Broker’s Annual Health and Productivity Survey Tracks Employer Trends Employers offering health and wellness programs have moved beyond the standard financial measures associated health care cost savings towards a broader focus on the overall value of health management within a workplace, according to the Willis Health and Productivity Survey published today by Willis North America’s Human Capital Practice. According to the survey, nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) with wellness

Swiss Re has appointed Urs Baertschi to the new position of President of Reinsurance, Latin America, reporting to Swiss Re Americas President and CEO Eric Smith and joining the company’s Americas Management Team. The appointment is effective January 1, 2016. Baertschi will split his time between Bogota, Mexico City, Miami and Sao Paulo offices. Previously, Baertschi was Managing Director, Head Principal Investments & Acquisitions Americas for Swiss Re and

From the October 2015 Baden-Baden Reinsurance Meeting. The consolidation of the reinsurance industry that is being observed in 2015 apparently is driven by capacity overload, successive years of rate declines and persistently falling profitability. But are mergers and acquisitions (M&As) the right answer? Of course, sheer scale matters but the upside of better mutualization hits its limits fairly quickly and unmanaged diversification is fraught with dangers. In fact, new

Enrollment in public health insurance exchanges is expected to grow modestly in 2016, to reach a total number ranging from 9 to 12 million. The majority of current customers – approximately 9 million – is expected to re-enroll. However, the Congressional Budget Office earlier had projected enrollments to reach 20 million by the end of 2016; the shortfall is most significant and the projected number of enrollees likely will

Shareholders of Aetna and Humana in October 2015 voted separately and approved overwhelmingly the health insurers’ proposed $37 billion merger. Aetna shareholders approved the issuance of up to 127 million common shares to Humana stockholders, who agreed to the terms of the July 2015 merger agreement with Aetna as finalized in July. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2016 after the approval of state

Offering on-site health services is not likely to have a material impact on employers’ medical expenses, but it can be useful in reducing employee absences and workers compensation costs, according to a report by the National Business Group on Health and Truven Health Analytics. In a study of 107 large employers’ health care, workers comp and disability benefit strategies released this week, the availability of on-site health clinics was

A majority of employers are using metrics beyond health care cost savings in order to determine the total value of their investment in workplace wellness programs, according to new survey results. Nearly two-thirds of the 703 employers polled in May and June of this year for Willis North America Inc.’s 2015 Health and Productivity Survey said they rely primarily on value-of-investment measurements — such as health risk reduction, worksite

Health benefits startup Collective Health, a third-party administrator (TPA), in October 2015 raised USD 81 million in additional private investments for a total of 119 million since 2013 to support its plans to begin offering group health care products to self-insured employers in the U.S.A.. Principal investors in Collective Health include Google Ventures, Maverick Capital, Redpoint Ventures, RPE Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and Founders Fund. Based in California, Collective

In the U.S., benefits practitioners are busy implementing strategies to avoid the Cadillac tax — a 40% tax on health plan premiums exceeding USD 10,200 for single coverage and  USD 27,500 for family coverage; the tax is to be effective in 2018. They are making plan design changes such as increasing cost-sharing, reducing subsidies and eliminating plans with extensive coverage. They are also stepping up wellness activities, increasing consumerism

The maximum pretax contribution U.S. employees can make to their 401(k) plans in 2016 will remain at USD 18,000, unchanged from 2015. Other parameters such as the maximum catch-up contribution older employees can make to a plan (USD 6,000), the amount of employee compensation that can be considered in calculating pension benefits and contributions to DC plans (USD 265,000), the definition of a highly compensated employee for nondiscrimination testing (USD

According to a June 2015 International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) survey of its members, U.S. employers, of the 83% of organizations that do offer a form of education assistance or tuition reimbursement to their employees, 75% reported the program as successful despite the fact that in many organizations, less than 5% of eligible employees participate in the programs. Education assistance programs provide an employee with a fixed

For the PDF version, click here. October, 2015 As he eased into his new position of President of Lockton Benefits, Bob Reiff answered the questions of Global Benefits Vision and reflected upon the challenges ahead. Global Benefits Vision: Give us a little background about your career. Bob Reiff: I’ve only been president of Lockton Benefit Group since January 1 though I’ve been with Lockton for five years, serving as

Lockton Benefits President Bob Reiff‘s interview with Global Benefits Vision  is available here as a free-access PDF file. The text-only version is available here. Website : www.lockton.com/locktonglobal

Swan Insurance is the new IGP partner in Mauritius, providing employee benefits: health, life and retirement as well as P&C coverage. Mauritius has thriving BPO and textile sectors in addition to tourism. The partnership with Swan gives IGP the possibility to pursue fronting arrangements in several East African countries.

Allianz Worldwide Care announced in October 2015 the appointment of Alexis Obligi as Director of Sales and Marketing and member of the Executive Committee, joining from Henner where he was Deputy Managing Director of International & Corporate Business Development. Obligi’s appointment follows that of Ida Luka-Lognoné as CEO in July 2015, succeeding Ron Buchan who retired and became chairman of the board. Obligi reports to the CEO and replaces

AIG in the UK have announced in September 2015 the launch of their “Expatriate Care” product, aimed at UK-headquartered organizations with expatriate employees. Interestingly, AIG has partnered with Paris, France – based broker and TPA Henner. One of Henner’s division is a medical plan administrator with a network of 35,000+ medical providers in 160 countries, with discounts and direct billing arrangements. The AIG UK product includes a medical second

Rick Jelinek joined Aetna in October 2015 as executive vice president in charge of the Aetna-Humana integration, as well as of Aetna’s enterprise strategy. In July 2015, Aetna announced plans to acquire Humana, which would approximately double its size. Jelinek reports to Aetna’s Chairman and CEO Mark T. Bertolini and joins Aetna’s Executive Committee. Prior to Aetna, Jelinek was an operating partner with Advent International, a private equity firm.

Aon Benfield in September 2015 announced the appointment of Colin Dutkiewicz as Director of its Accident, Health and Life team, based in London and reporting to Roger Smith, Head of Aon Benfield’s Accident, Health and Life team. Colin joins Aon from Swiss Re, where he spent five years as head of pricing for Africa, client markets director for UK & Ireland, and most recently as global corporate actuary. Prior

Most Western Europeans underestimate their personal risk of becoming unable to work, according to an August 2015 survey by Zurich covering six European countries. Respondents generally tend to overestimate accidents as a leading cause of disability. But at the same time, they are unaware that the probability of becoming work-disabled during one’s working lifetime – whether due to an accident or other causes – may be as high as

The announcement of the impending replacement of Kristof Terryn as CEO of Zurich’s Global Life business unit is apparently the first step in a wider reshuffle. Being promoted to CEO of Zurich’s General Insurance unit is an indication that Terryn was successful in implementing Zurich Group’s strategy in life insurance. Current rumors have it that an external search for a new Global Life leader has been initiated; this does

Zurich announced in September 2015 that Kristof Terryn, currently CEO of Global Life, will take over as CEO of General Insurance, effective October 1, 2015. He replaces Mike Kerner, who held the job since September 2012. Kristof Terryn will continue to run the Global Life business until a replacement is announced. A 48 year old Belgian, Kristof Terryn has been CEO of Global Life since August 2013, and a

Lockton in August 2015 appointed former Allianz Group executive Guilherme Perondi Neto as deputy CEO of its Brazilian subsidiary, Lockton Brazil. His career included stints at credit insurer Euler-Hermes, a member of Allianz group, and at several corporates as credit manager. He holds an MA in strategic management from Universidad Europea del Atlantico, Spain, and an Executive MBA from IBMEC in Brazil.

As of January 1, 2016, American International Group (AIG) will freeze defined benefit (DB) pension plans for its U.S. employees and enhance its offering of 401(k) defined contribution (DC) plans. In so doing, AIG ceases incurring additional pension liabilities and transfers risk onto the shoulders of its employees. De-risking pensions by reducing DB exposure is a common course of action since the mid-2000s, recommended by insurers and consultants alike.

IEBA Chairman Marco Giacomelli‘s interview with Global Benefits Vision  is available here as a PDF file. IEBA, the International Employee Benefits Association, is the largest organization of people working in global employee benefits, with more than 700 members from around the world. Website : ieba.org.uk

Chubb do Brasil joined the AIG Global Benefits Network in July 2015. Chubb has been present in Brazil since 1845 and has been developing an Employee Benefits desk since the 1970’s. Chubb will pool Group Life and its riders in Brazil. With this addition, AIG GBN continues its expansion in Latin America.

THE INAUGURAL ISSUE OF Global Benefits Vision   MAGAZINE IS NOW ON-LINE AS PLANNED. On September 9, 2015 at 09:09 UTC and right on schedule, the GBV  team released the first issue of the magazine. It is available for subscribers at www.global-benefits-vision.com/the-inaugural-issue/ ! As of release time, GBV  has 549 subscribers, most of them belonging to organizations having purchased a group subscription and to their corporate clients. Going forward, GBV is looking forward to having many

Read the (prospective) client survey conducted in December 2014, as published in the Inaugural Issue of Global Benefits Vision magazine here