News

Commentary: Voluntary benefits have increased in popularity as health care costs have risen and employers seek out ways to provide employee benefits without breaking the bank. And for good reason – voluntary benefits can be a very smart way to supplement core health coverage and enable employees to customize the insurance they buy for their […]

Employers are falling short on adequate systems and training to provide employees with in-the-moment critical feedback. But all is not lost as some experts have a few steps employers can take to get back on track. An overwhelming number (87%) of employees believe that feedback is important to career development, and 85% indicate feeling valued […]

(Bloomberg Politics) — Congressional Republican leaders say they have a fallback plan ready to go if the Supreme Court cripples a core component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) this month. But the details of the plan are being kept secret. “We’ll have a plan that makes sense for the […]

If when the Supreme Court rules later this month on King v. Burwell that subsidies cannot be issued on the federal health care exchange, 6.4 million people would lose subsidies collectively worth $1.7 billion per month, a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds. A decision in favor of the plaintiff would affect Florida residents the most, […]

Premiums for Obamacare plans will increase by double digits in 2016 should carriers get their proposed hikes accepted. Premiums for individual plans would rise by an average of 12 percent in 2016 if the newly proposed prices are approved, new analysis from HealthPocket finds. But that number is even higher for the most popular plans. Silver […]

The countdown is on for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the Affordable Care Act and the legality of subsidies – with a decision that could have looming political implications leading into a heated primary election cycle. If the government loses in King v. Burwell, insurance subsidies that the ACA makes available will vanish and […]

Lower income employees present a particular challenge to employers as they seek to get a handle on managing their health plans. “While health literacy and financial preparedness is low among a majority of Americans, socioeconomic gaps are emerging,” concludes the 2015 Aflac Workforces Report. “Higher-income households, or those earning $100,000 per year or more, are […]

A number of state-run PPACA health insurance exchanges have been struggling over the last year-plus. In fact, state-run health insurance exchanges in Oregon, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, and Nevada have either permanently shut down their operations or have done so temporarily and are contemplating some attempts to relaunch them. Colorado, Minnesota and Vermont are now […]

Short-term health plans are increasing in popularity as consumers search for options outside the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for basic health insurance. That’s what a study by eHealth, a private insurance exchange provider, found when it sought input from those who had used its online site to acquire short-term coverage. The big picture […]

Defined contribution plan sponsors remain in regulatory limbo regarding their obligations to maintain detailed documentation surrounding employee 401(k) hardship withdrawals. In April, in its periodic Employee Plan Newsletter, the IRS stated that, regardless of what records third-party administators maintain, sponsors should “retain these records in paper or electronic format:” Documentation of the hardship request, review […]