Silvio Sartori AFLAC Agent

10/20/2013

https://www.facebook.com/bingoman/posts/10201608876096615

09/05/2013

If anyone is in the market for a new tankless water heater, I have a friend who has a great unit available with up to $1,100 of rebates!
Contact Joe Cascone at Climate Plus, 973 838-3200. Joe is a great guy and will do a great job for you.

07/11/2013

Your local partner for convenient and high-quality design, printing and shipping solutions.

07/11/2013

if you are looking to grow your business using networking. Come join us for our networking group it
meets from 7am-8:30am Thursday mornings at Six Brother Diner 475 U.S. 46 Little Falls, NJ 07424.
Message me for details

tp://www.meetup....See More

Positive Connections NJ
www.meetup.com
A Northern New Jersey networking group aimed at helping members grow their business.

Helps groups of people with shared interests plan meetings and form offline clubs in local communities around the world

07/11/2013

June 26, 2013
Dental benefits forgotten but not gone
By Andrea Davis

Dental benefits are often neglected because employees tend to pay more attention to their medical benefits and this may be particularly true leading into this year's open enrollment period.
"Dental is often forgotten because of the importance of the medical benefits but it's becoming more and more evident that it's an important benefit to preserve your oral health and your overall health," says Dr. Gene Sherman, senior vice president of business development and professional relations with AlwaysCare Benefits. "The Affordable Care Act has put some focus on the prevention and wellness, and dental works well with that."
On employees' desire for dental
"One-in-two [employees] or more would prefer to sign up for dental coverage at their worksite. So that's an important thing for employers to think about." -Keith Pellerin, vice president of product management and innovation, Aflac

On connecting dental benefits to wellness

"It's not so much 'let's pull dental into an already comprehensive wellness package,' as much as it is employers recognizing that if they leave dental off the table they're not really covering the entire wellness of their employees." -Keith Pellerin, Aflac
On health care reform

"There's an interesting trend happening - and part of that could be because of the Affordable Care Act - and that is we're seeing an increase in self-funded plans vs. insured plans." -Dr. Gene Sherman, AlwaysCare Benefits

Pediatric dental and vision services are one of 10 essential health benefits carriers are required to include in their small group and individual policies beginning in 2014. Groups can either buy their dental benefits embedded in a medical plan or from a dental carrier.

"We understand health care reform is really big, especially for the small group employers. They're going to have a lot of decisions to make about their health insurance, one of which is: Where do I buy my pediatric dental benefit?
On voluntary plans
"We're seeing health care, in general, being increasingly top of mind with many households and individuals. In the last three to five years, we've seen a growing trend in recognizing and incorporating voluntary dental benefits in that planning process." -Keith Pellerin, Aflac
On networks

"We're seeing a trend where people don't want to be constrained in the provider they go to. The expansion of programs that don't constrain the selection of providers is another trend we've seen." -Keith Pellerin, Aflac

On premiums and affordability
"We've seen four out of 10 [employees] saying they're interested in stable annual coverage amounts. They don't want to see significant fluctuations from coverage period to coverage period. ... People want to really focus on managing their household budgets and minimizing volatility that comes from out-of-pocket expenses." -Keith Pellerin, Aflac

07/10/2013

June 27, 2013
Young and Low-Wage Workers Face Greatest Health Care Challenges
By Andrea Davis of Employee Benefit News
A new report suggests young and low-wage workers will face the greatest challenges in terms of health care eligibility and cost. Among employees under age 30, only half participated in their employer's health benefits program in 2013, compared to 70% of employees age 40 and older, according to the 2013 ADP Annual Health Benefits Report, which examined data from about 600,000 employees from 175 U.S.-based companies.

"It's a pretty wide disparity," says Tim Clifford, president, ADP Benefits Administration Services. "That's significant because we've seen that participation rate in the under-30 group drop over the last four years. That is one of the major categories of the population - a sizeable focus group, if you will - for the impact of the ACA this January."

Leading into 2014, these are the employees who also present communication challenges to employers, suggests Clifford. "We have folks who've opted not to participate in the past and they are going to be forced to participate or pay penalties," he says. Employers will be the ones "helping them understand how to participate on the exchange or understanding what's available with employer-sponsored coverage."

And while health plan premiums continue to rise, the rate at which they're increasing has slowed somewhat, finds the report. The average monthly premium rose approximately 14% from 2010 to 2013. However, after a spike of nearly 8% between 2010 and 2011, the rate of increase moderated. Premiums rose approximately 3% in the last year. In 2013, the average monthly health plan premium was $832. While health plan premiums rose for employees of all ages, the steepest increase was among those under 30.

"That's good news, that we're seeing a pretty significant drop in premiums," says Clifford. "As CDHPs [consumer-driven health plans] have come more into vogue and are being adopted more aggressively by employees and employers, we believe there's a signal here that because those plans are lower cost, at least in terms of premium contributions to employees, that we may have seen employees participate more in those lower-cost plans, which has had an ameliorating effect on the overall premiums."

Low-wage workers, meanwhile, are feeling the brunt of rising premiums. While the cost of health care premiums as a percentage of income increased across all income levels, it increased more rapidly for lower-wage employees than any other group. In 2013, health costs represented, on average, 8.4% of income for an employee earning between $15,000 and $20,000 versus 2.1% for an employee earning more than $120,000. This equates to higher total premium costs for higher income employees, but, when adjusted for total covered lives, these higher costs are a result of high-income employees covering more dependents.

06/23/2013

Here are some informative videos on Health Care Refom that all employers should view.

With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, it's more important than ever for you to make the right benefit choices for your employees. Watch our webinars to learn more about health care exchanges, key dates, and the impact of health care reform on your business.

06/18/2013

Decision to get Aflac pays off For many years, I debated with myself, trying to decide if I really need to apply for an Aflac short-term disability insurance policy. I talked to Dominick Lacaria, Aflac agent, a few times over the years and delayed applying. I continued to believe that I was going to live a very healthy lifestyle for a long time. Eventually, I finally made the right decision and applied for a short-term disability policy. Two years later, I found myself diagnosed with M.S. and constantly fatigued. I was also experiencing side effects from the medicine prescribed by my Doctor. I soon realized I needed to take time off from work to experiment with different medicine along with a very strict diet.

Having short-term disability insurance helped allow me to be able to take a sabbatical while at the same time help continue to provide a decent income for my family. It also allowed me the opportunity to begin the process of getting my health back under control.

During the past 3 months, I have followed my doctor’s advice while experimenting with the latest available medicine for M.S. patients. Having this time off has helped allow me to also do my own research on the internet along with reading some of the latest books published about M.S. I have slowly been able to begin feeling better, and I am beginning to experience more energy. The extra time off has helped allow me to get on an exercise program while enjoying more quality time with my family.

I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have help from my disability insurance. I truly feel that Aflac helped provide me the opportunity to take control of my health and my destiny again.

I wanted to thank the Hopewell Area School District for allowing Aflac the opportunity to talk with their employees and for making payment easy through direct withdrawals from paychecks. I also want to thank Aflac for being there for me in my time of need and their quick payment process.

Sincerely,
Jerrold F. Tagg
Rochester, PA

06/17/2013

June 12, 2013
Boehner: Administration still lacks answers on ACA

By Brian M. Kalish
Posted with permission from Employee Benefit News

If he were an employer, John Boehner would be sitting on his hands - and wallet - waiting for the picture to clear about the Affordable Care Act, said the speaker of the House Wednesday while speaking at a policy forum in Washington.

Boehner (R-Ohio) said that health care reform is a major issue facing employers, many of whom are changing their makeup in such a way that employees are forced to get a second part-time job. This is after employers cut their hours due to ACA requirements to provide health care to employees who work at least 30 hours a week.

"There are lots of questions about [the] employer response and no answers coming from the administration," because many of the rules still haven't been written, Boehner said at the forum, which was sponsored by the law firm BakerHostetler and primarily focused on tax issues.

Also at the conference, Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wisc.) said that while many members of Congress are talking repeal of the Affordable Care Act, that should not be the focus now. Rather, talk should center on the changes that need to take place.

Kind said that his fellow members of Congress should recognize the ACA is the law of the land and "it would benefit us as a nation to work on necessary fixes. ... [Congress] should focus on what's working rather than the constant old debate of 'repeal it all.'"

Noting that rising health care costs are a serious problem, Kind said that time is not on our side, as the main part of the ACA goes into effect in a few months. He said the Act, "albeit not a perfect bill," gave us a start to change how the health care system is delivered but ultimately will achieve the "golden grail" of changing the financial incentives within the health care system.

However, speaking later at the policy forum Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) said that he believes "the new health care law will dilute the quality of care and decrease financial incentives. ... In general, government mandates I don't believe help increase quality or decrease cost."

Further, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), the 2012 Republican vice presidential candidate, said that the United States needs to come up with a health care system that "actually" works and not a "government price control system

06/17/2013

June 13, 2013

DOL: Provide notice of state exchanges by October 1

Posted with permission from Employment Law Today

Employers take notice! Oct 1, 2013 requirement under HCA

On May 8, the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released temporary guidance requiring employers to provide employees with a notice of coverage options available through state insurance exchanges. This notice must be issued to current employees by October 1, 2013 - the date open enrollment begins for health insurance coverage through the exchanges.

What it is

The notice is meant to accomplish three things:
1.Inform the employee of the existence of state insurance exchanges or marketplaces, including a description of the services provided by the exchanges and the manner in which the employee may contact exchanges to request assistance;
2.Outline that if the employer's health plan's share of the total allowed costs of benefits provided under the plan is less than 60 percent of such costs, the employee may be eligible for a premium tax credit (if the employee purchases a qualified health plan through an exchange); and
3.State that if the employee purchases a qualified health plan through an exchange, the employee may lose the employer contribution (if any) to any health benefits plan offered by the employer, and all or a portion of such contribution may be excludable from income for federal income tax purposes.

When to provide the notice

Current employees must receive this notice by October 1, 2013. After that date, employers must provide the notice to each new employee within 14 days of their start dates.

The notice must be provided free of charge and can be mailed or emailed to the employee.

Who receives the notice

Employers must provide a notice of coverage options to each employee, regardless of plan enrollment status or whether they are part-time or full-time employees. A separate notice is not required for dependents or other non-employees who are eligible for coverage under the plan.

The Department of Labor has drafted two model notices - one for employers who do not offer a health plan and another for employers who offer a health plan. While employers can use these model notices as they are, modified versions of the models may also be used as long as an employer's notice meets content requirements.

Key to remember:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All employers (even those without health plans) must comply with the state exchange notice requirement by October 1, 201

06/17/2013

Small Businesses Offer Great Opportunity for Voluntary Benefits Market

Posted with permission from Employee Benefits News

WINDSOR, Conn., June 12, 2013 - A new LIMRA study finds that the majority (53 percent) of small businesses (2-99 employees) do not offer insurance benefits to their employees, often believing they cannot afford them (chart).

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 98 percent of employers in the U.S. have fewer than 100 employees, accounting for approximately 35 percent of the U.S. workforce and representing about 40 million workers.

"With the cost of benefits - in particular health care - rising steadily over the past two decades, it is not surprising that many small business owners have made the decision not to offer employee benefits," said Kimberly Landry, research analyst, LIMRA Insurance Research. "What our study found was that few small businesses considered making voluntary benefits available to their employees, which provide employees the ability to obtain the coverage they need at little to no cost to the business."

Prior LIMRA research indicates that - depending on the benefit - most employees prefer to purchase their benefits through the workplace. Those who favor purchasing benefits at work cite convenience, the ability to pay through payroll deduction, and less perceived need for background research as top reasons for this preference.

This year's study found that two-thirds of small employers who do not currently offer benefits have not been approached within the last 12 months. However, more than 4 in 10 of these businesses have considered offering benefits and nearly half agreed to meet with a producer once they were contacted.

"While small employers are less motivated to offer benefits to attract and retain employees in the current economic environment, they are still interested in finding affordable ways to offer these products," noted Landry.

The study found that, among small businesses that do not currently offer benefits, 6 in 10 are unfamiliar with voluntary products, providing an opportunity for carriers and producers to educate small employers on the advantages of offering voluntary benefits to their employees.

"We have seen many new financial services companies enter the voluntary market in recent years, including some of the largest U.S. carriers," observed Landry. "These companies are recognizing that businesses, faced with rising medical costs, may be interested in offering a broader array of voluntary benefits to their workers."

LIMRA, a worldwide research, consulting and professional development organization, is the trusted source of industry knowledge, helping more than 850 insurance and financial services companies in 73 countries increase their marketing and distribution effectiveness. Visit LIMRA at www.limra.com.

Catherine Theroux | Director | Public Relations | LIMRA | 300 Day Hill Road | Windsor, CT 06095 | Office: 860-285-7787| Cell: 703-447-3257

06/13/2013

Here is a link to the recent Aflac Workforces Report that you might find interesting to read.

Learn about Aflac WorkForces Report, an employee benefits study that highlights benefits trends and issues that can impact your workforce's productivity.