To support CIOs, HR Tech Outlook collaboration with a distinguished panel comprising CEOs, CIOs, and analysts helps CHROs with a list of leading employee benefits service providers.
HR Tech Outlook presents to you HR Tech Outlook’s “Top 10 Employee Benefits Consulting/Services Companies – 2019.” Proudly featuring Corporate Benefits Network.
The healthcare reforms in 2015 ushered in a plethora of changes in the realm of employee benefits. While many companies have attempted to reinvent and keep up with this ever-changing landscape, transformations in employee benefits are difficult without the perfect road map.
Having built her credibility through various leadership positions in the employee benefits industry, Marsha Marrullier had perceived the multi-fold benefits the healthcare reforms were going to bring in the industry and focused on educating clients about the compliance and regulations. While opportunities in Florida were abundant and waiting to be seized, she was quick to identify them, learn about the importance of self-funded business plans in the healthcare insurance sector, and establish Corporate Benefits Network (CBN). This was three decades ago. Today, Marsha leads her team at CBN to understand the challenges businesses have in designing benefit programs and help them comply with today’s complex regulations without compromising the ability to retain and attract valued employees.
According to Marsha, the Managing Director and Senior Employee Benefits Advisor at CBN, as the current workforce is aging and more millennial and Gen Z employees join the workforce, the healthcare industry is seeing an increased demand for “customizable” benefits and communications. With so many different generations in today’s workforce, one size certainly does not fit all. CBN identifies plan-design alternatives, offers more voluntary benefits, and educates the employees in their purchase of benefit options and service. “Until our broken healthcare system is overhauled, we have to do everything we can to keep the cost of healthcare affordable for the employer and employee,” she adds.
Catering to a diverse clientele in the healthcare sector, Marsha is creative using the newest self-funding plans. She also incorporates the mechanism of HSA, HRA, and FSA for additional cost-saving. As such, CBN encourages its clients to practice self-funding via its holistic human resources information system (HRIS). “We can assist our clients in conforming to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with our HRIS platform. In doing so, we help them keep track of ACA reporting and ERISA compliance, all in a single HRIS System,” states Marsha. While experienced employees can enroll through its online portal, CBN’s mobile app is helpful for employees to enroll for benefit plans. For organizations with complex HRIS, CBN offers call center with support, education, and enrollment on a recorded line.
Although CBN has provisions for telemedicine in most of its plans, it has designed standalone telemedicine plans for clients with employees reluctant to purchase a comprehensive medical insurance package. Besides, CBN also provides executive benefits, global benefits, and Senior Medical plans.
Until our broken healthcare system is overhauled, we have to do everything we can to keep the cost of healthcare affordable for the employer and employee.
In the context of the employer mandate released in 2015, Marsha describes how most organizational leaders were confused about whether they would pay insurance penalty or offer benefits to the employees. Marsha created a group of 700 members in an attempt to educate the client and propose ways to save money by offering benefits rather than paying the penalty. CBN suggested holistic medical plans for the company, allowing them to adhere to the ACA laws. The plan would benefit only the employees and the dependent children, excluding the spouse. This design was not just to help the employer control cost, but it also allowed the spouses to avail their part from the exchange subsidy if they qualified. If the client included coverage for a spouse, the spouse would not be eligible for a subsidy because the employer’s plan met the ACA guidelines and was affordable. As the average annual wage of the company was $21,000, CBN declared the contribution under or over $22,000. In doing so, CBN achieved considerable savings for the employer.
CBN helps Owners and Presidents increase the value of their companies with our systems and technology. HR loves us because we take the burden off them concerning benefits so they can focus on the growth of their company.
