Employee Benefit Adviser articles from June 2005

Employee Benefit Adviser archives from June 2005

Bringing money and people together.(Column)
June 1, 2005... Welcome to the brave new world of benefit sales. Increasingly, you will not be dealing just with benefit professionals. You're going to be working with the executives in the purchasing department. Purchasing. Procure-ment. Finance. The...

HSAs: the new IRA?(Health Savings Accounts)(Individual retirement accounts)
June 1, 2005... When health savings accounts first were introduced in December 2003 as part of an omnibus Medicare reform bill, they were touted as a tax-advantaged way to save up to pay for health care in a consumer-directed world. Maybe - if the account...

All eyes, not dollars, are on 529s.
June 1, 2005... Recent investigations into possibly unethical marketing of Sec. 529 educational savings products appear to be impeding sales of what has been considered a valuable employee benefit. At least three securities regulatory agencies are looking...

Procurement officers sharpen pencils for benefits.
June 1, 2005... Fed up with cost hikes, top employer brass are bringing in the pointy-pencil finance and purchasing department execs to collaborate with HR on benefit purchases. For benefit manager clients, that means negotiating a peaceful coexistence...

Ten steps to implementing a CDHC plan with HSA.(Consumer Driven Health Care)(Health Savings Account)
June 1, 2005... Most employers, and even their consultants and brokers, hesitate to implement a consumer-driven health care plan that includes a health savings account. Many have been told to implement a health reimbursement arrangement first. What should you...

Compensation aggravation: Should you contract for commissions?
June 1, 2005... Switching to another broker in the middle of a plan year is not frequent, but it does happen, and one adviser is taking a hard line on this tactic. The broker, who identifies himself only as being from the Northeast, had a recent client...

Eye on sales: Trends in eyesight deterioration help advisers put their vision pitch in focus.
June 1, 2005... Most companies already offer vision benefits, but don't let that scare you. Recent estimates say that 82% of employers with more than 500 workers have a plan in place. However, two demographic trends illustrating the growing need for...

Economist proposes solutions to an ailing health care system.(David Cutler)(Interview)
June 1, 2005... David Cutler's book, Your Money or Your Life: Strong Medicine for America's Healthcare System, provides a comprehensive overview of the current health care system and what can be done to improve it. For Cutler, an economics professor at...

Part D primer: Employers need help evaluating Medicare subsidy option.
June 1, 2005... With deadlines related to the Medicare prescription drug benefit closing in, surveys are showing that most employer clients expect to take advantage of the government subsidy for retiree drug plans. Experts caution, however, that some might be...

States push employer tax to expand health coverage.
June 1, 2005... The number of people on public health assistance rolls could mean higher expenses for clients, as several states try to head off Medicaid expenses by generating money from employers with large numbers of low-income workers in the program. ...

AIG's Eisenberg awarded for worksite marketing leadership.(Steven M. Eisenberg)
June 1, 2005... AIG veteran Steven M. Eisenberg recently received the Dick Ancy Pinnacle Award at the Mass Marketing Insurance Institute's annual conference earlier this year in Orlando, Fla. The award, which the organization has bestowed only four times in...

ABD buys Lucini/Parish for underserved clientele.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Executives at ABD Insurance and Financial Services believe the opportunity to offer its benefits services to Lucini/Parish Insurance's client pool made its recent acquisition a no-brainer. "We feel that, with our expertise and our...

Moving the Needle.(Lucini/Parish Insurance)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... This month, Rob MacKethan, principal and founder of Agency Advisors, a provider of capital and advice to independent agencies, comments on the acquisition of Lucini/Parish Insurance by ABD Insurance and Financial Services. This deal has...

Dealmakers.(WorkCare Northwest Inc)
June 1, 2005... * Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. announced the acquisition of WorkCare Northwest, Inc., headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Established in 1998, WorkCare Northwest is a program administrator specializing in workers' compensation. The firm will continue...

Off-cycle enrollments offer clarity.(for employees)
June 1, 2005... As benefit costs have risen and voluntary, employee-pay-all products have played an increasingly important role in the package offered to workers, a number of worksite marketers and enrollers have discovered that one open enrollment period per...

E-newsletter.(for employee benefits)
June 1, 2005... Treasury extends FSA deadline by 2 1/2 months The Treasury Department will allow a 2 1/2-month grace period for flexible spending accounts, which will give employees more time to spend money in the tax-advantaged accounts. Employers now...

Info Sources.(Directory)
June 1, 2005... As a service to readers, EBA furnishes the names, locations and telephone numbers of organizations whose products and services are highlighted in each issue. Page numbers identify where organizations are mentioned. ABD Insurance and...

Mini-medical plans can be sold. Here's how.
June 1, 2005... As health care prices skyrocket and more employees lose insurance, the mini-medical plan industry has started to really boom. These mini-medical plans, commonly referred to as limited-benefit plans, are threshold basic health policies that pay...