Trends in benefits to be on the lookout for

As an employee you are often subjected to the seeming whims of your employer when it comes to benefits. But there is a lot more going on behind the scenes. To help you prepare for what you can potentially expect this year, I called up Paul Ashley of FirstPerson to help you (and me) understand trends in the industry.

The Affordable Care Act has changed a lot in the healthcare space in last few years, but an impact I was surprised to hear about was related to spousal coverage. Some employers are only extending coverage to their employees and their dependents under the age of 26, but are charging more to cover spouses. A few different ways this is worded is spousal carve out, spousal surcharges, and in some extreme cases no spousal support is offered at all. Though on the positive side, since the Supreme Court's decision, spousal support (when offered) now includes same-sex spouses.

Since 2004, the push toward Health Savings Accounts (HSA) with a compatible insurance plan has been in full force. And up until 2014, employer's were increasingly contributing more into their employee's HSAs as incentives each year. That is until this year. This year contributions from the employer leveled off, even went down a little. Why is this? Most likely because employers were contributing in order to incentivize their employees to take advantage of this new type of health coverage, but now that HSAs have gained footing, incentives from the employer are deemed unnecessary.

Really interesting stuff. Check out my interview with Paul to learn more about these changes, as well as changes in premiums and disability insurance here:

Courtesy of WIBC.