The good news: Pharmaceutical companies are developing a range of drugs to treat diseases that are chronic and/or rare. The bad news: Their high (some might say outrageous) cost. Overall, prescription drug prices rose 12 percent in 2014. Sales of specialty drugs contributed greatly to the jump. Specialty drugs: Are usually self-administered, high cost, injectable...
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Critical Illness Insurance Helps Ease Cancer’s Financial Pain
The good news is the likelihood of surviving a cancer diagnosis has increased. The bad news is the cost of treating cancer has also increased…and so have deductibles and copayments. Currently, an estimated 11 million Americans are living with cancer. Although your chances of surviving cancer are better now than ever, how will your budget...
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Voluntary Benefits Can Help Employee Retention
An improving economy will bring sighs of relief to many employers. Unfortunately, it could also bring increased employee turnover. A strong benefits program can help you retain your valuable employees. What factors do employees cite when they talk about leaving their jobs? Leigh Branham, an employee retention consultant, wrote in Workforce Management that only 12...
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Concierge Benefits
Just like at a hotel, an employer’s concierge service can perform services such as making a restaurant reservation or buying tickets for a concert, to finding a plumber or babysitter. Without a concierge, employees might otherwise spend work time handling these tasks. The point of concierge services is to make employees’ lives easier. Employers that...
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Voluntary Life Helps Bridge the Insurance Gender Gap
Making insurance available through the workplace, including with voluntary programs, can help eliminate a dangerous financial problem for many women: inadequate life insurance. How serious is the underinsurance problem? MetLife’s 8th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends found that married men with minor children have, on average, five times their annual household income in life...
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What is Telemedicine?
Recently, the state of Washington passed a law requiring employee health plans to reimburse providers for telemedicine services. That made Washington the 24th state to require “telemedicine parity.” Parity laws remove some of the barriers to more widespread adoption of telemedicine. Knowing they will be reimbursed for services makes healthcare providers more willing to offer...
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How a Little 401k Fee Can Make a Big Difference
No longer can employers select a retirement plan and put it on autopilot. Lately, employee groups have been suing their employers…and winning…over high 401(k) fees. The Supreme Court heard arguments in a relevant case, Tibble v. Edison International, earlier this year. Plaintiffs claim that administrators of Edison’s retirement plan breached their fiduciary duties by offering...
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What Are Your Fiduciary Responsibilities?
Every written employee retirement plan must name at least one fiduciary. As a fiduciary, what are your fiduciary responsibilities? They include, but are not limited to: Controlling plan operations: A fiduciary differs from a typical manager in that the fiduciary must act solely in the best interest of plan participants and their beneficiaries. Communicating: Fiduciaries...
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Cadillac Tax Reviewed
As we posted this article, the IRS had just ended a comment period on the so-called Cadillac tax. The tax, part of the Affordable Care Act, is scheduled to go into effect in 2018 unless the law changes. Some Republicans have promised to do just that. Created by Section 9001 of the Affordable Care Act,...
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ACA Spurring Interest in Self-Insurance
Self-insurance can create risk exposures that most smaller employers don’t want to take. Still, 15 percent of smaller employers (1-199 employees) find the benefits outweigh the risks. What Is Self-Insurance? Employers providing health benefits to employees have three basic choices: buying a fully insured plan, self-insuring or offering employees a choice of fully insured and...
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