A lot of articles have been written lately about administrative services only (ASO) funding arrangements for health and dental benefits, specifically targeted at smaller-size organizations with fewer than 100 employees. There’s nothing new about ASO—it was a viable funding option long before I showed up on the group insurance scene 20 years ago.
UPS plans to stop offering healthcare coverage to some of its employees’ spouses in 2014, partly due to the new U.S. healthcare law.
I recently had a discussion about business models and compensation structures within the financial services world with a few of the students in the finance elective class I teach at the University of Waterloo. The conversation centred around how widely accepted reimbursement models have evolved in various areas of the financial services sector, and how they didn’t always appear to make tremendous sense on the surface or seemingly add much value for the client.
RBC Insurance is offering small and medium-size businesses a full range of benefits for groups with as few as two employees.
For $5 you can become a member of Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), the Vancouver-based outdoor sporting equipment and clothing store, and vote on how the co-op is governed. But for a resumé, you can work for an employer that truly values healthy employees. For MEC, the perks are about being active. “Ultimately, we want to encourage and have our staff lead healthy lives,” says Abbie Hodgson van Essen, manager of compensation and benefits. “That’s what MEC is at the core—getting people outside and getting people into self-propelled activities.”
Another recent Ontario class action provides reasons for careful attention when changing employee benefits and pensions.
The rising price tag of healthcare and the risks and costs associated with funding pension plans continue to be a concern for finance executives in the United States.
General Motors of Canada was “not contractually entitled” to cut retirees’ healthcare and life insurance benefits, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ruled.
An executive from a well-known national third-party administrator recently commented how administrative services only (ASO) is hot these days. He further added that several brokers were selling ASO plans as the panacea for all the evils in today’s benefits environment and an instant road to rich discounts of up to 40%. While ASO plans may offer plan sponsors some degree of savings over conventional insured plans, the true benefits may lay elsewhere.
The American benefits landscape has been the birthplace of a number of concepts and strategies that have migrated to Canada: Targeted health population programs, wellness and prevention programs, and worksite health management all began in the U.S. With the high cost of healthcare, these programs and strategies are intended to reduce costs for employers, increase employee productivity and reduce the incidence of disability claims. A similar strategy which is gaining more attention in the U.S. landscape is benefits advocacy.