SMALL PACKAGE BIG THINGS    Georgia's McCart Group walks the sales vs. service tightrope "Big enough to matter; smaller enough to care" has become the agency's credo, says Executive Vice President Jeff McCart. And while the agency is based in a small Atlanta suburb, it provides big-time, sophisticated employer services. Founded in 1971 as a property/casualty insurance agency, the firm entered the employee benefits arena in late 1992, dubbing the new division "employer services" to represent a practice that extended beyond shopping coverage among a handful of health insurers, McCart says. "About 15 years ago, we made a commitment to build the infrastructure to provide a breadth of services that ranged from traditional benefits plan design to actuarial claims analysis and human resources support," he says. "We chose to build a business on what our customers were looking for in terms of service, not just on what we can sell. Today, employer services is our fastest growing practice group and a critical part of our organization's overall strategy." As a result, the employer services division has grown to about 40% of total revenues and continues to grow at about 8% to 12% each year. About 30 of the firm's 110 employees work in the employer services division, according to Stephen Adkins, managing director of operations and finance. Among the employer services staff, about 10 are consultants, supported by about 20 account management staff. Click here for the complete article …

LONG-TERM CARE COSTS ARE HIGH AND RISING    Seniors and family caregivers struggle to meet expenses while federal program faces a shaky future The costs keep increasing and the need becomes clearer every day-but the national long-term care insurance program contained in federal health reform legislation doesn't look like it will be the answer to the nation's growing nursing home and assisted living expense problems. In late September, the Obama administration closed the federal office that administered the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act (CLASS), the legislation that established an optional government-funded, long-term care insurance program. While the closing doesn't necessarily mean the end of the program, the decision comes after a highly critical report from Republican lawmakers. The report was issued by the Repeal CLASS Working Group made up of Republican leadership in both the House and Senate charged with overseeing implementation of the new health care law. The report identifies a series of government documents and reports that challenged the financial viability of the program as early as 2009. For example, the report cites research released by the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services showing that the CLASS program was not fiscally sound and would lead to an "insurance death spiral" caused by adverse selection. Click here for the complete article …

WHAT'S THE BENEFIT IN BENEFITS?    Several factors contribute to an employer's decision to offer benefits I recently had lunch with Patrick Casinelli and Matt Noonan, benefits brokers from the Cavignac Insurance Agency in San Diego. They are HR That Works members, Sitkins members, and Benefits Growth Network (BGN) members. They wanted to discuss what prompted today's business owners to purchase benefits for their employees. Here are some of the issues that arose during the conversation. First of all, not everyone is clear about why a company provides benefits at all. Theoretically, they are there to help hire people and retain them. There may be other motivators as well. Let's look at some of these implied promises: Hiring Unfortunately, most companies are trying not to hire new employees and, given the latest economic climate, won't be doing much hiring for a while. Even if they're growing in revenue, they're not growing in head count. (One reason why they are growing in profit.) So, if they're not hiring anyone, then that's certainly not a reason for having benefits. Now let's say they are hiring someone. The question becomes: What is the "tipping point" when it comes to providing benefits? For example, if they're hiring a 20-something workforce, does anyone really care about benefits? Would a good benefits program help them hire one extra better employee who would not have come on board otherwise? We should be asking to what degree employees make the decision to work for one employer or another based on their benefits programs. Click here for the complete article … CAPTIVES AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS: A STATUS REPORT    Changes in legislation could spur employer interest in using captives to fund their benefits Alternative risk transfer (ART) users in the property and casualty world have seen a significant uptick in activity over the past dozen years. This impressive growth has had many industry observers scratching their heads because it occurred during an extended soft insurance market. The increased utilization in property and casualty captives stands in sharp contrast to what has been going on in the employee benefits area. One area where this is clearly illustrated is in the number of approvals issued by the Department of Labor (DOL), which is a necessary step in being able to use the captive to fund ERISA-governed employee benefits. While there have been about two dozen DOL approvals of single-parent captives, for the most part these approvals continue to be front page news. As a result of the lack of DOL approvals, some believe that there has been very limited growth in the utilization of captives in the employee benefits area. Things are not as they appear Certainly the expectations were high in August 2000, when the DOL initially approved Columbia Energy to use their captive to fund several of their employee benefits programs. But other corporations soon found that the DOL approval process was a little more difficult than they first believed. However, several organizations ultimately went through the approval process and, after the third company, the DOL was required to implement an expedited approval process known as EXPRO or the Fast-Track. The expedited service requires a decision on the DOL's part within 78 days rather than the one-year plus that it had taken previously. Click here for the complete article …  Click here to unsubscribe This message was sent by The Rough Notes Company, Inc., 11690 Technology Drive, Carmel, Indiana, 46032 1-800-428-4384