Employee Benefit Adviser articles from March 2004

Employee Benefit Adviser archives from March 2004

Learning the truth about brokers.
March 1, 2004... You're at a cocktail party teeming with benefit professionals. Somebody asks you what you sell. What do you answer? Group life? Enrollment technology? Retirement plan solutions? Brokers, marketers and consultants promote products,...

Bare-bones health coverage better than just plain bare.
March 1, 2004... Group health plan providers may soon be rolling out additional "bare-bones" plans that brokers can present to employees who can't afford other sponsored coverage, industry insiders say. The rationale is that double-digit medical inflation...

HSA software adds admin support to client appeal.(health savings accounts)
March 1, 2004... As employer clients gain interest in health savings accounts (HSAs), insurers and administrative service providers are scrambling to roll out new offerings in a market that's already becoming highly competitive. In addition to complementary,...

Advisers weighed down by problems with top-heavy 401(k)s.
March 1, 2004... A recent wave of lawsuits filed over the tax code's "top-heavy" rules means benefit advisers should take steps to protect themselves and preserve client relationships. Top-heavy claims are now the main source of discord between sponsors...

Partnership forges new adviser revenue stream.(FlexBen Corp. and Diversified Investment Advisors)
March 1, 2004... Combining retirement and health plan administration may sound like a good way to drown in complications, but one leading retirement plan provider and a benefits adviser have taken that plunge head first. Diversified Investment Advisors has...

Finding the right pieces: Brokers help frugal employers and employees fit together the puzzle of cost-effective disability insurance.
March 1, 2004... Employers and employees appear to have gotten the message that disability insurance is vital to financial security. Now they want brokers to help them find the most cost-effective coverage available. Without such help the cost of long-term...

Drawing a blueprint: Benefits brokers need to plot out their technology investments as if building a dream house.
March 1, 2004... Today, many independent employee benefit advisory firms are overwhelmed when it comes to technology. It is no wonder. They are caught in the middle of a convergence between the employee benefits and financial planning industries, with the Web...

Hilb Rogal & Hobbs sates appetite for benefits growth.
March 1, 2004... Hilb Rogal & Hobbs, the nation's seventh-largest insurance broker, for the past 22 years has been considered primarily a property and casualty specialist, albeit a rapidly expanding one. The 1999 acquisition of the P&C agency American Phoenix...

NAPES provides attendees with alternative targets and methods.(National Association of Professional Enrollment Specialists)
March 1, 2004... Worksite marketers need to adjust both their sales targets and aim in order to build business, speakers told attendees at the latest New Orleans gathering of the National Association of Professional Enrollment Specialists (NAPES). Toward...

Verdict: Record year shapes up for legal plan sales.
March 1, 2004... Sales of group legal plans are off to a glowing start this year as employer clients warm to sponsorship of low-cost, low-hassle benefits with demonstrable value to employees. "We are in a robust phase. Interest in group legal plans has...

Deal Makers.
March 1, 2004... * Mercer Human Resource Consulting, the world's largest HR consulting firm and fifth-largest benefits outsourcing provider, bought Synhrgy HR Technologies, itself a leading technology and outsourcing firm. The deal combines both companies into...

BenefitNews.com Advisers.
March 1, 2004... Commissioner forecasts insurance standards in place by Dec. Instead of waiting for the federal government to strengthen insurance regulatory reform, producers instead may want to look toward an interstate compact that would standardize...

BenefitNews.com Connect.
March 1, 2004... Employees say Internet helps them decide what benefits to choose If recent research is any indication, the majority of employees appear to have gotten comfortable with getting benefits information and enrolling online. Hewitt...