Word on Benefits

Congress Kicks the Can; Employers Get Cadillac Tax Reprieve

Kelli Kolsrud, CEBS

18 Dec 201507 Jan 2016

The budget and tax package passed by Congress on December 18, 2015 includes a two-year delay of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) excise tax on high-value health plans (a.k.a., the Cadillac tax). The president is expected to sign the bill into law. What […]

Employee Benefits Employee Benefits Survey Health Care

Health and Dental Benefits: Who’s Covered? What’s Offered? Who Pays?

Neil Mrkvicka

17 Dec 201511 Jan 2016

Over the past year the International Foundation has conducted research surveys on a variety of trending health-related benefits topics including workplace wellness, the impact of ACA and domestic partner benefits. These trends have not reduced the importance of the benefit basics—health and dental […]

Employee Benefits

Now Trending in Corporate Benefits Departments

Neil Mrkvicka

15 Dec 201515 Dec 2015

More than one-third of companies have increased outsourcing of benefits functions in the past two years according to the International Foundation’s Corporate Benefits Departments: Staffing and Operations: 2015 Survey Results. This finding, on the surface, may rattle your sense of job security. But […]

Affordable Care Act (ACA) Employee Benefits Health Care Regulatory

No Health Insurance? How Big is the ACA Individual Penalty?

Lois Gleason, CEBS

14 Dec 201507 Jan 2016

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires most individuals to obtain minimum essential health coverage or pay a penalty, with some exceptions. The penalty increases each year. Phil Galewitz reports in Kaiser Health News the average household penalty will be $661 for 2015 and […]

Employee Benefits

Life Insurance Stands as a Top Benefit

Justin Held, CEBS

10 Dec 2015

Life insurance has long been a popular employee benefit, providing a safety net to employees’ spouses and dependents should the unthinkable occur. How do your life insurance benefits compare with offerings from other organizations? The International Foundation’s Employee Benefits Survey 2014, the […]

Employee Benefits Financial Wellness Retirement

Innovative Benefit: Student Loan Repayment

Jenny Gartman, CEBS

08 Dec 201519 Jul 2016

When you think of student loan debt, you likely think of the financial stress on your youngest employees. While much focus has been on millennials, student loan debt impacts all generations and can have a long-term impact on retirement security. Some employers […]

Employee Benefits Regulatory

How I Used My FSA to Save $20,000 on Child Care

Staff

01 Dec 201501 Dec 2015

The first week of December—Time to deck the halls, shop for gifts, bake cookies . . . and, for many, time to make Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA) elections for next year. You can almost hear employees across the country groaning as they […]

Canada Health Care Pensions Retirement

Employee Benefits in Canada Book Released

Pat Bonner, Ph.D., CEBS

24 Nov 201509 Nov 2017

What is black and white and soon to be read all over Canada? I couldn’t help but think of this riddle when the fourth edition of Employee Benefits in Canada was delivered to my desk a few days ago. The text is […]

Disability Benefits Employee Benefits Financial Education Financial Wellness Retirement

4 Ways to Help Your Workers Meet Their Retirement Goals

Staff

19 Nov 201523 Nov 2015

To help your employees achieve a secure retirement, it’s necessary to look at the bigger picture of their entire financial well-being. While many employers have traditionally focused on retirement plan design and participant enrollment, progressive employers are going a step further. The […]

Compliance Health Care HIPAA Regulatory

True Tales of HIPAA

Chris Vogel, CEBS

10 Nov 201510 Nov 2015

Unless a person’s job depends on knowing Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) privacy and security rules, the topic is what my family calls a MEGO (“my eyes glaze over”). So I was surprised when I attended “HIPAA Tune-Up for Your Health Plans,” […]