Employee Benefit Adviser articles from June 2003

Employee Benefit Adviser archives from June 2003

The fine art of listening.
June 1, 2003... It's a pretty noisy world. Everyone is competing to get their message heard, attention spans grow ever shorter, and the pressure to be noticed seems to increase every day. Which is why, sometimes, it's important to simply stop and listen....

Disability coverage still lacks respect.
June 1, 2003... Employers and employees don't value disability insurance as highly as financial advisers do, a new survey shows, though the benefit can help manage absences and protect income in cases of extended illness or injury. Although disability...

Brokers find HIPAA compliance an ongoing task.(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
June 1, 2003... With controversial privacy regulations now in effect, some believe it a good idea for brokers to consider themselves "covered entities." That is not to say that they actually are covered by the privacy rules, which went into effect April...

Small employers tally big worksite demand.
June 1, 2003... According to the latest Census Bureau data, 98% of businesses in the United States have fewer than 100 employees. This same data shows that 89% of all businesses have 20 or fewer employees. A recent study by our company, Eastbridge Consulting...

Work-life benefits challenge small plan sponsors.
June 1, 2003... Take a look at Working Mother magazine's annual list of the best companies for its title demographic. Some of the names are better known than others, but few qualify as small or mid-sized businesses. Notice the top 10 names on the list, for...

VEBAs on the rise with failing companies.
June 1, 2003... VEBAs - voluntary employee benefit associations - have hovered around the fringes of retiree medical issues for years. Now, though, as formerly strong corporations with cradle-to-grave philosophies fall on hard times, the plans increasingly are...

Benefits drive total compensation cost hikes.
June 1, 2003... The Employment Cost Index (ECI) for total compensation rose 1.3% from December to March, following a 0.7% gain in the fourth quarter of 2002, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Total compensation surged at an annual 3.9% rate for...

Don't be a benefit bag-diver: Successful producers say brokers who are too anxious to get into product demonstrations forget the most important sales tool: listening.
June 1, 2003... Have you heard this one? A broker walks into a benefit manager's office for a first meeting. During the course of conversation, the manager notes that her company recently bought term life insurance from a certain insurer. The broker, who...

Advise and consent.(John Boehner, interview)(Interview)
June 1, 2003... Congressman John Boehner hopes to champion legislative approval for expanded employee access to retirement planning advice, Association Health Plans - and maybe even ERISA reform U.S. Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) stands at a fork in the road...

IT utility gains benefit industry acceptance.
June 1, 2003... There is a movement among many leaders in the employee benefits sector seeking a new way of thinking about how technology can make it more efficient to buy, sell and manage benefits, according to the results of ten recent regional forums held...

Consumer-driven health needs new sales vocabulary.
June 1, 2003... It is fairly easy to see what employers find appealing about consumer-directed health plans: Higher deductibles plus employee financial awareness equals lower health care costs. But selling the average employee on the benefits can be...

Brokers feel duped into insurance fraud.
June 1, 2003... Everybody was duped. That appears to be the one thing on which a fiduciary and the 400 brokers he is suing can agree. Thus a federal lawsuit, filed in March on behalf of 30,000 insured with $50 million in unpaid health claims moves...

MI2 and worksite marketing poised for growth.(Mass Marketing Insurance Institute)
June 1, 2003... It was worksite marketing with a capital "M" at the annual MI2 meeting in Orlando last month, where 237 attendees and exhibitors spent two and a half days dissecting the business and process of selling voluntary benefits in educational...

Dealmakers.
June 1, 2003... A rundown on recent acquisitions, strategic partnerships and other deals among benefit advisers. Marsh USA and Marsh Advantage America added Mutual of Omaha to their 401(k) and pension plan consulting provider list. Mutual of Omaha's...

BenefitNews.com Adviser.
June 1, 2003... Life insurance policy owners believe coverage is adequate Affluent Americans - usually those with a modicum of financial sophistication - still do not realize their life insurance coverage is inadequate, says a survey by The Hartford....

BenefitNews.com Connect.
June 1, 2003... Physicians believe in benefits of e-prescribing systems As more evidence of our increasingly paper-free society, the nation's largest pharmacy benefit managers recently have begun offering e-prescribing technology for physicians. What's...

Overcoming technophobia takes the right stuff.
June 1, 2003... You don't often hear insurance agents, brokers and benefit advisers being talked about in the same breath as airline pilots or emergency room doctors. And there's a reason for that. When we talk about the number of "lives" we're handling, the...