News

With the cost of pharmaceuticals consuming an ever-increasing proportion of health benefit expenditures, many employers are responding by adding pricing tiers to their drug plan designs. The move is being driven partly by the exorbitant cost and increasing utilization of specialty drugs. “A few years ago pharma claims were around 10% of the claim total, […]

Two independent studies of the financial burdens Americans bear for parents, adult children, and the hope to help their kids finance higher education rveal wide-ranging realities that challenge the imperative to adequately save for retirement. One TD Ameritrade report shows that more than one in five Americans provides ongoing financial support for a parent or an […]

Good news for workers can sometimes mean bad news for businesses. With the unemployment rate down to 5.3 percent, many U.S. companies say they’re having hard time attracting qualified employees. A survey of human resource professionals conducted by PI Worldwide, a consulting firm, showed widespread concerns among businesses of all sizes over finding quality applicants to […]

Smiling in business is as important as getting paid, maybe even more so. If you have bad oral health, you may end up not only broke, but even sick or dead. Many Americans don’t see the dentist unless something is wrong, and 56 percent of those without dental insurance skip preventive treatment altogether. Their reasons […]

Recognizing employee accomplishments is one of the best ways to motivate and maintain a loyal employee base. A recent 10-year global study shows just barely half (51%) of the more than 2.5 million employees surveyed feel appreciated. Further, a Forbes Magazine report indicates 87% of employee recognition programs are based solely on tenure instead of […]

Managers of California’s state-based public health insurance exchange, Covered California, will be letting a unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) compete in five of the lower-population pricing regions in the state in 2016. Covered California managers have also given an affiliate of Oscar, a high-profile New York insurer that tries to “make health insurance suck […]

Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 4980I — the new Cadillac plan excise tax — could push health benefit plan administrators into bitter fights over which administrators actually have to pay the tax. The health insurance issuer will pay the tax for an insured plan, but the “person that administers the plan benefits” will pay the tax for […]

Overview: The Supreme Court’s recent decision that states are required to recognize as legal a marriage between two people of the same sex has lasting implications on employers that some industry experts are still deciphering. Here are 7 things employers need to know about the decision, according to Cherry Creek Benefits. 1) FMLA leave Same-sex […]

In his 2015 State of the Union Address last January, President Obama said employees should get the overtime they’ve earned. He then directed the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to review and amend the overtime rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to make more workers eligible. On June 30, the DOL took steps […]

by Keith Kitani JUL 24, 2015 Commentary: It’s no secret that health care costs are rising. Higher priced plans impact everyone, both employer and employee, and breaking the news to your team is never easy.  How do you help your employees make the best choices for their particular situations and their pocketbooks while also managing […]