Today’s healthcare consumers often find that they can quickly incur medical expense costs and wonder how to manage them. Some typical medical expenses include diagnosis, treatment, cure, mitigation, or prevention of a particular disease. Whether a patient suspects something is wrong or their doctor discovers a problem during a routine exam, these costs alone can add up quickly and substantially.

Employee benefits are a key consideration when candidates are reviewing job offers. Medical benefits, paid time off, paid holidays, and a 401k or retirement plan are just a few of the benefits employees have come to expect.

In today's world, organizations are faced with the challenge of meeting the benefit needs of a multi-generational workforce: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z. How can a business provide benefits to meet the needs of all generations and remain competitive?

Clearly, it's not an option to offer different benefits to different generations due to the risk of discrimination claims. It is possible, though, to personalize benefits so that employees have options for the benefits they have to choose from.

Read on to learn about the differences between what's essential to insurance needs for each generation to gain some insight into approaching employee benefit planning moving forward.

Telemedicine became an essential technological tool in the healthcare industry amid the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone’s interactions were restricted, including health patients with pressing needs and their dedicated healthcare providers.

Fortunately, telemedicine was already in place before the pandemic, available to meet the needs of people in rural areas and in other complicated situations where an office visit didn’t work.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), however, telemedicine in the U.S. hadn’t taken off before COVID-19. The interest was minimal. But the pandemic changed everything, opening the healthcare community’s and patients’ eyes to the immense value of remote patient services.

Many patients and healthcare providers are now taking the time to learn more about what telemedicine means in terms of private insurance and Medicare coverage.

As your organization’s benefits manager, it might help to take a deeper look at the now fast-rising telemedicine trend and its vast potential benefits for the healthcare industry, patients, and employers.

As the new year begins, many employers are faced with a myriad of challenges. The continuing COVID-19 pandemic—which is now into its third year—remains a top-of-mind concern as it wears on employees’ mental, physical and financial well-being and continues to affect all aspects of daily life.

For employers, the pandemic continues to perpetuate the Great Resignation, exacerbating the labor shortage and tight labor market and leading employers to re-evaluate many of their benefits offerings and workplace procedures in an effort to attract and retain top talent. Moreover, the pandemic’s effects are permeating other aspects of the employee benefits world, including health care costs and health care benefits, as well as life, disability, and retirement benefits.

As the pandemic wages on, employees, who are more burned out than ever before, will look to their employers to provide more comprehensive benefits and support. In some cases, if they don’t receive the offerings and support they’re looking for, they may leave. That’s why, in today’s times, you can’t afford to not stay on top of employee benefits trends.

Question: Should we include holidays, PTO, vacation, or other leave taken during the workweek in calculating overtime premium pay under FLSA rules?

Recently, the “Happiest Place on Earth” wasn’t living up to its name for many families. For almost a full year, malicious software had been installed on point-of-sale systems at several Earl Enterprises restaurants. This software then captured debit and credit card numbers, expiration dates, and cardholder names of users purchasing food at these venues. Identity theft has become too commonplace in our day and age and we need to become better educated on where we are most likely to encounter threats as well as ways to avoid becoming victims.

The past few years have taken their toll on people everywhere. Everyone from students to working moms to workplace professionals has struggled to stay afloat, physically, financially, and mentally.

Mayo Clinic confirms that the ongoing worry and anxiety surrounding COVID-19, related vaccinations, and new and emerging variants have proved overwhelming to many people from all walks of life.

Engaging a professional employer organization (PEO) — sometimes known as an employee leasing service — has become an important strategy for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) across the United States over the past three decades. With 907 PEOs in the U.S. employing 3.7 million people, PEOs have become a reliable staple in the business world, helping more than 175,000 SMBs enjoy impressive rates of growth in brief time frames.  

In an employee-driven market like we find ourselves in, employee benefit packages matter more than ever in recruiting and retaining top talent. COVID-19 has also prompted a shift in the importance of certain benefits over base pay alone. Many employees would choose a lower salary over a more robust benefits package.

An employee benefits package includes all the perks and benefits provided when working for a company outside of an employee's wages and salary. Some organizations offer a handful of benefits, with the basics including medical insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, a 401k, holidays, and paid time off. Other organizations offer an extensive benefits package that encompasses the basics and more, from personal holidays and childcare to flexible schedules and student loan debt payments.

Companies constantly strategize and implement the arduous task of submitting budgets, finding ways to cut costs for the upcoming quarter or new year. One of the most effective ways to combat increasing health care costs for companies is to move to a Self-Funded insurance plan. By paying for claims out-of-pocket instead of paying a premium to an insurance carrier, companies can save around 20% in administration costs and state taxes. That's quite a cost savings!