Employer-sponsored long-term disability (LTD) plans typically replace 60% of pre-disability earnings, with some companies providing a slightly higher replacement percentage. When an employer pays the premiums for the LTD plan, benefits are taxable to the employee in the event of a disability. For executives or senior level employees with upper-range salaries—and thus upper bracket taxation—the tax hit on the disability benefit can generate a significant gap between pre-disability earnings and the amount of actual disability benefit received.
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Common sense tells us that, generally, individuals in better health are likely to have lower overall health care costs. Yet, employers sometimes balk at implementing programs aimed at employee wellness, unsure whether the cost of such programs will pay off in a reduction in employees’ health care expenditures. Now, a study demonstrates that wellness programs that involve use of health risk assessments can reduce individual health care costs by hundreds of dollars a year.
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U.S. health care annually posts cost increases. When other aspects of doing business became too expensive to handle within the U.S. borders, many employers successfully outsourced these functions to overseas locations. Many companies’ technology support, for example, is based overseas, as are call centers. Might international outsourcing also be a solution for the high cost of certain medical procedures?
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When young, one tends to feel invulnerable. Reflecting this, young people often take the kinds of risks that, when looked back upon after a few years of added experience, often elicit the remark, “I was lucky.” A recent survey conducted on behalf of Aetna and the Financial Planning Association shows that this risk-taking behavior shows up in young people’s views toward health insurance, with many saying they would choose to pay their monthly cell phone bill rather than pay a health insurance premium.
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