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Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, is getting in on the concept of “Centers of excellence,” a method of steering referrals to providers who perform more efficiently in a bid to bend the health cost curve. With the generous coverage, the company creates good press and may counter its reputation as being skimpy on workers’ benefits. […]
A former senior account manager has filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the National Basketball Association, Inc., alleging that the NBA “pays lip service to gender equality” and is “openly hostile to working mothers.” In the lawsuit, Brynn Cohn claims that the NBA instituted a change in work schedule while she was on maternity leave […]
Health plans and insurers long have been thinking of ways to compensate providers not for volume of care, but for value of care, as an important tool in curbing runaway health inflation. Research over the last two decades recently compiled and reviewed by the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality shows consistent reductions in what […]
With an ever-increasing number of private-sector retirement plan participants relying on automatic enrollment and the investment choices their employers select, the best way for plan sponsors to help these workers achieve a secure retirement is to choose and manage their default options well, a new survey suggests. The defined contribution investments unit of money manager […]
Eye on the Election For today’s topic—likely changes to health care reform after the election—we turned to BLR legal editor Jessica Webb-Ayer, J.D., editor of the Benefits Compliance Advisor online newsletter and the benefits manual Benefits Compliance: Strategies for Plans, Programs & Policies. Although health care reform (also known as the Affordable Care Act or […]
As a growing number of large U.S. companies announce plans to “de-risk” their traditional defined benefit plans to lower their pension obligation and retiree distribution costs, the Pension Rights Center called for a moratorium on such actions until Congress can look into the risks these strategies pose to workers and retirees. On Oct. 17, Verizon […]
When given a chance each year to change their employee benefits, including retirement savings options, most American workers don’t, a recent poll by insurance and benefits provider MetLife found. And just over half of those surveyed feel very confident that they will make the right choices for themselves and their families during this “open enrollment” […]
by Tammy Binford Work-life balance gets a lot of buzz in the workplace. Everyone is concerned about being productive at work while saving time for other important parts of life. Just the term work-life balance can invoke an image of employees teetering on a tightrope, with career, family, friends, hobbies, and other interests pulling from […]
Corporate retirement plans in the United States are much less likely to employ socially responsible investing strategies in their portfolio investments than are public pension plans, according to a new report by global financial services company BNY Mellon. Concerns about ERISA and fiduciary roles, along with “lack of interest” and “performance tradeoff,” were most often […]
The latest annual survey of Fortune 100 companies’ retirement plan types confirms the familiar shift to defined contribution plans by most of the largest U.S. firms. As of 2012, 70 of the Fortune 100 companies offered only DC plans to new, salaried employees. Just 11 still offer a traditional defined benefit pension plan to new […]