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Table of Contents

February 2009

Cover Story
Like most brokers, CEBS fellow Norman Meullen doesn’t have a lot of patience for inflexible carriers or meddlesome regulators. But after putting more than 30 years in the business, he doesn’t have time for hand wringers, either. I mean...


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Feature Content

Resolving our health care issues
The political realities have changed and our industry has formally taken a new position on health care reform. America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association both have agreed that they could support the...

Value over price
Not all employee benefits are created equal. While nearly every employer is looking for ways to cut expenses, particularly in a down economy like we’re currently experiencing, employee benefits decisions should not be based solely on the best...

Dental special report
For 2009, would you like to avoid that "sharp stick-in-the-eye" sales syndrome? If so, let’s get busy and get the creative juices starting to flow. You don’t want to be one of those sales type of humanoids that’s going...

Sections

Columns
What's Next
Most benefit brokers know their key customers: the employer/owner, CFO or HR officer (the “decision-makers”), depending on the size of the account. And as they have become more involved with voluntary sales, benefit brokers have...

On Second Thought
They say those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. I think that’s a short-sighted viewpoint — it implies we’ve never done anything worth doing again. While it’s certainly true we should learn from our mistakes,...

Beyond the Beltway
Retirement might be a time for recreation and relaxation, but the retirement policy world just keeps getting busier — and more fraught with anxiety. In the waning days of the 110th Congress, legislators provided critical stopgap relief for...

Retirement Matters
Working as we do almost exclusively with companies and individuals in the design and implementation of qualified retirement plans, when we review the performance of participant positions, ours included, within retirement plans, be they defined...

Storeylines
It’s February already? I guess I missed out on the traditional “new year, new things, new way of life that lasts about a month” column. (I should really start planning ahead.) So in a nod to my own unconventional schedule, I think...

Exit Interview
Working on payroll is tough. No one ever calls to tell you his or her paycheck was perfect this pay period. Common sense in not always common. Some people do awfully odd things at work. Being a people person isn’t the same as ha...

Top Ten Selling
The best salespeople are great listeners. They tell us that it is important to listen in order to understand, not simply wait for their turn to talk. My daughter taught me all about the concept of listening.  Unfortunately, her mother and I...

Departments
Source List
Click for the dental source list....

Benefits Newswire
The Senate suspended minimum withdrawal requirements on retirement plans, MarketWatch reports. The relief applies for one year to distributions that would have to be taken in 2009. “By making minimum withdrawals from retirement savings...

The New York State Insurance Department released a letter stating all New York insurers are expected to recognize same-sex marriages performed in jurisdictions where such unions are legal, even if they take place out of state, according to Mondaq....

Employers are paying a total of $88 billion annually to subsidize Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, an industry study found. In addition to the cost of medical coverage for their staff, employers pay an additional $1,115 to cover the difference...

Human resources professionals place a high value on home computers, so much so that they may expect employees to have one. A survey by Purchasing Power found over 94 percent of HR professionals think it’s very important or somewhat important...

Keith Ambachtsheer

The Employee Benefit Research Institute has selected Keith Ambachtsheer, director of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM) at the University of Toronto, as recipient of the 2010 EBRI Lillywhite Award. The honor recognizes outstanding lifetime contributions to Americans’ economic security. The award is named for Ray Lillywhite, a pioneer in the pension field who for decades guided state employee pension plans, and who retired from Alliance Capital in 1992 after a 55-year career in the pension and investment field. “Over the decades, [Ambachtsheer] has benefited millions of future retirees by helping fiduciaries enhance benefit security and hold plan expenses to the lowest possible level, since every dollar of expense is ultimately one less dollar available for the payment of retirement benefits,” said Dallas Salisbury, president and CEO of EBRI.

 

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