Benefits Newsletter

As benefit costs are shifted to employees, voluntary benefits can be a source of additional coverage for employees.  The following is a summary of key trends in 2012 in the voluntary benefits industry:

• Increase in voluntary benefits sales.  As employees are bearing more of the burden of health care costs voluntary benefit sales are increasing.  In addition, there has been an increase in the use of third-party benefit providers handling enrollment and administration. 
  
  
• Increase in electronic communication of benefits.  How well you communicate voluntary benefit offerings to your employees will determine how they participate in the plan.  Electronic communications allow more efficient and timely delivery of information to employees and also provides flexibility for addressing needs of a multicultural and multilingual workforce. 
  
  
• Increasing popularity in specialty products.  Products that have traditionally not garnered much attention are now becoming more popular.  These include products such as critical illness, accident insurance, and hospital indemnity insurance.  Bundling these products and including them in a voluntary benefits package helps supplement some of the changes in traditional plans.

To learn more about voluntary benefits and third-party benefits enrollment and administration, please contact your Leavitt Group consultant.








Here are a few ideas for conducting a successful focus group.  These ideas can be utilized for a variety of situations, including assessing employees’ preparedness for change, implementing a new benefits plan, or making simple changes to an existing plan.

• Choose an appropriate number of employees to participate in the focus group.  Generally 15 to 20 people in the group is enough to generate effective feedback while involving all participants.
   
• Select participants wisely.  Consider what the goal is of your focus group and choose participants who will yield helpful information based on their demographics, business unit, geographic location, ethnicity, or employee level.  For example, if you are trying to improve your wellness program and you have noticed employees within a certain demographic are not participating in the program, build your focus group with employees that fit that demographic to learn more about their point of view. 
  
  
• Ensure confidentiality.  Consider asking a third-party facilitator to conduct the focus group.  This will help ensure confidentiality and anonymity and help employees be more candid and feel confident that there will not be retribution for what they share in the group.
  
  
• Establish ground rules at the beginning.  Make sure participants understand the objectives of the focus group.  If they know right from the beginning what you are trying to accomplish, this will help alleviate the tendency for participants to get sidetracked on irrelevant issues.
  
  
• Choose an effective and experienced facilitator.  Without the help of a skillful facilitator, it might be easy for one or two focus group participants to take over and have his/her views mistaken as the opinion of the entire group.  Make sure your facilitator is able to manage the group well enough that all participants are able to clearly communicate their own perspectives to the group.
  
  
• Capture initial opinions with mini-surveys.  Consider asking all participants to complete a brief survey before the focus group begins.  This will allow you to find out what the participants really think before they have been exposed to the opinions of others in the group.
  
  
• Follow up afterwards and let the rest of your organization know you have conducted a focus group.  Communicate to the group your intentions of what will happen next and follow through.  Failure to follow through will lessen people’s interest in participating in future focus groups because they won’t feel they have made a difference by sharing their opinions.  Let your entire organization know you have conducted a focus group and share a summary of the results and what you intend to do going forward.

Reference:  ebn.benefitnews.com

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are designed to reduce insurance costs for both employers and employees.  If you are considering offering an HSA as part of your employee benefits plan, here are some additional benefits you will realize.

Lower insurance costs.  Switching to an HSA-qualified high-deductible health plan should reduce your insurance premiums.  In addition, rather than paying 100 percent of insurance dollars towards premiums, an HSA allows you to distribute some of these funds directly to your employees by making contributions to their accounts.

Offer a more diverse benefits package.  Including HSAs in your benefits plan can enhance your benefits package and aid in attracting and retaining key employees.

Reduce taxes.  Contributions you make to your employees’ HSAs are made with pre-tax dollars.*

Minimize administrative costs.  Employees own and administer their own HSAs, so there are minimal administrative and compliance issues for employers. 

Share the cost of health care benefits with your employees.  An HSA gives your employees the ability to build a savings account with tax benefits and motivates them to take a vested interest in their health care choices and expenditures — a win-win for all parties.

*States that do not provide state tax exemptions for HSA deductions are Alabama, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.



An increasing number of employers are incorporating health savings accounts (HSA) into their group benefits plan.  The following is information you can share with your employees to help them understand the benefits and requirements of HSAs.

An HSA is an account set aside specifically for paying qualified medical expenses.  The account is typically set up as a tax-exempt trust or custodial account.  HSAs are offered by some employers to give their employees more control over funds allocated for health care services. 

Both employees and employers can contribute to an HSA.  The 2011 maximum annual contribution is $3,050 for individual coverage and $6,150 for family coverage.  These limits will increase in 2012 to $3,100 for individuals and $6,250 for families.  You can expect to see future changes in contribution limits as they are indexed to inflation. 

Individuals who have an HSA and are at least age 55 by December 31st may make a one-time annual “catch-up” contribution of $1,000 to their HSA (as long as they are not enrolled in Medicare).  Because accounts are owned by an individual and are technically not family accounts, when both a husband and wife are eligible to make catch-up contributions they must own separate accounts to do so.

For more information regarding health savings accounts, contact your Leavitt Group insurance advisor.

SOME OF THE BENEFITS* OF AN HSA ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• You can claim a tax deduction for HSA contributions made by you or someone other than your employer.
• Contributions made by the employer are excluded from taxable income.
• Unused contributions in your account roll over from year to year.
• Earnings on contributions are also not subject to income taxes. 
• Distributions for qualified medical expenses are tax free.
• Certain preventative services can be covered in full and not subject to a deductible.
• If you change employers or leave the workforce, you still own your HSA.   

YOU ARE ELIGIBLE FOR AN HSA IF:

• You are covered under a high deductible health plan (HDHP).
• You have no other health coverage except what is permitted by exception.  These exceptions include supplemental coverage without a high deductible for such things as specific injury insurance or accident, disability, dental, vision or long-term care insurance.
• You are not enrolled in Medicare.
• You cannot be claimed as a dependent on another person’s tax return.

*States that do not provide state tax exemptions for HSA deductions are Alabama, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Sources:  IRS.gov and EBRI.org

As part of a benefits package offered to employees, many employers provide retirement options.  Two employee retirement plan options you can provide include a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan.

»  Defined Benefit Plan

»  Defined Contribution Plan





Understand basic investment principles.  A variety of factors will influence how much you will have saved at retirement, including inflation, type of investments, and how long your money has had time to grow.  Pay attention to your investments and meet with a financial advisor on a regular basis to ensure you are staying on track to meet your financial goals.  Diversify your investments to reduce risk and improve return.  Knowledge equals financial security.

Contribute to your employer’s retirement savings plan.  If your employer offers a retirement savings plan, start contributing.  Set a goal to contribute at least enough to qualify for the full employer contribution.

Set realistic goals and stay committed.  Set a realistic savings and investment strategy to meet your financial retirement goal.  Start small if you have to and increase the amount over time. The sooner you start saving, the more time your money will have to grow.

Don’t touch your retirement savings.  If you withdraw your retirement savings prematurely, you will lose principal and interest and possibly tax benefits.  You may also have to pay withdrawal penalties.  If you change jobs, don’t withdraw the savings; instead, roll them over to an IRA or your new employer’s plan.

Invest in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).  There are two IRA options - traditional IRA or Roth IRA.  The tax treatment of your contributions and the after-tax value of your withdrawal will depend on the type of IRA you choose.  Annual contributions can be up to $5,000 and there are certain tax advantages in contributing to an IRA as well.

Learn about your Social Security benefits.  Review your annual Social Security statement so you are familiar with how much your estimated benefit will be and when you can expect to receive it.  On average, Social Security currently pays benefits that are equal to about 40 percent of what you earned before retirement.  For more information, visit www.socialsecurity.gov.

Ask questions.  While these tips provide suggestions for preparing for retirement, you need more in-depth information to determine your retirement needs and make sound investment decisions.  Consult with a financial adviser for more detailed information and guidance.

Source:  www.dol.gov