Global Benefits Vision: What is your role in your company and what is your background? Chris Burns: I am a Partner at EBCG LLC. We are a national and global employee benefits consulting firm. For over 25 years, our team of consultants has helped companies unlock hidden value in their programs. With 5 offices across the U.S., we work with both large and mid-sized companies. We are also a member of the Worldwide Broker Network (WBN), which allows us to assist our clients in over 100 countries around the world.

In the January 2019 issue Contingency Planning for a Hard Brexit Scenario – Ian Cooper, Jon Green Chris Burns on Insurtech – Interview Benefits in Germany: An Overview and Case Study – Anika Ort, Philipp Dienstbühl E.U. Pensions: The New IORP II Directive, Issues, Impacts and New Requirements – Amin Rajan Vaccines Have Health Effects Beyond Protecting Against Target Diseases – Christine Stabell Benn Lockton 2018 Forum Report Marco

In the January 2019 issue Contingency Planning for a Hard Brexit Scenario – Ian Cooper, Jon Green Chris Burns on Insurtech – Interview Benefits in Germany: An Overview and Case Study – Anika Ort, Philipp Dienstbühl E.U. Pensions: The New IORP II Directive, Issues, Impacts and New Requirements – Amin Rajan Vaccines Have Health Effects Beyond Protecting Against Target Diseases – Christine Stabell Benn Lockton 2018 Forum Report Marco Giacomelli on Insurtech – Interview

Global Benefits Vision: What is your role in your company and what is your background? Chris Burns: I am a Partner at EBCG LLC. We are a national and global employee benefits consulting firm. For over 25 years, our team of consultants has helped companies unlock hidden value in their programs. With 5 offices across the U.S., we work with both large and mid-sized companies. We are also a member of the Worldwide Broker Network (WBN), which allows us to assist our clients in over 100 countries around the world.

More than fifteen years ago, the first IORP Directive (Directive 2003/41/EC of the European parliament and of the Council of 3 June 2003 on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision) created a legal framework to support retirement services across Europe and protect members and beneficiaries. Since then, the financial crisis and other economical, demographical and social factors completely changed the conditions in Europe for retirement plans. The IORP II Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2341 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision) is freshly conceived to respond to current conditions and better serve members.

Global Benefits Vision: Now that Brexit seems to be upon us, let’s talk about how you see it impacting Lockton and the insurance world in general. Ian Cooper: It has been quite fascinating. Insurance providers, as we know, within the single market, can passport regulatory permissions and trade across Europe.

It is important for German companies to position themselves as attractive employer brands, especially when competing for young talent in the job market. In today’s tight job market, factors that once promised reliable success in attracting new employees – remuneration, the number of leave days, pensions, company cars – are no longer the only things younger generations are looking for. Instead, non-monetary issues such as work-life balance, working atmosphere, and identification are of prime concern. These are the issues that companies should be projecting in their branding and benefits strategies.

Global Benefits Vision: Thanks for joining us today, Marco – it’s good to have you back. What is your definition of insurtech? Marco Giacomelli: Insurtech is a specialized evolution or byproduct of fintech, which is a combination of the words “finance” and “technology.” As a practical definition, we can say that insurtech is sets of strategic initiatives, specific tools, and processes designed to achieve savings and efficiencies in all insurance processes.

Lockton’s yearly Forum distinctive format includes three regional editions in North America, Asia, and in Europe. Most of the contents is common across all editions with some variations in respect of regional issues.

A measles vaccine protects against measles infection. By introducing a bit of weakened virus, the immune system learns how to deal with it, so when a real measles virus comes along, it can eliminate it. But does the immune system learn more from the vaccine? Recent research suggests, rather intriguingly, that it does.

Date Article Title Author Tags Link 12/2019 History of Pooling at Allianz Michael Scheu Pooling Issue 044 12/2019 History of Pooling at Allianz François Jacquemin Pooling Issue 044 12/2019 Vaping and e-cigarettes Allison Kurti Health Issue 044 12/2019 Hospital Price Transparency in the U.S. at Last? Neeraj Sood Healthcare Issue 044 12/2019 To Lose Weight, Eat Less or Exercise More? Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias Health, Exercise Issue 044 12/2019

Samir Chatterjee Claremont Graduate University Professor of Technology Design & Management Samir Chatterjee is the Fletcher Jones Chair of Technology Design & Management at CGU’s Center for Information Systems & Technology (CISAT). He is also considered a leading technology designer and strategist for 21st-century health care. His entry into health care field has been via Telemedicine. Today he leads the emerging field of Persuasive Technology, a stimulating interdisciplinary research field

Michael L. Millenson Northwestern University Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine After a career in journalism that included three Pulitzer Prize nominations, I turned to research and consulting. Following the publication of a landmark book in 1997, “Demanding Medical Excellence: Doctors and Accountability in the Information Age” (University of Chicago Press), I have written extensively in the lay and peer-reviewed literature about quality of care, patient safety

Andrew Boyd University of Illinois at Chicago Assistant Professor, Biomedical and Health Information Sciences Dr. Andrew D. Boyd is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences. For his contribution to the field of Health Informatics, he was awarded 2015 UIC Researcher of the Year in Clinical Sciences, Rising Star. He has over 30 publications (with over 1500 citations). He has been a PI, Co-PI, Co-I

Theresa Simpkin Anglia Ruskin University Visiting Fellow Terri is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Lord Ashcroft International Business School. Terri is also the Higher and Further Education Principal at CNet Training and works with partners in the Data Centre sector on a suite of research initiatives investigating workforce issues. These include skill and labour shortages and gender issues. Work currently underway will add a different perspective to the

Amina Aitsi-Selmi University College London, UCL Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer, Epidemiology and Public Health Department Dr Amina Aitsi-Selmi studied Medicine and Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, during which time she spent some time exploring the Cuban public health system and reported this in the journal Public Health. She is a public health doctor and academic specialising in health inequalities, and has also worked in Sudan (on a humanitarian

Nicholas Fitzkee Mississippi State University Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry Dr. Nicholas Fitzkee is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at Mississippi State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins University with Dr. George Rose, and he completed a postdoc at the National Institutes of Health with Dr. Ad Bax. Dr. Fitzkee is broadly interested in using NMR spectroscopy to study the

The heart rate monitor built into the new Apple Watch has sparked sharp debate over its risks and benefits, even though the feature was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration. But out of the spotlight, the FDA has been doing away with regulatory action altogether on many diagnostic health apps targeting consumers, seeking to accelerate digital health adoption by defining many of these as “low risk” medical devices.

It was March 2014 when I received a phone call as I was working in my office. The person on the other end introduced herself as Dr. Linda Houston-Feenstra, chief cardiac nurse of Loma Linda University SACHS Heart Clinic. She said that she has heard about my work on persuasive technology, in particular how it can influence attitude or behaviour change in people. She wanted me to assist her with her heartfailure patients.

Wearing a fitness tracking device could earn you cash from your health insurance company. At first, this sounds lucrative for the people who participate, and good for the companies, who want healthier insurance customers. But it’s not quite so simple.

Grief can seem desolate for those in the thick of it who often feel unable to imagine a way out of their suffering. But, as time passes, the pain usually dampens or becomes more fleeting.

Research suggests that around 70% of people will experience an illogical sense of being a phoney at work at some point in their careers. It’s called the impostor phenomenon (also known, erroneously, as a syndrome). These impostor feelings typically manifest as a fear of failure, fear of success, a sometimes obsessive need for perfection, and an inability to accept praise and achievement. The phenomenon is also characterised by a genuine belief that at some point you, as the “impostor”, are going to be found out for being a fake in your role.

Every surface we touch has its own unique chemical properties. It’s because of these properties that some materials stick to surfaces, while others slide off. For a person, a sticky surface may be a minor annoyance, but for a bacterial cell, surface attachment can be a matter of life and death. Bacteria have evolved their own surfaces to be sticky, like Velcro.

With large international companies managing and financing their group-wide risks centrally, there is a pressing need for a central risk management tool. Captive concepts, which have been around for many years, answer this need and have become very popular in risk management.

Whistleblowers have been making headlines almost every month this past year – and this follows a string of scandals such as LuxLeaks, Panama and the Paradise Papers as well as Dieselgate and Cambridge Analytica, which have exposed the limited assistance available for people seeking to expose wrongful corporate behaviour in the public interest. Only 10 EU member states have comprehensive legislation in place, with others offering partial protection at most. At EU level, there are some existing instruments in place that provide for whistleblower protection, but these have varying levels of detail and remain predominantly limited to financial services, transport safety and environmental protection.

After 60 years of fierce debate, France has finally decided to reform its income tax system and to shift the burden of income tax collection from the State to employers, thus aligning itself with all other EU Member States and most western countries which deduct income tax under a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system. As of 1 January 2019, employers will be compelled to collect income tax through deducting it from their employees’ salaries and to pay it to the French Tax Department.

Global Benefits Vision: Hello Wendy – please tell us about your background and your career to date. Wendy Liu: I am an actuary by background, and I started my career in consulting before joining Zurich. The majority of my career has been related to global employee benefits. I began on the U.S. domestic side, expanded to international benefits and now am based in Europe covering global benefits.