News

Premium increases continue to motivate employers to consider cost-saving solutions they previously may have shunned, Paul Fetterolf, senior consultant and market leader of Arthur J. Gallagher, says, encouraging advisers to understand some of these augmenting strategies. “Employers are considering things they wouldn’t have before, including self-funding, captives, PEOs,” he said while moderating a panel of […]

Employers hoping to attract and retain employees need not look further than their vision benefit offerings. New research shows vision benefits have high engagement with employees, but some experts say employers need to work closer with advisers to build the benefit plan workers are seeking. According to the 2016 annual Employee Perceptions of Vision Benefits […]

5 ways to help employees maximize FSA dollars If your employer-sponsored Flexible Spending Account (FSA) has a grace period, employees have until March 15 (for plans that ended Dec. 31) to spend FSA dollars from 2015. That’s good news, but did you know that many employees that many employees do not understand or know about […]

401(k) plans are normally established and maintained by plan sponsors — usually the company — pursuant to a plan document or agreement. Fiduciaries (trustees) named in the plan document are responsible for the operation and administration of the plan. They, in turn, appoint an employee of the company to be the plan administrator. This individual […]

Many employers are still working to catch up to and understand the new requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – including the IRS, which has announced automatic extensions to certain reporting requirements for this year. In the first case of its kind, a federal court in New York City has recently given employers some potential […]

Americans are projected to spend $60 billion on their pets this year — and a quarter of that will go toward veterinary care. As the bills for Fido continue to increase, so too does the pet insurance industry. Today, there are more sophisticated treatments and more people know about pet insurance, which has led to […]

The Cadillac tax may have been postponed until 2020 but that doesn’t mean employers have put healthcare cost containment measures on the backburner. In fact, new research shows 90% of employers are planning myriad measures to control rising healthcare costs. The 2016 Medical Plan Trends and Observations Report, released today by DirectPath and CEB, highlights […]

Question: If an employee of an applicable large employer takes an unpaid leave of absence (not Family and Medical Leave Act), what happens to their benefit eligibility during that time? Answer: The answer depends on whether the employer is using the measurement and look back method of tracking employees or the monthly method. Measurement and […]

As companies strive to find new and better ways to attract and retain skilled workers, many have explored student loan debt repayment options as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition. Student Loan Genius in Austin, Texas, has taken a different approach to that option. Instead of having employers give a set amount of […]

The majority of U.S. employees believe they will be worse off than their parents in retirement, according to new research by Willis Towers Watson. The 2015 Global Benefits Attitudes Survey asked employees what their biggest concerns were when it came to their overall financial health. Their responses painted a bleak picture, including less generous Social […]