Blog

Nov
05
2018

Help Your Employees Save Money on Pharmaceuticals

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

Most employers are doing all they can to keep their employees’ health insurance and health care outlays to a minimum. And while most of those efforts are focused on the upfront cost of insurance, copays and deductibles, many employers fail to help their employees control the very costs they actually have the most control over – and one of those areas is medicine. Helping your workers become wise consumers of health services can also cut your overall insurance costs, as well as help your employees conserve more of their own funds if they have high copays and deductibles. The cost…
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Nov
05
2018

Reducing Workplace Stress Is Vital for Safety, Retention, Production

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

During our economic recovery one element that has been persistent is that employers are trying to get more out of their workers than ever before. And while most managers and owners try to ensure that their workers are provided a safe workplace and put a premium on reducing the chances of accidents, one often overlooked area is employee stress. Heaping too much stress or too many responsibilities on a single employee can greatly increase their chances of not only burnout, but also making costly mistakes. A worse-case scenario is that if they are engaged in more labor-intensive occupations, too much…
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Nov
05
2018

Rating Agency Recommends Another Workers’ Comp Rate Decrease

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

There could be yet another workers’ comp rate reduction coming down the pike, after California’s rating agency filed a recommendation that benchmark rates for policies incepting on or after Jan. 1, 2019 be reduced by 14.5% from Jan. 1, 2018 levels. The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s recommendation that the average benchmark rate be cut comes on the heels of an order by Insurance Commissioner David Jones to reduce these “pure premium rates” by 10.3% as of July 1, compared with Jan. 1 rates. The advisory pure premium rates proposed to be effective Jan. 1, 2019 average $1.70 per $100…
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Nov
05
2018

Five Types of Claims That Spike in the Fall

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

      As the weather starts cooling down and the seasons change, new perils arise for everyone, particularly the risk of some types of auto accidents as well as potential homeowner’s insurance claims. Fall is actually the time of year where the claims for a number of incidents increase compared to the rest of the year. With fall now here, pay attention to the following heightened risks. Rear-end collisions With the colder weather comes more rain and potentially icy conditions in some parts of the country. Auto insurers report an uptick in rear-end collisions in the last three months…
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Oct
24
2018

5 Ways to Reduce Confusion During Open Enrollment

by CoreMark Insurance Services | posted in Blog

Keeping everyone on the same page during your employee benefits enrollment period can be a challenge. From new employees who need to learn the ropes to individuals who are having a difficult time with technology, communication is critical throughout the open enrollment process. Creating an employee benefits enrollment process that works not only for the Human Resources team but also for the rest of the organization requires time and planning to effectively execute. Benefits are an incredibly important part of an employer’s payroll costs, making up approximately 32% of the total payroll. That makes it critically important that open enrollments…
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Oct
12
2018

The 4 Things Benefits Brokers Aren’t Telling Telling You

by CoreMark Insurance Services | posted in Blog

  If there is one thing that you can be sure of, it’s that benefits seasons will continue to roll around — and continue to cause challenges for HR departments everywhere. There are a range of decisions that need to be made each year, and one of the most important is determining how you can improve the process each year and reduce your overall frustration and pain points. You need to select someone that you can trust to be there when you need them. Plus, they must have the best interests of your organization and your employees in mind at…
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Oct
05
2018

Do Return-to-Work Programs Work?

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

Employers who have an injured worker are caught in a bind – especially if the injury occurred on the job. As the worker recovers, employers are faced with a decision. Here are the options: Settle the workers’ comp claim and let the employee go, Continue to have the worker stay home, pending a full recovery, or Bring the worker on in a lighter-duty assignment unlikely to aggravate the injury. Each, of course, has long-term consequences. If you settle too many claims, your workers’ compensation premiums are likely to go up. This is because premiums are typically based on your claims…
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Oct
05
2018

Getting a Head Start on Open Enrollment

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

As open enrollment is right around the corner, now is the time to gear up to maximize employee enrollment, help them make the best selections for their own personal circumstances, and stay compliant with relevant laws and regulations. It’s a lot to take in as uncertainty has been a constant during the last many years with the onset of the Affordable Care Act, and now that its future is hazy at best. Still, since health coverage and other employee benefits are an important part of your compensation package – and your competitive edge for talent – it’s important that you…
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Oct
05
2018

Many Employees Choosing the Wrong Health Plans

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

A new study has found that many people in employer-sponsored health plans are enrolling in plans that are costing them more than they ought to be paying. Many employees choose pricey plans with low deductibles, which force them to spend more up front on premiums to save just a few hundred dollars on their deductible. As result, many employees are spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars more on their health care/health coverage than they need to. A study by Benjamin Handel, a U.C. Berkeley economics professor, found that the majority of employees at one company he studied were in…
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Oct
05
2018

More Firms Ban Smartphones at Work for Safety Reasons

by CoreMark | posted in Blog, Newsletter

More and more employers are banning cell phones in the workplace because they are distracting enough to be a serious safety issue for workers. Most notably, General Motors has banned all employees, including its CEO, from walking around with their mobile phones while talking, texting or using other smartphone functions. You already know the dangers of using your phone while behind the wheel, as vehicular deaths have spiked since the ubiquity of smartphones. But in many workplaces – think warehouses, construction sites, factories and other worksites with equipment and inventory – the distraction of a smartphone can have deadly consequences….
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