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Data from late 2012 show women in the United States closing the gap in defined contribution plan balances and savings rates compared with their male counterparts, but gaps remain in women’s retirement funding strategies that plan sponsors can help address. Although female plan participants long have been known to save less than men for retirement, […]
With thousands of pages of new laws and rules, there must be thousands of new reasons for employees to sue for health benefits not delivered properly in the wake of near-complete enactment of health reform starting in 2014, one could be forgiven for thinking. Health reform certainly does appear to be somewhat of a litigation […]
Just what we were hoping for—more complicated regulations. The Final Rule, says Schoenfeld, which addresses family military leave and airline flight crew rules, will change the way in which covered employers administer family leave for servicemember caregivers and employees with family members in the military. Schoenfeld is a Senior Legal Editor on BLR’s human resources […]
Furthermore, Morris adds, your wellness program may get way more important under the Affordable Care Act. Morris, who specializes in benefits, is a member of the firm Epstein Becker Green in its Washington, D.C., office. Wellness Is Popular, But Hard to Define A recent survey found that 70.3 percent of 539 employer respondents reported offering […]
Only 33% of those who answered the question, however, automatically enroll employees, though 2.5% plan to implement auto-enrollment in the future. Other survey highlights: Most common match amount is up to 6% of salary (25% of respondents). Nearly half (48%) of employers offer more than 15 investment options. 26% plan to add a defined contribution […]
Employer-sponsored plans that are secondary to Medicare are not subject to health reform’s expensive transitional reinsurance fee, nor are health flexible spending arrangements, health savings accounts and most health reimbursement arrangements. On March 11, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published its final regulation on the transitional reinsurance fee, which takes effect […]
Three monthly measures of defined benefit pension plans’ funded status slipped or remained flat in February after a strong start to 2013, due mostly to weakening interest rates. The Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index, which monitors funding for the U.S.’s largest corporate DB plans, posted a decrease in funded status for the month to 81.5 […]
Your wellness program may get much more important under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), says Morris, a member of the firm Epstein Becker Green in its Washington, D.C., office who specializes in benefits. There are already many benefits to wellness programs, but Morris is convinced they will become even more crucial as the ACA unfolds […]
These questions and answers on the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit are adapted from the IRS web site for companies considering getting federal subsidies to help pay premiums for their workers to get health insurance. The subsidies are authorized by health reform law. Q: Which companies qualify for a federal health care tax credit? A: […]
As defined benefit plan sponsors look harder for ways to cut expenses and lower exposure to market forces that challenge keeping their pension obligations funded, an obvious cost to evaluate is their commitment to lifetime retirement benefits for participants. Nearly 40 percent of U.S. employers with DB plans told Aon Hewitt in its recent 2013 […]