News/Blog

We have a new president-elect who promises to change health care as we know it. It appears that the Affordable Care Act’s demise, at least in part, is at hand. So what’s next? I believe the employer mandate for the most part will cease to exist. Furthermore, the individual mandate will have a different look…

My opinion is that the ACA employer mandate will be repealed. Why? Besides the immense unpopularity of the employer mandate by business owners, market pressures should continue to motivate employers to provide health care for the purposes of attracting and retaining employees and staying competitive in the workforce marketplace. I’m not sure the egalitarian tenets…

With the impending collapse of the Affordable Care Act’s state exchanges and the belief that Medicaid or some other form of government-sponsored plan will replace private insurance now used in the exchanges, the outlook for state finances appears to be grim. Since the end of the Great Recession, most states have benefited from economic growth…

    Overview: Benefits Bulletin is a quarterly newsletter that covers hot benefit topics in depth. This issue includes information about the new overtime rule, penalties for health plan violations, changes proposed to Form 5500 and the 2016 election.

Prudential Insurance recently released its employee benefits report Ninth Study of Employee Benefits: Today and Beyond. I found it very curious that the study/ survey found that benefit brokers top business objectives in 2016 are:   Retaining current customers Increasing productivity and efficiency Increasing customer satisfaction Providing high quality service Deepening relationships with current customers…

Switching to a high deductible health plan can save a group serious money today, but what is the long-term impact tomorrow if low-income employees are not utilizing their plan when they need it most? A recent analysis by EBRI revealed a large disparity in HDHP plan utilization between low income and high income employees. Research found…

Captives are a bit of a rarity in the employee benefits insurance field. They are heavily utilized in the Property and Liability Insurance industry to spread risk among several parties.   However, in certain cases, captives make sense for employee benefit plans. Traditionally, they are used by very, very large employers and mostly for ancillary…

HR Brief – August 2016 This month’s HR Brief clarifies some of the differences between the FMLA, ADA and short-term disability, highlights the importance of enforcing employer policies as written and alerts employers about Exchange subsidy notices.   Employee Leave:  Clarifying STD, FMLA and ADA In addition to the federal requirements under the Family and…

OVERVIEW SUMMER WELLNESS: Tips for Weathering the Sun and the Heat In This Issue: Making Sense of Sunscreen Go Outside and Play Recipe: Chicken Stir-fry  

Recent Court Rulings Raise Questions about FMLA The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) clearly states that when an employer knows that a worker taking leave qualifies for FMLA, it must designate the worker’s absence as FMLA leave. Despite this requirement, some employers let employees choose whether to designate their leave as FMLA leave. Two…