Blog Entries tagged 'benefits'

Overworked employees looking to leave

stephentaub@yahoo.com — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:00:00 +0100

Employers, beware. Your overworked employees may not be around much longer.

Once they sense the job market has improved, they plan to bolt and let the door close on their immediate boss.

This is the message being sent in MetLife's ninth annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends.

At least one third of employees said they hope to be working somewhere else in the next 12 months, according to the survey. And employees who plan to leave are more likely to report greate [...]

More companies paying benefits tax for gay couples

annearf@aol.com — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:00:00 +0100

Increasingly leading edge companies are adopting benefits policies aimed at gay employees who are in domestic partnerships. The latest wrinkle: addressing a tax on health insurance coverage that gay employees have to pay, but heterosexuals who are married don’t.

Basically companies offering coverage to gay employees with domestic partners face a conundrum. They can’t give such workers equal access to those benefits. The reason: Benefits [...]

CFOs targeting benefits for cuts

stephentaub@yahoo.com — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 23:00:00 +0100

It looks like traditional employee benefits are in the cross-hairs of cost conscious finance execs.

According to a new survey of chief financial officers and senior comptrollers conducted by Grant Thornton LLP, 30 percent are planning to reduce health care benefits, 23 percent are planning on reducing bonuses and 18 percent are prepared to reduce stock options/equity based compensation.

The over-riding reason: More than 8 of 10 (84 percent) cited employee benefits as their g [...]

Questions swirl around new state health insurance exchanges

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

California last week became the first state to pass legislation creating a health insurance exchange as mandated under the new federal health reform law. Some states, like New York, have only begun to pay lip service toward implementing health reform, while others, like Missouri, are still fighting the federal law's legality.

But the legislation is nonetheless expected to serve as a model if it is signed into law as expected.

The exchanges will be state-based. The new law giv [...]

End of Cobra subsidy could mean higher costs

smerd@gmail.com — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Employers generally do not like the COBRA program that allows laid-off workers to stay on their company's health plan. The problem is that the program is so expensive that only the sickest workers whose health care costs are higher than what they pay in premiums enroll.

The subsidy in the federal stimulus plan, which paid for 65 percent of the cost of a person's premium, was expected to change that by making it affordable for healthy workers. The subsidy can be used by workers [...]

Employers must do more to get employees to opt for higher deductibles

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Employers are heading into "open enrollment" season when companies decide what kinds of health plans to offer to offer employees. More companies are including health plans with higher deductibles.

Though these plans have been around for nearly a decade, many employers and employees alike have little understanding of them and their impact on costs, a new analysis from the Employee Benefits Research Institute shows.

The simple reason for this is that employees have never h [...]

Few employers plan to drop health coverage: survey

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:00:00 +0100

If you're thinking of dropping health coverage for your employees, think again.

Sure, many employer groused when Democrats passed health reform. They feared new mandates, rules telling them what kind--and how much--health care they needed to provide to employees.

And as I wrote last month, self-insured employers can expect their health care costs to go up 1.5 percent in order to cover the costs of another Obamacare mandate-the requirement that employers provide free regular pr [...]

How a CFO brings government into 21st century

smerd@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100

If you live or work in New York City you know how the subway can be both a blessing (when it runs on time) and a curse (when it doesn't) or for reasons that on Wednesday became clear: fare hikes.

If you don't live in New York you can appreciate why the agency responsible for public transit, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is having such a difficult time making ends meet. At the top of the list is compensation and benefits costs, which account for two-thirds of th [...]

Why employer health care costs vary by region

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100

It seems like every other day there's a new survey telling you what you already know: providing health care benefits for your employees is increasingly expensive.

The benefit of surveys though from the federal government is the size of the sample they use. In a survey released earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services drew on Census Bureau data to compile employer health care costs of about 40,000 businesses.

The survey showed that last year the average [...]

New federal health care rule could boost employer costs

smerd@gmail.com — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100

This just in from President Barack Obama: employer health care plans can expect a 1.5 percent increase in their costs courtesy of new regulations.

The federal Health and Human Services Department issued its "interim final rule"-a final rule, and in the interim they're asking for comments; send emails here: E-OHPSCA2713.EBSA@dol.gov.

The rule says that employers must provide preventative services to employees for free unless the employee chooses to see an out-of-netw [...]

Five ways to build better benefits

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100

According to the federal government, Americans work about eight hours a day. Now, I say "according to..." because the government actually put out a study last month confirming what we already know: we spend a third of our lives at work.

The workplace is our second home. Our employer is our second family. That is why the safety net employers provide for employees matters.

Employees consistently rank health benefits as important-sometimes even more important than salary.

IMF wants to turn the Cadillac tax into a Chevy

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Employers, here we go again: as long as you offer employees tax-free health care benefits, you will always have someone calling for an end to this lucrative tax break.

This time it's the International Monetary Fund. In a report last week on the U.S. economy, debt and unemployment, the IMF expressed overall concern about the challenge of bringing U.S. debt "to more sustainable levels without jeopardizing the recovery."

This was a follow-up report on a brief written on [...]

They're from the government and ...

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100

The federal government is now accepting applications from employers
that want to get reimbursed for medical claims paid on behalf of early
retirees.

The $5 billion Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, enacted as part of health reform, will repay employers for 80 percent of medical claims between $15,000 and $90,000 made on behalf of retirees who are 55 years and older but not yet eligible for Medicare.

The program will reimburse claims going back to June 1, 2010. As the D [...]

Supremes rule against employers

smerd@gmail.com — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:00:00 +0100

The Supreme Court this week rejected a challenge by employers to San Francisco's universal healthcare program. The justices denied an appeal from the Golden Gate Restaurant Association of a lower court ruling that upheld the program's requirement that employers help pay the bill or give their workers health coverage.

The significance of the decision means foremost that San Francisco's health care mandate does not violate federal ERISA law allowing multi-state employers to de [...]

Medical debt could lead to higher payroll taxes

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:00:00 +0100

In a brief last month, the International Monetary Fund said that US debt is expected to exceed 100 percent of GDP within the next five years-as this chart clearly shows.

And by debt, what the IMF is really talking about are entitlement programs, foremost among them Medicare. This is a problem for employers and employees since revenues from payroll taxes, which pay for Medicare and Social Security, are spent almost immediately as they are taken in. That leaves the US with few good option [...]

Cadillac tax could drive more use of health savings accounts

smerd@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Since they were introduced in 2003, the use of high deductible health insurance plans with health savings accounts have grown steadily more popular among employers who believe that making employees responsible for upfront costs will make them thriftier health care consumers.

Proponents of these plans had worried that Democrats would effectively outlaw them in their health reform bill by setting the minimum value above the threshold of most of these plans. Earlier proposals would have re [...]

Employers worry about grandfathered plans

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch made good on his promise to try to kill
health reform. Last week he introduced a bill that would remove the
requirement that employers provide health insurance and that
individuals buy it-even though in 1993 he introduced a bill that would
have required individuals to purchase health insurance.

The legislation, of course, has no chance of becoming law. Democrats
may not regain their supermajority but they are unlikely to cede
[...]

Companies failing to rein in hospitals and docs

smerd@gmail.com — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:00:00 +0100

As employers begin to evaluate their health benefits in anticipation of open enrollment, a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that medical costs will rise 9 percent next year. It sounds like a lot--and it is.

After all, inflation rose 2.2 percent in the last year.

But if you haven't realized it by now, health care costs exist in a world of their own, a world where a 9 percent increase is actually good news. That's because last year medical costs increase [...]

COBRA subsidy good for employers

smerd@gmail.com — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:00:00 +0100

The Cobra moment has arrived.

The Senate this week is expected to vote on whether or not to extent the Cobra subsidy for newly laid off workers. The House has already rejected the extension, signaling improved confidence in the economy and an unwillingness of legislators to continue the subsidy indefinitely.

Extending the subsidy, which pays for 65 percent of the cost of a person's health insurance premium, would only apply to workers laid off after June 1. The cost of extend [...]

The gift of Wellpoint keeps on giving

smerd@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 23:00:00 +0100

Remember Wellpoint?

It may be said that no other company helped ensure the passage of health reform more than the insurance giant. Now the gift of Wellpoint keeps on giving, at least for small businesses in New York.

You may remember the fracas that erupted earlier this spring as health reform was coming down the home stretch and Democrats needed a cause for the public to rally against, one that would help them win over skeptical voters.

E [...]