VOLUNTARY BENEFITS: AN EVOLVING FIELD    Employer responsibilities, employee contributions, and the ACA Driven by a changing employment environment and prodded further by health care reform, voluntary benefits-sold to individuals at their worksite-are evolving rapidly. Recent research from two of the nation's largest voluntary benefit providers points to increasing demands from both employers and their employees for a broad range of voluntary benefit products that meet increasingly complex needs. The evolution, however, is part of a long-standing pattern of growth, says Rich Williams, senior vice president of growth markets at Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co. in Columbia, South Carolina, one of the largest voluntary benefit providers. Click here for the complete article …

WELLNESS PROGRAMS-A GOOD INVESTMENT?    Once recognized, will the advantages of wellness programs cause a surge in participation? Are they worth it? Only if employees are willing, able and driven to participate. Employee wellness programs-sponsored by employers throughout the country-provide a wide range of resources and incentives designed to improve the overall health of each employer's workforce. And, in turn, they reduce the cost of health insurance claims, reduce absenteeism and improve productivity. But wellness programs have their own costs, including purchase and administration of biometric screening tests, health risk assessment questionnaires, health improvement programs (such as smoking cessation and weight reduction classes) and performance incentives. Click here for the complete article …

DISABILITY MARKET SEEKS MOMENTUM    Unum finds support for auto-enrollment Disability insurers seeking to achieve a higher rate of adoption of their product in the marketplace acquired a welcome ally last November. A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators and House members formed the Congressional Income Protection Caucus to highlight public policy issues related to the financial risk of disability. The caucus acts as a Congressional clearinghouse of information on disability and will call attention to the availability and benefits of private market disability insurance. Caucus founders are Sens. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), and Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) and Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.). Mike Simonds, president and CEO of Unum US, says, "It's hard to find issues where you can get agreement across the aisle in Washington these days. But this appears to be one where no matter where you are on the political spectrum, people understand the importance of the issue and are anxious to help." Click here for the complete article … BREAKING DOWN SILOS    A coordinated approach for health, safety and well-being at work and home There are 311 million Americans in the United States and 155 million of those are workers. On average they spend half their waking lives at work (8.7 hours/day). Work affects employees' health care options, emotional well-being and family life. In order to fully address health, we have to address what happens both at work and outside of work. Historically, workplace wellness and safety programs have been managed in silos along with workers comp and benefits. Health protection programs (safety) have focused on reducing worker exposures to risks arising in the workplace itself. And workplace health promotion programs (wellness) have focused exclusively on lifestyle risk factors off the job. Click here for the complete article … FRINGE BENEFIT GROUP CATERS TO HOURLY WORKERS' NEEDS    Brokers and employers rely on FBG as single source for benefits administration, products and compliance. For most benefits brokers and their clients, the dawn of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) era was the beginning of their exposure to complicated federal regulation of health insurance. Fringe Benefit Group (FBG), an employee benefits wholesaler and third-party administrator, has been helping brokers and their clients comply with government regulation of health insurance and other benefits products for more than 30 years. FBG's leading niche is administering benefit plans for construction companies and service contractors working on government-funded projects. An important part of this business is keeping the construction and service contractors in compliance with prevailing wage laws. Those laws, the Davis-Bacon Act, the Service Contract Act and various related state laws, specify minimum compensation levels for hourly workers. They apply to fringe benefits as well as wages for hourly workers. Click here for the complete article … RISK MANAGEMENT FOR BENEFITS    Gilbert's helps clients find the most efficient way to manage ?their benefits offerings Where do we go? What do we do? Who can help us make health insurance decisions? Who can help us comply with the growing list of laws and regulations? Employers and their employees have a slew of questions to ask about health benefits under the new rules of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and a continuing need for information about compliance with other laws, such as FMLA, COBRA and OSHA, says Lew Kachulis, CPCU, CIC, CWCA, president of Gilbert's Risk Solutions in Sharon, Pennsylvania. For the past 20 years, as employment-related government regulation has exploded, employers have been progressively turning to their local commercial agents and brokers for guidance and education, he notes. 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