying times present opportunities- opportunities to either "bury your head in the sand" or "stand and be counted" is how some popular turnings put it. The specter of a recession is one of those times. In addition to the ...
Speaking out: Making the most of your long-term disability plan.
Jun 01, 2008; ... Long-term disability may be the most important benefit your employees have- and the most underutilized. This is because restructuring LTD benefits is often seen as a costly, baffling ordeal that ends up benefiting neither party, though the opposite is true. Nevertheless, there ...
From beast to beauty: Successful outsourcing transitions.
Jun 01, 2008; ... The transition phase of HR outsourcing tends to be ugly, often because companies try to outsource too many processes at once. As a result, the transition amounts to more than they can manage and more than service providers can successfully deliver, which can send operations spinning for ...
The $73 billion hidden problem' of the health care industry: Your employees may be functionally literate, but are they health literate?
Jun 01, 2008; ... Low health literacy costs the United States more than $73 billion annually, the National Academy on an Aging Society estimates. Health literacy- being able to obtain, process and understand basic health information- is a deceptively simple concept. Being merely literate isn't ...
Talkin' 'bout Y' generation: Texting demographic requires a whole new approach.
Jun 01, 2008; ... Participants at the National Investment Company Service Association's East Coast regional meeting recently set their sights on how to convince the 80 million Generation Y members to save for retirement. A major hurdle facing employers and the funds industry is how to make this ...
E-procurement technology helps midsize employers work with HR consultants By Lydell C. Bridgeford.
Jun 01, 2008 ... HR/benefits professionals at midsize companies are constantly being told that their departments need to contribute more to the bottom line. One way to achieve that goal, some industry analysts contend, is by adopting HR technology for benefit plan procurements, vendor renewals and supplier ...
Benefit Binge: Voluntary benefits allow employers to add benefit value at little extra cost, but beware of all-you-can-eat buffets.
Jun 01, 2008; ... Like chefs who rekindle patrons' interest in their menus by adding one or two new dishes, employers are spicing up their benefits packages with voluntary benefits. According to LIMRA's 2007 Voluntary Benefits Report Card, among U.S. firms with 10 or more employees, the ...
Thinking outside the box.(employee benefits)
Jun 01, 2008 ... The nontraditional market is keeping things exciting in the benefits market. As different types of offerings- computer purchasing, funeral planning, group legal, identity theft protection- enter the worksite, brokers are responsible for demonstrating not only why they are worthy of a ...
Maximize the value of benefits enrollment.
Jun 01, 2008 ... Whether it's your annual open enrollment period or the orientation package for new hires, presenting your organization's benefits plan is a tremendous opportunity to raise your company's perception among employees. A good benefit plan, when communicated effectively to employees, ...
Overcoming employee skepticism about health risk assessments.
Jun 01, 2008 ... Wellness experts joke that it's probably not a good idea to have the company's CFO conduct an employee workshop on health risk assessments. The image of a corporate number-cruncher talking about electronically retrieving personal health information will make some employees ...
Speaking out: Look to hospital spending to reform health system.
Jun 01, 2008; ... If nothing else, Mike Huckabee's run for president will be remembered by his phrase, "We don't have a health care crisis; we have a health cost crisis." Actually, we have both, with the cost crisis driving the coverage crisis. In 1993, employer-provided medical insurance cost ...
A new direction for health care reform and HMOs.
Jun 01, 2008; ... One of the main contributors to our unsustainable health expenditure increases is the lack of competition and individual choice of health plans among employed, insured American adults. The costly, uncoordinated, fee-for-service model among small medical practices dominates the ...
DOL regs most likely route to PPA fine-tuning.(Legislation)
Jun 01, 2008 ... Despite high marks for hitting major policy objectives, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 needs refinements that will more likely be delivered through Department of Labor regulations than additional legislation, according to industry analysts. When Congress passed the Pension ...
Weighing pros and cons of phased retirement.
Jun 01, 2008 ... Instead of employers bemoaning the loss of skilled baby boomers from the workforce or employees resenting mandated retirements and rules, a small but growing number of companies are offering phased retirement plans to employees who are seeking more flexibility for their retirement. ...
Rollover confusion: Uncertainty over nonspouse rollovers from retirement plans.
Jun 01, 2008; ... It's now back up in the air whether employers must allow nonspouse rollovers from company retirement plans in 2008. On Dec. 29, 2007, President Bush signed The Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2007 into law. But, mysteriously, it doesn't include the provision making the ...
Pension funding looking brighter.
Jun 01, 2008 ... Two new surveys of multiemployer defined benefit pension plans conducted by The Segal Co. give trustees a number of benchmarks against which they can compare their own plans. The Survey of Multiemployer Pension Plans' Anticipated Zone Status and Funded Percentage under the ...
Pension administration system supports global clientele: Complex pension rules are the catalyst for a flexible, multinational software platform.(Legislation)
Jun 01, 2008; ... David Rive likes to tinker. When personal computers burst onto the scene, he taught himself basic programming to organize his growing insurance business. On a whim, Rive showed his little software program to an insurance company- much to his shock, they snapped it up. Almost 25 ...
Relieving chronic pain with massage at the workplace.
Jun 01, 2008; ... Warm hands gently cradled the back of my neck. Strong fingers began to apply pressure to the base of my skull, focusing on muscles tight from hours of traveling and carrying heavy bags. Pain and stress began to melt away. My throbbing headache faded as the therapist's hands ...
Backup eldercare helps caregivers balance work and family responsibilities.
Jun 01, 2008 ... When UPS employee Diane Davies needed help in taking care of her dad, who is in his 80s, a coworker told her to try Senior Helpers, a service provider that offers backup eldercare. "My mom had gone into the hospital to have an operation, and during the procedure she had a ...
Stamp of approval: Boutique PR firm Corporate Ink may have only 15 employees, but this award winner has learned the best way to help employees is to give them wings and teach them to fly.(Company overview)
Jun 01, 2008; ... Ex-journalist turned public relations guru Amy Bermar is a glass-half-full kind of woman. "Nobody shows up to work saying I want to waste time [or] I want to do a lousy job,'" she says. Employers that believe the best in their employees and afford them opportunities ...
Hot HR compliance issues for small businesses in 2008.
Jun 01, 2008; ... Although we're only in the second quarter of 2008, it is important for small businesses to act now to identify issues that must be addressed by the end of the year. Small businesses are frequently overlooked by consultants and therefore do not learn of issues of importance until ...
Sponsors' investment strategies take a walk on the wild side.
Jun 01, 2008; ... "Plan sponsors are going beyond easy investment solutions to considering, and many cases implementing, more exotic approaches," says Phil Kivarkis, an investment consultant at Hewitt Associates. These approaches include liability driven investing, incorporating swaps and ...
Ranking health plans on satisfaction: A majority of patients don't understand their health coverage, and health plans are heading in the wrong direction on that crucial satisfaction factor.(Survey)
Jun 15, 2008 ... The mammoth study from J.D. Power and Associates can be summed up pretty easily. Health plans do a bad job communicating with members, and they're getting worse at it. "The biggest single reason that people are dissatisfied with their health plans is that they don't understand ...
Employers wary of new role embodied in platforms.
Jun 15, 2008 ... Employers understand that politicians have to offer proposals to reform the health care system, considering that escalating medical costs are straining the nation's and consumers' budgets. Yet overall, employers are not rushing to revamp their health benefits in response to ...
McCain's health platform taxes benefits as income.
Jun 15, 2008; ... To address the nation's health care problems, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has proposed taxing health benefits, encouraging the use of health savings accounts and implementing a $2,500 tax credit for individuals, to be used toward the purchase of individual health insurance. ...
As enrollment boot camp concludes, Kopanis earns medal of valor.
Jun 15, 2008 ... I hope you've been reading our open enrollment boot camp series this spring (EBN May, June 1 and this issue on Page 38) and finding it valuable as you prepare for the hard work to come this fall during enrollment season. This month, Associate Editor McLean Robbins concludes our ...
Dependent eligibility audits hit a nerve with readers.
Jun 15, 2008 ... Epidemic of enrollment error' Health Decisions has been conducting enrollment audits for over 15 years. In the old days, these audits focused almost exclusively on coordination-of-benefits issues. The reality then was that families had "extra" coverage, and employers needed to ...
Ask the Auditor: TPA software showing big impact on regulatory compliance audits.(Third Party Administrator)
Jun 15, 2008; ... Years ago, a large part of the core claims administration activities conducted by third-party administrators were done manually, without any type of health care software. However, much has changed recently with the exponential growth of information systems being utilized within ...
Finding a true partnership between HR pros and their brokers.
Jun 15, 2008; ... The perfect match between broker and client should be really easy. As a broker, I want to be the first phone call they make in their benefit/human resources world. As it relates to benefits, from the clients perspective, this is not easy. Employee benefits are generally in the top three ...
Finding a true partnership between HR pros and their brokers.
Jun 15, 2008; ... My friend is one tough cookie. She's been an HR director in manufacturing for several years. Today at lunch, we started chatting about our health plans. During the conversation, she said to me, again, probably for the 100th time, "Karrie, I just hate brokers." ...
A roundup of international benefits news.
Jun 15, 2008 ... Turkey increases retirement age and minimum working days On May 7, Turkey's President Abdullah Gul approved a hotly-contested law on Social Security. The main changes introduced by the law are: * A gradual gender equalization and increase in the retirement age to 65 ...
To improve absence management, get the facts: Create bridges between your time off, health and wellness programs.
Jun 15, 2008 ... Employers with paid-time-off programs that don't distinguish between scheduled leave, unscheduled leave, sick days and vacation days may be missing out on an opportunity to reduce health care costs and improve productivity. The Integrated Benefits Institute recently analyzed the ...
The dirty little secret your broker doesn't want you to know.
Jun 15, 2008; ... How much does it cost you to use a broker for your group benefits? Well, group benefits brokers will tell you that their services come free. As a broker, I regularly make that point. It's true because there aren't any additional direct costs for a group plan when you buy via a ...
HR's increasingly versatile role: Q&A with HR Director Alice Wheeler.(Heritage Union)(Interview)
Jun 15, 2008; ... Anyone who's been to a benefits trade show knows the events can yield some pretty unexpected things - odd knickknacks at the booths, mechanical bulls, live animals, anything to get your attention while trolling the expo halls. But the most surprising guest at a recent trade show in ...
Celebrating new awards and promotions.(Work-Life 2008)
Jun 15, 2008 ... Shoot for the stars: Work-Life 2008 honorees Work-life balance: next to social media, it's one of the biggest buzzwords in C-level discussions around employee productivity today. The Alliance for Work-Life Progress, an entity of WorldatWork, a trade association for ...
Retirement confidence dropping dramatically: Workers finally may be waking up to retirement's realities, but they still aren't taking action to ensure their dreams.
Jun 15, 2008; ... Shaken by the weak economy, declining home values and rising health care expenses, employees' confidence that they will have enough money to retire comfortably has declined significantly. The Employee Benefit Research Institute's 18th annual Retirement Confidence Survey ...
Strategies to address the aging workforce challenge.(Survey)
Jun 15, 2008 ... The time is right for employers to plan for the effects of an aging workforce population. In a recent survey, 42% of respondents, representing 19 industries, saw the implications of their aging workforce as significant. Their reasons were those you'd expect: a majority of mature ...
Beef up wellness off erings: Stretch the impact of wellness programs with integration.
Jun 15, 2008; ... It's 11 a.m. on a Monday, and Ann Clarke and her employees are headed into a conference room. But one glance at the staffers' bare feet tells you that this won't be any ordinary meeting. Clarke, CEO of San Diego, Calif.-based ACI Specialty Benefits, and her employees have committed to ...
Public/private health systems promote innovation.
Jun 15, 2008; ... The United States can learn from the experience of Australia, England and continental Europe where blended public/private health care systems effectively deliver universal health care coverage, according to research for a new book recently released by Aon Consulting. The genesis ...
Prepaid benefit cards poised for growth.
Jun 15, 2008 ... Experts are predicting more growth for prepaid debit cards linked to flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements. Often, it's the health care equivalent of online shopping: quick, easy, paperless and hassle-free. "More employers are ...
Enlightenment on health care costs and value-based plan design Conference highlights health care solutions and emerging trends.(Conference notes)
Jun 15, 2008; ... Health care purchasers troubled by knowing the cost of everything and value of nothing saw rays of enlightenment on the Chicago skyline last month. More than 200 highly engaged employers and health care stakeholders surveyed the latest facets of value-based benefits design at ...
Pushing the envelope: Zero tolerance on tobacco use.
Jun 15, 2008 ... Scotts Miracle-Gro, an Ohio-based company, screens out job candidates who usetobacco, believing that the measure will reduce its future health care costs tied to smoking-related illnesses. The company discussed the financial results of its new wellness program at the World Health Care ...
Reuters sends health care consumerism message home.
Jun 15, 2008; ... As the health care landscape continues to shift and evolve, one constant theme seems to be the increasing role of employers in providing relevant and helpful health information. This has been seen across the country in many different formats. Often, the issue is not making the ...
The specialty pharmacy revolution.
Jun 15, 2008; ... Specialty pharmacy has become the fastest growing component of pharmacy health care. In 2003, the specialty pharmacy industry constituted more than $40 billion in overall drug spending. This staggering figure is expected to rise to $78 billion in 2008, a 95% growth rate in just ...
Canadians say U.S. has it right when it comes to DC plans.
Jun 15, 2008; ... "The truth is Americans have it right when it comes to minimizing risk for plan sponsors and also for ensuring much more certainty for plan members in the defined contribution world," Koskie Minsky partner Ari Kaplan told a sold-out crowd at the Canadian Benefits Summit in Toronto in ...
With EGTRRA restatement, a perfect time for plan changes.(Economic Growth and Tax Relief Tax Reconciliation Act)
Jun 15, 2008; ... If you offer a defined contribution plan to your workers, your plan document must be restated with the IRS sometime within the next year. This is a result of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Tax Reconciliation Act of 2001. The IRS is now requiring a complete plan restatement ...
Are water funds the next wave? Rising tide of demand could surge interest.
Jun 15, 2008; ... First there were environmental mutual funds that rewarded do-good companies and those with sustainability sensitivities. Next came alternative energy and climate change funds. Now the next wave in mutual funds could be those that invest in water-related companies. To keep benefit plans ...
Big pension funds take huge fall in first quarter of 2008.
Jun 15, 2008 ... Pension funds experienced a reversal of gains in the first quarter of 2008 because of volatility in the equity markets and falling interest rates. If the losses are not recouped by the end of this year, plan sponsors may have to re-evaluate their pension funding levels, expenses ...
Workers need better preparation for retirement.
Jun 15, 2008; ... U.S. companies are retiring the idea of the traditional defined benefit pension plan in favor of do-it-yourself IRAs and 401(k) plans. "The Pension Protection Act of 2006 should have been called the Nails-in-the-Coffin for Pensions Act because pensions will be all but gone in 10 ...
Environmental benefits Telework: A green solution for the 21st century's employee crisis.
Jun 15, 2008; ... Experts have debated at length the cost/benefit analysis of telework from productivity, security, and work-life standpoints, but one thing is for certain. Rising energy costs and the trickling economy have lead to a nationwide cash crunch. New data suggests that telework can contribute ...
Employees have hunger for financial advice.(Survey)
Jun 15, 2008; ... Employees are looking for help on managing their finances, maximizing their benefits and maintaining work-life balance-an alignment of information needs that presents a golden opportunity for employers and advisers. Nearly half of workers (49%) are interested in receiving ...
Paid leave approved in New Jersey: Law allows six weeks of paid family or medical leave.
Jun 15, 2008; ... On May 2, New Jersey's governor signed The Paid Family Leave Law, making New Jersey the third state, along with California and Washington, to guarantee paid leave for family members needing time off from work to care for sick relatives or a new child. It's unclear whether other ...
Partnering with employees cuts health care costs by $1 million.
Jun 15, 2008; ... In 1999, when Jill Kopanis joined Dynamic Dies in Holland, Ohio, as the new human resources director, she was an HR generalist with limited knowledge of benefits. "I couldn't read my own benefits statement," she jokes. Three years up the learning curve, Kopanis found ...
Do wellness incentives work?
Jun 15, 2008 ... In the hopes of reducing health care costs, employers frequently give employees incentives for adopting healthy habits, such as exercising regularly, completing a health risk assessment or not smoking. Some employers also impose penalties or disincentives for unhealthy behaviors, such as ...