health
September 2, 2025
Combatting Tech Neck
While not an official medical diagnosis, “tech neck” has become a familiar phrase in today’s workplace. As smartphones, laptops and tablets have become everyday tools, people spend more time hunched over screens. The result is a growing number of individuals who spend hours per day behind screens reporting stiffness, discomfort and pain in their neck...
August 26, 2025
OSHA Urges Safe Trench and Excavation Work Practices
Construction projects involving trench and excavation operations present life-threatening risks to employees. Following a recent series of trench collapses in the Midwest, OSHA has issued a trade release urging workplaces to take the necessary steps to protect workers from trenching and excavation hazards. With 11 trench-related fatalities reported in 2025 so far, employers must recognize...
August 21, 2025
Preparing for Open Enrollment: Common Questions and Answers
As open enrollment season approaches, it’s never too early to start preparing so that you can make educated choices on benefits enrollment for the upcoming year. This annual window offers the opportunity to enroll in, change or update coverage options such as health insurance, dental plans, and voluntary benefits like life and disability insurance. The...
August 12, 2025
5 Tips to Prepare for Open Enrollment Early
Open enrollment is a critical time frame each year for employees to review, assess and modify their existing benefits or enroll in new ones. During open enrollment, employees can accept or decline employer-sponsored insurance, such as health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance and vision insurance, among other options. Open enrollment dates vary; however, for employer-sponsored...
August 7, 2025
Navigating Health Plan Notice Changes in 2025 and Beyond
Employers should be aware of updates to several model notices that can be used to comply with certain disclosure requirements for their group health plans under federal laws. Federal agencies provide these model notices to aid compliance and periodically update them to reflect changes to the law or the information contained in the notices. While...
July 21, 2025
Survey Finds One-third of Employers to Expand Voluntary Benefits by 2027
A recent survey from Gallagher, a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting firm, found that nearly one-third of employers are expected to expand voluntary benefit offerings by 2027. The survey demonstrates the significance of voluntary benefits in modern benefits packages, with over two-thirds (70%) saying they are driven to offer these perks to ensure...
July 1, 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds ACA’s Mandate for Free Preventive Care
On June 27, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a key component of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) preventive care mandate (Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc.). The Court’s decision requires health plans and health insurance issuers to continue covering, without cost sharing, the full range of recommended preventive care services. ACA’s Preventive Care Mandate The...
June 17, 2025
U.S. Prescription Drug Spending Rose 10.2% in 2024
A new report from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists revealed that prescription drug spending in the United States reached nearly $806 billion in 2024, up 10.2% from 2023. The increase was largely driven by the demand for weight loss medications, including glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs. GLP-1 medications are prescribed for diabetes and obesity and...
June 12, 2025
Workers’ Compensation Insurance Midyear Market Outlook
The workers’ compensation insurance segment has been an outlier compared to other lines of commercial coverage, with most policyholders encountering softening conditions and modest rate decreases for nearly a decade. According to the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), strong reserves and manageable claims frequency and severity helped generate an average combined ratio of 91...