Products June 8, 2016

Mercer Offers Health Benefit Insights to Employers

A series of whitepapers address concerns for small and mid-size employers.
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Mercer has recently introduced a series of whitepapers aimed at the health benefits needs and concerns of small to mid-size employers. 

Consultants from throughout Mercer Health & Benefits have developed the following insights:

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  • Getting the value out of Total Health Management: How can the actions an employer takes to support the health, productivity, and wellbeing of its employees also help reduce costs?
  • Stop Loss Insurance – critical coverage for the catastrophic: High-cost claims ($1 million or more) are rising. What are the reasons for these high-cost claims, and how can employers use stop loss insurance to cover them?
  • Voluntary benefits become mainstream: Voluntary benefits are a critical component for employers in the fight for talent and employee engagement, and can help lessen health care reform-related burdens. Which voluntary benefits should be offered?
  • The prescription drug dilemma:  Prescription drugs are the top driver of health care cost increases today, and this is not going to change in the foreseeable future for any employer. What are the best ways to combat rising drug costs?
All of these whitepapers can be downloaded at http://www.mercer.us/our-thinking/enterprise-health-and-benefits.html. Mercer says more will be added in the weeks ahead.
Products June 8, 2016

ICMA-RC Enhances Mobile Tools for Participants

Participants in state and local government retirement plans can use text to receive account updates and have more options for contacting the plan provider.
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ICMA-RC has introduced two enhancements to its mobile app: a text messaging feature and plan-level customization.

Both components are designed for state and local government retirement plan sponsor and participant clients.

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ICMA-RC’s TextAccess feature allows a participant to text a keyword and receive account updates via text. Available updates include account balance, contribution amount and rate of return. Visit www.icmarc.org/textaccess for more information about the feature.

ICMA-RC’s enhanced mobile app has an added feature that displays unique, plan-specific content such as custom branding, direct links to the plan’s website and multiple ways to contact their local ICMA-RC representative.

“Our enhanced mobile services allow ICMA-RC to serve public sector employees wherever they are connected and whenever it is convenient,” says Gregory Dyson, senior vice president and chief operating officer of ICMA-RC. “The ability to interact via text and customize employees’ experience through their plan sponsor mobile app allows us to further engage participants with relevant education to help them build a secure retirement.”

The mobile app is available from the App Store and Google Play and provides access to the ICMA-RC’s MyAccount feature, which allows users to enroll in their retirement plan, use educational tools, make fund transfers, rebalance their account, check their account balance, see year-to-date investment performance, and update their contact information.

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