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Insurance

Plan now for 2015 insurance renewal: 4 questions to ask

07/16/2014

Don’t wait for the usual renewal offer from your health insurance carrier—typically 60 days before your plan expires. That gives you no time to explore alternatives, either from your existing plan or from competitors. As you plan for next year, ask these questions.

Report: Higher 2015 health costs aren’t long-term trend

07/14/2014
Employers’ health costs will accelerate next year, but a 6.8% increase in 2015 won’t signal a coming cost spiral, PricewaterhouseCoopers says in a new report.

IRS limits dumping employees on ACA exchanges

07/07/2014
Employers contemplating simply giving employees tax-free cash to purchase health insurance on public exchanges will have to rethink that plan in light of new IRS regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act.

Thinking about skipping workers’ comp? Get ready to risk unlimited liability

07/07/2014
Here’s something to consider before you choose not to be a part of the Texas workers’ compensation system. Employers that forego coverage—as they are permitted to do—leave open the possibility of unlimited liability and have few defenses available.

Employers still committed to health benefits

07/01/2014
Despite persistent worries that the Affordable Care Act will raise costs for employer-provided health insurance, less than 1% of companies responding to a new survey say they plan to stop offering coverage to their employees.

Supreme Court OKs religious exemption to birth-control mandate

06/30/2014
The court said closely held private companies can’t be forced to cover certain types of contraceptives for their workers.

Retirement trumps health in benefits survey

06/23/2014
Employees are more satisfied with their company-sponsored retirement benefits than they were five years ago, but satisfaction with health care benefits, especially the cost of medical benefits, has declined, according to a new survey by the Towers Watson consulting firm.

America’s Top 5 benefits

06/18/2014
U.S. workers value health care and medical benefits above all other workplace perks. A new SHRM poll found these benefits were rated most important.

Family-coverage health premiums up 5.4% this year

06/17/2014
Employer-provided health insurance for a family of four now costs $23,215, according to a new report by the actuarial firm Milliman. This can be seen as both good and bad news.

State exchange premiums compete with employer-provided plans

06/03/2014
Premiums for health plans offered on state exchanges under the ACA this year are comparable to those of employer-provided plans offering similar coverage—and in some cases they’re much lower.