Posts Tagged

GBV magazine

For those who have been away there is a momentous change taking place in the workforce that you may have missed. A generational transition is introducing new values to the workplace, creating a seismic shift in culture and the way in which employers are interacting with their employees.

After much secrecy and no public deliberation, Senate Republicans finalized release their “draft” repeal and replace bill for the Affordable Care Act on June 22. Unquestionably, the released “draft” will not be the final version.

A universe of organisms living inside you may affect every part of your body, from your brain to your bones, and even your thoughts, feelings and your attempts to lose weight.

Swiss Re 2017 Group Watch – and now for the bad news! Why is it that insurers are never happy? An additional 4.5% increase in employees covered and 3.8% increase in premiums means that at the end of 2016 we insured 12,029,790 people and £2.106bn in premiums.

Global Benefits Vision: Looking at the concept of multinational pooling, which has been around for about five decades, what has changed over the decades, and what has changed recently, in terms of insurance markets and the way multinationals manage benefits and ultimately utilize the concept of pooling?

There is increasing international emphasis on patient-centered care at all levels of health services. This shift recognizes that it is the patient, not the doctor, who should drive health care decisions. Patient-centered care involves acknowledging that each patient is unique and health care decisions should be guided by individual needs, values, and preferences (Table).

As more top managers seek to develop their global skills through going on international assignments, they must be aware that the definition of a strong leader is a matter of culture.

Our April 2017 edition looked at some of the high-level concepts behind multinational pooling, including the history and background, and an overview of the common models and benefits for corporations, advisers, and insurers. This article will look at some practical examples to illustrate the models and the advantages and disadvantages of some of the alternatives.

Global Benefits Vision: Let us begin with some of highlights of your career, with an emphasis on employee benefits or related fields.

The slow-motion consideration by Congress and the president to change the Affordable Care Act is likely to produce surprising results. The insurance market does not go into suspended animation while Washington debates.

Patient-centric healthcare starts with sharing decisions with physicians. Politicians and policymakers are discussing what parts of the Affordable Care Act to change and what to keep. While most of us have little control over those discussions, there is one health care topic that we can control: what we talk about with our doctor.

Healthcare reform in the U.S. provides for a steady stream of commentary, and it is sometimes useful to repeat some basic truths about … insurance.

Coverage of pre-existing conditions in the U.S. health insurance market – what is at stake in the 2017 healthcare reforms? Pre-existing conditions became the focus of debate on the American Health Care Act, which was narrowly passed 217-213 by the House of Representatives.

Human resources departments routinely transfer personal data between the U.S. and the E.U. Here is an outline of legal issues currently at stake.

Basic tenets of the U.S. healthcare system are often misunderstood abroad, especially in countries that have extensive social security systems in place. Here is what they are and why they came to be.

Marco Giacomelli Global Benefits Vision: Let’s start by recalling the highlights of your career, with an emphasis on iPMI and global employee benefits. Marco Giacomelli: I’ve worked with Generali for the past 23 years on a number of assignments in the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Europe—now London. I have mainly focused on life, health, employee benefits, and now iPMI, with a few forays into bancassurance and other

Every business traveller these days is expected to have access to corporate networks and secure data on multiple devices. These devices include smart phones, tablets, and laptop computers, all of which are vulnerable to lapses in security protocols. Data security and privacy have always been a priority for any corporation − and this includes in-house proprietary data as well as client data − yet the increasingly invasive nature of governments and their agents has the potential to breach a company’s internal controls, as well as pose a multi-jurisdictional litigious liability to its operation.

An overview of pooling and its relevance to life and health insurance for companies. It covers the major pooling trends in the UK and globally as well as innovations and outlook for the area.

This interview is also available as a downloadable PDF file by clicking here. Frederic de Courtois Global Benefits Vision: Frédéric, can you give us some highlights of your career, with emphasis on iPMI, global employee benefits, or related fields? Frédéric de Courtois: I trained as an engineer and an actuary, and spent 23 years with AXA; I started in finance there and later moved on to business side. I

If you work in an open-plan, hot-desking environment, you have probably at some point found yourself trudging through the office, clutching your belongings, in search of a free desk. This feeling of homelessness is an increasing issue in society more broadly – and in the workplace, employees’ well-being is traded in for the company’s bottom line.

How many organizations send employees on international assignment, calculate the ROI, and believe it was a worthwhile investment? How many expats go on assignment and return to a job that engages them and leverages what they learned?

Let’s say you’re interviewing a new applicant for a job and you feel something is off. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but you’re a bit uncomfortable with this person. She says all the right things, her resume is great, she’d be a perfect hire for this job – except your gut tells you otherwise.

2016 was a symbolic year for pension systems in Japan. In November 2016, the Japanese Diet enacted new legislation that shortens the eligibility period for public pensions from 25 years to 10 years. This was followed the next month by a revision to the automatic balancing system.

Surveys of employers and their employees consistency show wellness at work is a key consideration. The treatment of chronic conditions that impair energy levels, require short or long-term absences, and make serious use of healthcare insurance have become a top priority around the world.

Global Benefits Vision: Good morning, Peter. Perhaps you’d like to start off with the highlights of your career. Peter de Vries: I joined IGP in 1988, when I was just a “slip of a lad”, to head up the European region, which, at the time and still today is the largest region for IGP in terms of premium. While most of our clients, about 55 percent, are North American multinationals, most of the premium is paid in the European region.

There’s a joke among insurers that there are two things that health insurance companies hate to do – take risks and pay claims. But, of course, these are the essence of their business!

My outlook for 2017 and beyond is that the U.S. economy will likely see another recession. Yes, the economic picture currently looks wonderful. The Dow and S&P 500 are at record levels. Unemployment is well below 5 percent of the labor force. Inflation is still tame. The U.S. dollar is strong.