Employee Benefit Adviser articles from July 2006

Employee Benefit Adviser archives from July 2006

Readers say reg changes could help clients deal with higher health costs.
July 1, 2006... A trio of recent Adviser quick polls highlights the impact rising health care costs are having on our readers' employer clients and how regulatory changes could help ameliorate some of the impact. Nearly half of the respondents said that...

What to do when that dog won't hunt.
July 1, 2006... The market clearly hasn't caught up with the hype, because broker-advisers are having trouble selling what are touted as today's hottest benefit products. To wit: More than half of respondents to Employee Benefit Adviser's Second Annual...

Discount vision gives employers advantage in attracting employees.
July 1, 2006... A Guardian client recently shared a story with me that exemplifies the power of employee benefits in general and ancillary benefits in particular. When the client's husband was deciding which of two comparable job offers to accept, she...

Clients want tools to promote employee consumerism.
July 1, 2006... Health plan sponsors appear ready to help workers make sound medical and financial choices, and even penalize those who don't step up to greater consumer involvement. The problem, according to a recent employer survey by the broker coalition...

Hard ride to the winner's circle: Tried-and-true products leave flashier ones in the dust,.
July 1, 2006... Broker-advisers report trouble getting out of the gate with what are supposedly today's hottest benefit products, claiming their better bets have been the old faithful, if unexciting, offerings. More than half of respondents to Employee...

HSA sales trouble might be partially self-wrought.
July 1, 2006... EBA's second annual survey results show advisers are clearly having trouble with health savings accounts and rest of the new suite of consumer-driven products that many had hoped would help address America's continuing health care cost crisis....

Experts share their secrets for successful recruiting.
July 1, 2006... Finding a good benefits producer is hard. Big firms say it. Small firms know it. Even professional recruiting firms for the insurance industry say it presents a "unique" challenge. Sure, the struggle for talent should remind advisers that the...

Joining benefit forces: Combining worksite benefits with a retirement planning.
July 1, 2006... It's difficult to determine the winning formula, the magical pitch needed to sell certain worksite benefits, but new experiments might produce the alchemy that turns lead to gold. Something is clearly needed, considering that promising...

New lease on life: Analysts suggest revitalized approaches to overcoming commoditization and flat sales growth in group life insurance.
July 1, 2006... Group life insurance sales growth has been slight for nearly a decade and for the past five years has averaged just 2%. But a new report from LIMRA International has triggered new discussions about the nature of the problem, potential solutions...

Advice on the small group market.
July 1, 2006... Breathing new life into your group life business will not be easy, but the experts at LIMRA have come up with a couple of suggestions for how you and your carriers can work together to make some progress. Here's what they suggest to carriers...

Deferred compensation programs: Do's, don'ts, and deadlines under Section 409A.
July 1, 2006... As part of the American Jobs Creation Act signed into law in 2004, a new provision of the Internal Revenue Code, Section 409A, was created to deal with the tax treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation plans and other such arrangements,...

Health care debate has a new marker.
July 1, 2006... Steve Orr knows firsthand what it's like to be on the front lines of the health care reform movement. Apppointed Maryland insurance commissioner in February, Orr joined the fray shortly after the state assembly overturned Governor Robert...

Dealmakers.(HealthNow New York Inc. acquires Brokerage Concepts Inc .)(BNC Insurance Services Inc. acquires T.M. Richards and Associates)(BenefitMall.com acquires Weston Group)
July 1, 2006... (Deal of the Month and Moving the Needle will return in our August issue.) * HealthNow New York to acquire Brokerage Concepts. BCI provides benefits administration for more than 5,000 client companies and 900,000 participants in medical,...

It's academic!
July 1, 2006... About a year ago Roosevelt University professor Steven Tippins decided he wanted to give his employee benefits students a better idea of how employers are communicating plan changes in the real world. After reading a blurb about OnlineBenefits...

Good customer service doesn't exist without self-service.
July 1, 2006... While attending a recent industry conference, I found myself surprised at the reception to the message of one of the breakout sessions. A panel moderator started by passionately encouraging the audience to read, and take to heart, a new...

Persistence, detective work win over lukewarm plan sponsors.
July 1, 2006... Most benefit experts will tell you that persistence and patience pay. That axiom, though, is particularly true when it comes to wooing so-called lukewarm retirement plan prospects. Retirement plans are "sticky," explains Charles Epstein,...

Readers advise on how to dress for success.
July 1, 2006... Obviously, you want to look nice when you visit a prospective client. Nobody wants to strike a deal with someone who looks like he's been sleeping on the street. But where is the line between looking presentable and alienating a benefits...

And the game reaches a new low ...
July 1, 2006... I have been doing this "insurance thing" for about six years now. I am, I readily admit, still a newbie. That said, there is one question I have to ask: Does it have to be this bad? Group representatives not only don't know their...