Tag: health care benefits

August 28, 2023

Rising health care costs. Persistent high inflation. A combination of hybrid, office and remote workers. Higher employee expectations. For those reasons and more, this year’s open enrollment is looking a little different from years past. “Enrollment is such a certainty […]

July 10, 2023

As employee benefits open enrollment season looms, HR professionals will be spending a lot of time and resources to create and send messages to employees about benefits plans. Yet, many of these efforts fall flat. A new study by LegalShield, […]

June 29, 2023

High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) have become a mainstay of many employee benefits programs since their introduction in the early aughts. However, despite two decades of experience with these plans, employee satisfaction with HDHPs lags behind that of more traditional health […]

April 14, 2023

Jessica Dueñas was determined to keep her secret. In 2019, Dueñas was a special education teacher at a middle school in Louisville, Ky., who had just been named the Kentucky Teacher of the Year. She was well-respected by her colleagues […]

January 11, 2023

I thought I knew what to expect from the shift to post-employment benefits when I decided to retire, at age 66, near the end of 2022. After all, for almost 19 years at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), […]

May 2, 2022

Are state and local “play-or-pay” laws that require employers to make minimum monthly health care payments for employees pre-empted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)? The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to resolve a disagreement among federal […]

March 2, 2022

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the spiraling humanitarian crisis has captured attention worldwide. Concern over the tragedy is understandable, but employers should also be aware that for some workers, the levels of stress, anxiety and depression associated with constant […]

January 24, 2022

In the current pandemic environment, employers are searching for increasingly creative ways to incentivize COVID-19 vaccination among their employees. “Vaccine sweepstakes,” by which employers offer cash or other prizes (often substantial) to winning employees who are randomly selected from a […]

January 6, 2022

The average per-employee cost of employer-sponsored health insurance jumped 6.3 percent in 2021 as employees and their families resumed care after avoiding it due to the pandemic, according to HR consultancy Mercer’s 2021 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans report, […]

August 6, 2021

An employer coalition is urging policymakers to consider the implications for employer-provided health insurance if employees are given an option to receive coverage under a government-run health plan. The Partnership for Employer-Sponsored Coverage (P4ESC) sent a comment letter on July […]

May 5, 2021

As COVID-19 vaccination rates increase and the pandemic eases, business worksites are reopening. Whether by choice or need, however, many employees are likely to continue working remotely—some may have moved to locations too far away to accommodate commuting while others […]

April 27, 2021

The number of employers offering family-forming benefits has grown over the past five years as organizations view these offerings as part of their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Nearly a quarter of U.S. organizations now cover the cost of in […]

March 10, 2020

Recent research shows that organizations are continuing to attract and retain top talent by offering personalized and expanded employee health benefits. Employees and candidates have high expectations when it comes to such benefits, and employers have been forced to accommodate […]

February 8, 2019

Older employees are working longer, and the gap between the age for Medicare eligibility (65) and normal retirement age (soon to be 67) is increasing. As a result, employers are more likely to have Medicare-eligible employees on the payroll and […]

May 21, 2018

A new survey conducted among 1,100 American workers reveals their need for education and guidance when it comes to their healthcare benefits. The survey, conducted by Zogby Analytics on behalf of WEX Health, a healthcare financial technology platform provider, sought […]