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EMPLOYER MANDATES
Employers Scrambling to Comply With
San Francisco’s New Health Care Law
While many employers are unsure whether
to pay a fee or provide health benefits, some say paying
the city may be easier.
Read more about why companies nationwide need to know about
San Francisco’s new law.
Also:
Stuck in the Waiting Room
Key Ruling on Maryland's Fair Share Health Care Fund Act
California Health Care Reform Bill Rejected
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VARIABLE PAY
You Get What You Pay For
One approach to variable pay is activity-based
compensation, in which part of an employee’s base pay hinges
on hitting specific goals. For programs to be successful,
employers need to measure the right things. Employees need
to understand the metrics and know how well they’re doing.
Read more about activity-based compensation.
Also:
Compensation and Salary Forecast: Lackluster Performance
Pushing Money Toward the Top
Lessons From the Front Lines
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COMMENTARY—INFORMATION
PLEASE
Looking Through Health Care Transparency
Recent years have witnessed important
efforts to provide more and better cost and quality information
to health care consumers, but promoting value in health
care requires more than just transparency. Consumers need
user-friendly access to all the information that matters—and
some compelling reasons to use it.
Read more about why transparency alone isn’t enough. |
NEWS AND EVENTS
Quick Takes
Medical Tourism: Firms are
slowly beginning to offer financial support to employees
who can find cheaper medical alternatives outside the United
States.
Click here to read more.
VEBA Lifecycle: A new study shows that bankruptcy
causes the formation of voluntary employees’ beneficiary
associations more often than collective bargaining does.
Click
here to read more.
Protections for Canadian Employers: A policy group says that in order for employers to encourage workers to save for retirement, employers need a safe-harbor law—like the one U.S. companies have.
Click here to read more.
Voter Sentiment: A study by the Commonwealth Fund shows that voters widely support employer “pay or play” health insurance laws. Mandated individual purchase of health insurance was less popular—no matter which party the respondents embrace.
Click here to read more. |
DISCUSSION
High Insurance Renewal Rates
Posted in the
Benefits & Compensation Forum:
A reader writes: "Our company received an outrageously high increase for our health insurance renewal for 2008—the highest I’ve seen in eight years! In election years we typically see smaller increases. I’m wondering if companies across the board are seeing much higher increases this year."
Join the discussion. |
METRICS
Retirement Plan Participation Levels by Age Group and Work Category, 2006
The likelihood of being a retirement plan participant
increases with age. Just over 60 percent of all
full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 54-64
were participants in 2006, compared with just over 29
percent for those ages 21-24. In addition, the fraction
of public-sector workers participating in a retirement
plan was significantly higher than that of
private-sector workers in the same age group.
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Age group |
Full-time, full-year wage and salary workers* |
Public-sector wage and salary workers |
Private-sector wage and salary workers |
All workers |
| 21-24 |
29.3% |
41.4% |
17.7% |
19.5% |
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35-34 |
45.1 |
67.2 |
34.8 |
37.3 |
| 35-44 |
54.1 |
75.8 |
43.4 |
45.6 |
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45-54 |
59.6 |
78.3 |
48.4 |
50.2 |
| 55-64 |
60.1 |
77.1 |
47.0 |
49.0 |
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*Workers in this group are considered to have the strongest connection to the workforce. |
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Source:
Employee Benefit Research Institute, November 2007 issue brief |
Health Premium Increases
Average
percent increase in health insurance premiums by plan type
and funding arrangement, 2007
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Fully insured |
Self-funded |
| All plans |
6.2% |
6.0% |
| Conventional |
6.9 |
7.5 |
| HMO |
8.3 |
8.4 |
| PPO |
5.3 |
5.3 |
| POs |
6.1 |
5.0 |
| HDHP/SO |
4.6 |
8.0 |
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Source: Kaiser
Family Foundation |
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