...1. Describe ERISA preemption of state insurance laws and mandates. Discuss the implications of this preemption. The employee Retirement Income security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a comprehensive federal statute which imposes minimum standards on employee benefit plans. In order to avoid conflicting state regulations, ERISA preempts state laws which relate to these plans. ERISA’s preemption, however, is not complete. Consistent with the federal policy embodied in the McCarran-Ferguson Act of leaving the regulation of insurance to the states, Congress saved from ERISA preemption any state law which regulates insurance. States have enacted legislation that requires insurers to pay for the services of a particular type of health care provider, even if the terms of the policy specify that the payment will be made only to another type of provider. These “mandated-provider” laws, as they are called, relate to employee benefit plans because they change the terms of the insurance policies purchased by these plans. Thus, unless mandated-provider laws regulate insurance, such laws are preempted by ERISA as applied to employee benefit plans. The question whether mandated-provider laws are laws that regulate insurance is important because of the prevalence of such statutes, the large number of individuals covered by insurance plans, and the significant effect such statutes have on the structure, administration, and cost of insured plans. Insurers are generally opposed to mandated-provider provider...
Words: 2182 - Pages: 9
...Partner Benefits COMM/215 February 3, 2011 Dr. Blue Without a doubt, in a little more than a decade, domestic partner benefits have gone from virtually nonexistent to the predominant plan among the largest U.S. employers. More than 51 percent of Fortune 500 companies offer Domestic Partner Benefits; these employers have found an added greater value for them at minimal cost.Studies reveal employers who offer Domestic Partner Benefits are able to attract talented employees, increase employee morale, and experience low or minimal increase in cost. This research paper will reveal the Values of offering domestic partner benefits as well as address the Cost associated with it. Can Be Used to Attract Talented Employee Competitively: The value of offering domestic partner benefits is that it can be used as a powerful recruiting tool as well as to help retain talented and committed employees, according to the League of Minnesota Cities. Studies suggest that employees make decisions about job offers based on domestic partner benefits. Very skilled and highly trained workers may hold out for a company that offers domestic partner benefits. A benefit package that appeals to a diverse workforce gives employers an edge when it comes to recruiting. Also, there is value in the statement that offering the benefits makes about your company's acceptance of domestic partner relationships. Employee Enrollment is Minimal: While there is value in offering domestic partner benefits, enrollment...
Words: 1948 - Pages: 8
...Domestic Partner Benefits COMM/215 February 3, 2011 Without a doubt, in a little more than a decade, domestic partner benefits have gone from virtually nonexistent to the predominant plan among the largest U.S. employers. More than 51 percent of Fortune 500 companies offer Domestic Partner Benefits; these employers have found an added greater value for them at minimal cost.Studies reveal employers who offer Domestic Partner Benefits are able to attract talented employees, increase employee morale, and experience low or minimal increase in cost. This research paper will reveal the Values of offering domestic partner benefits as well as address the Cost associated with it. Can Be Used to Attract Talented Employee Competitively: The value of offering domestic partner benefits is that it can be used as a powerful recruiting tool as well as to help retain talented and committed employees, according to the League of Minnesota Cities. Studies suggest that employees make decisions about job offers based on domestic partner benefits. Very skilled and highly trained workers may hold out for a company that offers domestic partner benefits. A benefit package that appeals to a diverse workforce gives employers an edge when it comes to recruiting. Also, there is value in the statement that offering the benefits makes about your company's acceptance of domestic partner relationships. Employee Enrollment is Minimal: While there is value in offering domestic partner benefits, enrollment...
Words: 1953 - Pages: 8
...Increasing health plan premium costs are a growing burden for the employers who choose to provide health insurance coverage to employees. For small business owners operating on limited budgets, these increases are even more significant. The passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) creates additional responsibilities for employers regarding the minimum requirements and pricing of insurance plans for employees. Employers make difficult decisions to determine how to continue to provide health insurance at a fair and reasonable price, without harming the small business. The case study by Spencer (2014) examines the options of small business owners, John and Liza, faced with a 25% increase in health insurance rates. Once it is determined that the increase is due to the age and health status of several employees, the owner must decide whether to penalize certain employees with increased contributions, or have all workers absorb the added costs equally. In addition, there is concern that hiring a potential new employee, Robert, will increase insurance rates even further due to the pre-existing health condition of his spouse. It is challenging to select an option that has a fair and balanced impact on the company and its employees. While financially it is easiest for the company to have each employee absorb the cost of the premium increase, this is not a fair option if premium increases for all are due to the lifestyle factors of a small representation. There is an increased risk of...
Words: 1396 - Pages: 6
...Second career Self-employment and becoming an entrepreneur as a second career for dependent employees The responsibility for the contents of this report lies with EIM. Quoting numbers or text in papers, essays and books is permitted only when the source is clearly mentioned. No part of this publication may be copied and/or published in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written permission of EIM. EIM does not accept responsibility for printing errors and/or other imperfections. Contents 1 Theoretical framework 7 1.1 Introduction 7 1.2 The transition process: Heuristical tool 8 1.3 Differences between start-ups: Dependent employee versus other types 10 1.4 Demarcation 11 1.5 Contents of the report 12 2 Entrepreneurship in the EU 15 2.1 Facts and figures 15 2.2 Entrepreneurs in the EU 20 2.3 Previous experience of starting entrepreneurs in the EU 24 3 Synthesis 31 3.1 Introduction 31 3.2 Legal definition of self-employed 31 3.3 General requirements related to start-ups 33 3.4 Financing the start-up of a business 34 3.5 Insolvency and seizure procedures 35 3.6 Social security systems in general 35 3.7 Social security: Unemployment 36 3.8 Social security: Sickness 39 3.9 Social security: Disability 40 3.10 Social security: Medical costs 40 3.11 Social security: Old age 41 3.12 Social...
Words: 106246 - Pages: 425
...Introduction A case study is a puzzle that has to be solved. The first thing to remember about writing a case study is that the case should have a problem for the readers to solve. The case should have enough information in it that readers can understand what the problem is and, after thinking about it and analyzing the information; the readers should be able to come up with a proposed solution. Writing an interesting case study is a bit like writing a detective story. You want to keep your readers very interested in the situation. In this case study we try discuss about Southern California Supermarket Strike. The Southern California Supermarket Strike of 2003-2004 was a strike among supermarket workers in Southern California. The walkout lasted for twenty weeks. In this case study, we try to discuss common issues related to the strike of Southern California Supermarket's staff. We are discussing various alternatives and solutions related with it. To prepare this case study we follow Goggle, Wikipedia and various article related with this situation. Overview Grocery clerks in Southern California are fairly well paid when compared to other grocery workers in the US. Their health benefits are not as good as the benefits of, say, most K12 teachers, but better than most other wage workers -- also true of their pensions. This gave the grocery workers what they themselves see as a middle-class income, whether that is in fact the case or not. Wages of...
Words: 1766 - Pages: 8
...Employers have been dealing with rising health care costs for a while now, and they are beginning to penalize employees to try to motivate them to get in shape which means that employees will have to begin to pay more attention to their health than they use too. “The number of employers using penalties as part of wellness programs more than doubled from 8% in 2009 to 19% in 2010, according to a survey by human resources consulting firm Towers Watson. The survey respondents included human resources managers and benefits managers from 248 U.S. companies with at least 1,000 employees.” 38% of organizations reported that they planned on penalizing employees for their health conditions when they were asked about the health penalizations by the Towers Watson consulting firm for 2012. This information shows that the outlook will be that most, if not all employers will be adopting the health penalization idea. There are several local companies that already have various wellness programs in place that affect employees financially. Some of these are incentive based and others are penalty based. Tennessee Valley Authority has a program that is named Health Check, and it is a point system that offers a $50 incentive for the first health screening an employee completes, and up to $200 discount on the yearly cost of medical insurance fees which is paid out on an employee’s paycheck in approximately $5 installments depending on the amount of points an employee earns. The grading is on items such...
Words: 1335 - Pages: 6
...Assignment 1: Case Study: Geico: Their Total Rewards Approach Michelle D. Griner Strayer University Abstract This paper is about total rewards and how it affects the employer – employee relationship. If the rewards program does not fit the organizational goal or the goal of the employee, then there is a problem. There is evidence that shows the best way to attract, engage and retain employees is to focus not just on pay and benefits but also on rewards. Such as, education and development, health and well-being, financial security, and other amenities and perks; for example, business casual environment, easily accessible work out facilities, and banking. Other perks could be discounts on merchandize, tuition reimbursement and free to low-cost parking. Many rewards and benefit programs are development in fragmented ways, without regard of fitting the parts with the organization’s goals. Organizations have the ability to develop and execute a total rewards solution. By analyzing the design and delivery of each strategy component, companies can take the steps needed to maximize the effectiveness. Keywords: total rewards, Associate Assisted Program (AAP) Assignment 1: Case Study: GEICO: Total Rewards Approach GEICO has five different types of programs that help benefit their employees’ well being. Such as, Your Health and Well-being which includes plans such as medical, dental and vision; an associate assistance program (AAP); long-term disability (LTD) and physical...
Words: 1682 - Pages: 7
...PERSONAL ACCIDENT AND HEALTH INSURANCE OF Course Name: Principles of Insurance Course Code: F-210 Submitted to: Samia Sultana Tani Assistant Professor, Department of Finance, Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka. Submitted by: Group No: Section :B B.B.A 17th Batch Department of Finance University of Dhaka. Date of Submission: 27 November, 2012. A Combined Effort of Sl No. | Name | ID-No. | Remarks | 01 | Rakibul Islam | 17-052 | | 02 | Ivy Akhter | 17-046 | | 03 | Mousumi Saha | 17-154 | | 04 | Morium Sultana Moni | 17-104 | | 05 | Nipul Hosen | 17-058 | | 06 | ShantaDev | 17-086 | | 07 | ShamsunNaher | 17-112 | | 08 | Emaj Sultana | 17-062 | | 09 | FatemaTujJuhura | 17-156 | | 10 | SadiaSharminUrmi | 17-192 | | Letter of Transmittal 27 November, 2012 Samia Sultana Tani Assistant Professor Department of Finance Faculty of Business Studies University of Dhaka Subject: Submission of the Report. Dear Madam, It gives us immense pleasure to submit the report on “personal accident and health insurance of pragati insurance limited” This report is submitted as the requirement to fulfill the course “Principles of insurance”. The experience that we gathered through this research was very interesting, joyful and valuable one. This is an ideal ground for...
Words: 7923 - Pages: 32
...Resources Benefits Insurance Rhonda Richmond National American University Human Resource Management April 28, 2012 Abstract Benefits are only one part of Human Resource Management department or division of a company. There are several areas that Human Resource Management department involved in all departments an aspect of a business from performance management, insurance, compensation and benefits, training and development, employee relations, retention, and health and safety, involve also in hiring and firing of employee from what positions full time to part time packets in intake and outtake of employment of a business. The Human Resource manager typically plays three roles in an organization. These Human Resource manager roles are advisor, service, and control. Human Resource Management department involved in insurance compensation and benefits has evolved from small, medium, large and to the huge corporations have Human Resource managers and/or department have been evolving with the time from very simple to more complex benefit packages for their employees and play an important part of it is use as retention to keep employees. Human Resources Benefits- Insurance Human Resources management is the compensation and benefits are developing and maintaining a wage/salary structure, as well as a benefit system, Human Resources management department is responsible for ensuring that compensation and benefits are...
Words: 4544 - Pages: 19
...events. Numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is the major contributor to indoor air pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers, including heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, and lung cancer (Model Ordinance Prohibiting Smoking in all Workplaces, n.d.). A smokefree environment allows human beings to breathe air that is not polluted by cigarette smoke. This allows them to enjoy life without the second hand smoke that can cause health issues as they grow and develop in life. Explain how you would handle this situation if you were Charles Renford. It is the manager’s duty, and responsibility at a company or organization to listen to both sides of a concern in the workplace. In the case where Charles Renford’s position as a supervisor at Redwood Associates, an employee felt strong enough to complain about smoke in the work place, he should address the complaint with all employees involved directly. The odor of smoke was strong enough that Darlene, the employee came to the supervisor, Charles Renford with a complaint about the smoke in the main file room. Charles Renford reminded Darlene, “that although the law in their state requires companies to provide a smoke-free work area for employees that desire it, it doesn’t force companies to ban smoking altogether” (Shaw, 2010, p. 339). Looking at the company and keeping the morale up in the workplace, all areas need to be observed so that it benefits all employees...
Words: 1625 - Pages: 7
...Summary of Chapter 10 Case * Frontline PR is a public relations firm with 150 full time employees, consists mainly of their staff plus some administrative and operations people. Frontline is currently struggling with the cost of health care insurance * Currently offers their employees fee-for-standard, 300 deductibles, 20 percent co insurance, FSA Flexible spending account * After attending and speaking with several experts at the national conference on compensation on Health Savings Account, she thinks an HSA will be a viable option for Frontline. * She believes that making such change from standard fee-for-service plan to HSA with high- deductible insurance plan could result in significant cost savings for the company. Even though the company would contribute to each employee`s HSA, the overall costs for healthcare benefits would still be less than its current option * Susan discussed the HSA option to the Finance Director Allison Jones, from the financial perspective Allison agrees that the option would be a good step to start controlling healthcare cost although Allison thinks that as an employee he is not sure if high deductible health insurance plan is the right option for the company. * Susan is convinced that HSA would offer a significant cost savings to the company, after talking with Allison she is unsure if she will recommend it for Frontline employees. QUESTIONS What are some advantages of implementing HSA option? What are some potential...
Words: 1344 - Pages: 6
...ASSIGNMENT ESSAY #1 DOMESTIC MARKET Health care reform is a political and economic topic that has been debated for years. Most recently in the United States under the president Barack Obama's current term he passed a law that most of us Americans refer to as Obama Care but is also known as the Affordable Care Act. This law requires every American to have some sort of health care coverage. However, is affordable health care really that affordable? There are some countries that have national health insurance systems where government uses tax revenues to provide a basic health care package. However, in America most citizens are enrolled in private health care Insurance usually provided by their employer. Health care provided by employers does come at a cost. It does drive up the cost of labor because it’s another cost incurred by the firm and sometimes the employee. Several companies I have worked for in the past have shared the cost of insurance; by doing this the firm does not incur all the costs of health care; the firm also avoids being fined for not providing health care. If the firm does not provide health care and has more than 50 employees the firm will incur of fine of $5,000. Thus, employers are essentially forced to either incur the costs of health care or pass part or all the costs onto the employee, therefore, decreasing the overall amount the employee actually makes. Some employers could use health care benefits as an enticement to keep their labor force strong...
Words: 3798 - Pages: 16
...Case Study: Stakeholder Dynamics MHA 601: Principles of Health Care Administration Prof. February 4, 2013 When you think of working people being uninsured, most will think that it must be a stressful and unfortunate situation for that person. However, it has an effect on everyone across the board, not just the uninsured. Employers, hospitals, and physicians are also affected by the uninsured working class. There is an impact, on some level, to cost, quality, and access for all involved. This case study’s issue based on the topic/content area/change, working people being uninsured not only has an impact on their personal lives but also on businesses and the health care industry. Financials issues begin to arise for the uninsured person and their family, as well as, productivity decreases for businesses when their employees are out sick or working while ill. If employers offered even a small amount of health coverage, or perhaps informed staff of outside options for health coverage, they have a greater chance of ensuring the productivity of their employees, avoiding lost work days and decreasing employees’ financial issues. Stakeholder groups in this case study are Hospitals, Physicians, Employers, Patient, Third-Party Payers (Insurers) and the Government. Impact on Cost, Impact on Quality, and Impact on Access affects each of these stakeholders. The uninsured patients have increased costs;...
Words: 1434 - Pages: 6
...com or lancehomework@gmail.com 1. The process of evaluating an employee’s current and/or past performance relative to his or her performance standards is called ________. • employee selection • recruitment • performance appraisal • organizational development 2. The “S” in the acronym for SMART goals stands for ________. • straightforward • specific • strategic • support 3. Who is the primary person responsible for doing the actual appraising of an employee’sperformance? • the EEO contact person • the company appraiser • the employee’s direct supervisor • None of the above. 4. Because in most organizations there is a hierarchy of goals, employee performance standardsshould ________. • make sense in terms of the broader organizational goals • be standard • be decided by the top executive • All of the above. 5. Besides the supervisor, which of the following is available to managers as an alternative sourceof performance appraisal information? • the employee • rating committees • peers • All of the above. 6. Suppose you have five employees to rate. You make a chart of all possible pairs of employees for each trait being evaluate Then, you indicate the better employee of the pair for each pair. Finally, you add up the number of positives for each employee. In this case, you have used the________ method of performance appraisal. • forced distribution • alternation ranking • paired comparison • graphic ranking scale 7. To protect against...
Words: 4185 - Pages: 17
