Deals and People October 23, 2013

USI Consulting Hires Senior Actuarial Consultant

October 23, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – USI Consulting Group has hired Heidi Kruck as a senior actuarial consultant in its Defined Benefit practice.
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Kruck will assist corporations and municipalities with the design, valuation and administration of their defined benefit plans. She will also provide strategic consulting with clients on a wide range of retirement issues including modeling projections of funding and accounting estimates.

Prior to joining USI Consulting Group, Kruck was a consultant at a boutique actuarial firm in Chicago for the last five years and a national firm prior to that.

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Kruck has a B.S. degree in actuarial science from Drake University. She is also a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, an Enrolled Actuary and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

USI Consulting Group is a provider of defined contribution and defined benefit plan consulting and administration services, as well as health and welfare administration.

Benefits October 23, 2013

Many Employers Not Considering Private Exchanges

October 23, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A recent poll found that costs are a big issue when it comes to health benefits.
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According to the Corporate Synergies Quick Poll, 58.3% of respondents consider cost containment to be their biggest health benefits concern. Educating employees about available benefits came in second at 27.8%.

Though human resource professionals recognized cost containment and employee education as critical issues, 40% said their organizations would not consider implementing a private exchange.

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“History shows us that adoption of new ideas in employee benefits takes time: even when something isn’t delivering what you need, it’s hard to break old habits. We’re convinced that, over time, private exchanges will become an obvious solution for employers with the twin goals of controlling costs and helping their employees become smarter healthcare consumers,” said John Turner, CEO and president of Corporate Synergies, based in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey.

The poll also found that with open enrollment beginning and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) becoming a reality, 48.6% of respondents said they are ready and planning to be fully PPACA-compliant in 2014. On the other hand, 45.7% said they slowed down their preparations when the “play or pay” mandate was pushed to 2015, but are still in good shape.

The poll surveyed 40 human resource professionals and benefits managers from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia companies with up to 10,000 employees.

Corporate Synergies is a national full-service employee benefits and business insurance brokerage and consulting firm. More information is at http://www.corpsyn.com.

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