Word on Benefits

ACA Cost Increases Hitting Employee Wallets

Staff

27 Jun 201627 Jun 2016

Faced with rising costs due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), employers have made a number of changes to their health plans that directly impact their employees’ wallets. The International Foundation’s new report, 2016 Employer-Sponsored Health Care: ACA’s Impact, finds that about one-third of […]

Affordable Care Act (ACA) Employee Benefits Health Care

ACA—Employers May Not Love It But Don’t Support Repeal

Justin Held, CEBS

23 Jun 201624 Jun 2016

In May 2016, the International Foundation deployed its seventh annual survey in a series of how single employer plans are being affected by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The 2016 Employer-Sponsored Health Care: ACA’s Impact gave respondents the opportunity to share opinions of […]

Communication Employee Benefits Health Care

Four Ways to Make Sure EOBs Do Explain

Chris Vogel, CEBS

22 Jun 2016

Have you ever tried to make sense of health care bills after a serious illness? Did you fantasize about marching into your insurance company president’s office, handing him or her a box full of EOBs and demanding a real explanation of your […]

Employee Benefits Employee Benefits Survey Health Care Insurance

Workplaces Fight Against High Prescription Drug Costs

Anne Patterson

20 Jun 2016

The prescription drug train went full speed ahead in 2014 and is not losing steam. A new report from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans asked employers how they are managing prescription drug costs, and responses revealed that, among other expense-saving […]

Canada Employee Benefits Health Care Mental Health

Addiction: Be Ready to Help

Kathy Bergstrom, CEBS

16 Jun 2016

Imagine summoning the courage to admit you have a problem with addiction and asking for help. Then imagine being put on a waiting list for treatment. Would you still be motivated to get help when a spot opens up—potentially several weeks later? […]

Employee Benefits

How to Be a Benefits Terms Trivia Champ

Chris Vogel, CEBS

14 Jun 201614 Jun 2016

Ah, the good old days. The International Foundation first published the Glossary of Employee Benefit Plan and Investment Terminology in 1973. That slimmer, trimmer first Glossary weighed in at 8.4 ounces and defined almost 600 benefit terms in 54 pages. It also […]

Affordable Care Act (ACA) Employee Benefits Health Care Regulatory

There’s No Crying in ACA Reporting

Lois Gleason, CEBS

13 Jun 201613 Jun 2016

Do you need to make corrections on your 1095-Bs or 1095-Cs? Maybe you didn’t bat a thousand this year on Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting requirements. To avoid penalties for faulty reporting on 2015 ACA information returns, you need to make a […]

401(k) Plans Canada Defined Benefit (DB) Plans Defined Contribution (DC) Plans Employee Benefits Retirement

Decumulation: Cracking the Retirement Nest Egg

Pat Bonner, Ph.D., CEBS

09 Jun 201609 Nov 2017

In the early years of the shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) plans, most attention was directed at saving for retirement. Today, there is a growing realization that more consideration must be given to decumulation—account withdrawals after retirement. For […]

Canada Education Employee Benefits

Learn Where You Work: The Value of On-Site Education

Tom DeRoche

07 Jun 201607 Jun 2016

Over the past sixteen years, I have had the good fortune to work with many organizations to bring International Foundation programs to their places of business. We have done this from coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada, across all the […]

Affordable Care Act (ACA) Employee Benefits Human Resources (HR) Mental Health

DOL Addresses Mental Health Parity, Again

Jenny Gartman, CEBS

02 Jun 201602 Jun 2016

The FAQs about Affordable Care Act Implementation Part 31 released on April 20, 2016 mark the fourth time the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) disclosure rules have been addressed by the Department of Labor (DOL) in its series of […]