How baby boomers stay resilient
Originally posted June 30, 2014 by Emily Holbrook on www.lifehealthpro.com.
As the youngest group of baby boomers approaches 50, a new study shows how the generation stays resilient in the face of challenges. The Hartford Center for Mature Market Excellence and the MIT AgeLab Resilience in Midlife study found that:
- The most resilient adults have a strong sense of self-efficacy or the belief that they are able to manage through difficult transitions.
- Participating in entertainment activities and hobbies is the most common way that all adults in the study cope with stress. However, the most resilient adults are more likely to participate in physical activity than less resilient adults (70 percent versus 42 percent).
- Social connections and support are also common among the most resilient people. Sixty percent of the most resilient adults talk to or spend time with friends as a way to cope with stress, compared with 35 percent of the less resilient individuals.
- Ninety-four percent of the most resilient people reported that they are very or somewhat happy, compared with only 32 percent of the less resilient people in the survey.
- Thirty-four percent of the most resilient people reported that they are not stressed at all, compared with 6 percent of the less resilient people in the survey.
- Adults in their 60s reported higher levels of resilience, compared with people in their 40s and 50s.
For boomers, the most stressful aspects of their lives revolve around personal finances, according to the study. This type of stress can be relieved, at least in part, by following the advice and guidance of a professional financial advisor. Other ways to boost resilience in boomers include:
- Physical: Be active. Adults in our study who were more resilient reported higher levels of physical activity. Walking was listed as the top activity that resilient people participate in to help cope with stress. Whether it’s taking a walk, exercising, doing yoga or playing sports, being active is associated with resilience.
- Social: Stay connected to your friends and family. The most resilient adults in our study reported higher rates of spending time or talking with friends and family. Are there friends and family you are close to and have important conversations with? Keep those connections strong. Whether it’s talking on the phone, meeting for a meal, or just hanging-out, talk to the people in your network you rely on and who support you.
Personal: Develop the inner qualities that build resilience. Resilience is comprised of 5 key elements: family and social networks, perseverance, coping, focus of control (belief in your ability to control the situation) and self-efficacy (a belief that you are able to manage through difficult situations). In our research, we found that the most resilient adults reported a high level of self-efficacy. They are confident that they can deal with the stressors they face in the midst of life events.
Men’s HSA account balances far outpace women’s
Originally posted June 19, 2014 by Dan Cook on www.benefitspro.com. 
Women, on average, don't have as much money in their health savings accounts than do men. This nugget is among the findings of an Employee Benefit Research Institute study, which was conducted on the 10th anniversary of the creation of HSAs.
At the end of 2013, men had an average of $2,326 in their account, while women had $1,526, EBRI said.
While the male-vs.-female gap went unexplained by the researchers, that output was perhaps the most surprising to come from the study. Other findings were more or less in line with expectations about those who choose HSAs to pay for their health care.
EBRI reported that older individuals have considerably more money in their accounts that do younger HSA users: Those under 25 had an average of $697, while those ages 55-64 $3,780 those 65 or older had an average account balance of $4,460.
Younger ones used a small percent of their account balances for health-related expenditures, and they also tended to take fewer distributions from their accounts that did older individuals. Yet at a certain age, the likelihood of a distribution fell significantly.
“The likelihood of taking a distribution increased from 44 percent among individuals under age 25, to 66 percent among those ages 35–44 and 45–54,” EBRI said in a release. “That likelihood dipped slightly (to 64 percent) among those ages 55–64 and still further (to 49 percent) among those ages 65 and older.”
“The decline in the average amount distributed, as well as the likelihood of there being a distribution for health care claims at older ages, may have been a reflection of fewer people covered by the HSA-eligible health plan as fewer dependent children are covered by older account owners,” said Paul Fronstin, director of EBRI’s health research and education program, and author of the report.
Other findings:
- The average HSA balance at the end of 2013 was $1,766, up from $1,280 at the beginning of the year;
- On average, individuals who made contributions deposited $2,032 to their account. HSAs receiving employer contributions received $1,184, on average;
- Four-fifths of HSAs with a contribution also had a distribution for a health care claim during 2013;
- Looking at HSAs with claims, the average amount distributed for health care claims in 2013 was $1,953.
Input for the study came from data collected from HSA providers with total assets of $2.7 billion as of Dec. 31, 2013. This represents 14 percent of the universe of HSAs and 14 percent of HSA assets, EBRI said.
Fast-rising medical ID theft hits employers hard
Originally posted May 22, 2014 by Alan Goforth on www.benefitspro.com.
About the last thing companies dealing with the complexities of implementing Obamacare need right now is to have the security of their employees’ medical information compromised. However, statistics show that is exactly what is happening.
“Medical identity theft is a rapidly spreading malady, often by organized-crime rings,” said James Quiggle, spokesman for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, a nonprofit alliance of carriers, consumer groups and government agencies in Washington, D.C. ”Data breaches in this era of digital record-keeping can drain businesses and make employee records as vulnerable as patients.”
More than 1.8 million Americans were victims of medical identity theft in 2013, a crime that is increasing at an annual rate of 32 percent. This makes it the fastest-growing type of identity theft, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego.
Medical ID theft is already a multibillion-dollar industry. For the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2013, the federal government alone recovered a record $4.3 billion from people and companies that attempted to defraud health-care programs, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Stealing enough personal information to purchase services or devices is not difficult for a sophisticated identity thief, said Drew Smith, founder and CEO of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based InfoArmor (pictured at left). His company has provided B-to-B clients with protection against various types of ID theft since 2007.
“You can go online and readily purchase someone’s basic identity information for about $50,” he said. “You usually don’t need a lot of identification to receive medical care. Most identity thieves are not using it for primary care. It’s going for things such as medical devices, prescription drugs or other areas where there is less likely to be a personal relationship with the provider.”
Hidden employer costs
Statistics rarely account for the hidden cost of lost productivity when an employee has been victimized. Dealing with the fallout can be a painstaking, time-consuming process. The average medical identity theft loss is $22,346 – six times higher than financial identity theft. Also, on average, it takes victims more than a year to clear up medical records and repair any damage to their credit.
“Employees have to deal with identity theft issues immediately, which requires time off work and lost productivity, because some banks and agencies may be open only on work days,” Smith said. “Most medical ID thefts go undetected for a year. It’s not like credit card fraud, where you usually are notified quickly if someone tries to use a stolen card. Because of the way medical records are stored, they are extremely fragmented and hard to fix when you find out. That’s why reducing the risk of medical identification theft can help a business’s bottom line.”
Employers may be surprised to learn that medical identity theft may be as likely to occur from within their organization as from outside.
“Fifty percent of medical ID claims are considered `friendly fraud’,” Smith said. “For example, an employee’s brother may be out of work and they allow him to use their insurance card, or a family member borrows it without permission.”
Best defenses
Although eliminating medical ID theft may be impossible, businesses do have effective options to significantly reduce risks and quickly detect breaches. “Managers must implant internal controls and train employees to harden their protection of personal data,” Quiggle said. “Protocols to protect against insider theft are especially important.”
One of the most successful defenses costs nothing to implement.
“The No. 1 thing to emphasize with employees is to be smart about their user names and passwords,” Smith said. “Many people use the same ones for multiple sites, such as health care, banking and payroll information. Identity thieves are pretty adept at stealing credentials and often use them to steal from more than one account.”
Early notification of security breaches also is critical. “Timeliness is key,” he said. “Most explanations of insurance benefits don’t come for 30 to 90 days, but we can provide real-time alerts.”
Companies such as InfoArmor can provide several levels of protection. “The entry level (service) is monitoring personal and insurance carrier information,” Smith said. “We can alert employees daily to a potential compromise of their information online.”
The next level is to search the Internet and other networks for employees’ potentially exposed medical information that may be bought or sold. InfoArmor’s service providers also evaluate medical professionals who submit claims.
“We are able to do scoring behind the scenes to identify doctors with a record of fraudulent claims who may present a high risk,” Smith said. “Finding these fraudulent doctors often is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but we can help make the haystack much smaller.”
InfoArmor is testing a new service that it calls ID Verification, which uses information from dozens of public record databases to enable providers to confirm a patient’s identity before services are administered.
“The newest services are the most employee-focused,” Smith said. “We can determine which employees have a greater inherent risk and monitor their claims data daily. We look for certain flags, such as care being received farther from home, durable medical equipment being purchased in their name or a high volume of paperwork over a short period of time. We then can issue an alert. And we are careful to do everything in a HIPPA-compliant manner.”
Smith said it is still too early to judge the potential impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on the incidence of medical identity theft. But for employers seeking ways to reduce medical identity theft and its repercussions on employees, the best offense is a good defense.
“Don’t believe people who try to tell you they can prevent identity theft, because they probably are lying,” he said. “Because theft is not going away, the solution is to detect digital crimes faster.”
Survey: Diverse structures point to a more tailored approach in family benefits packages
Originally posted May 22, 2014 by Nick Otto on https://ebn.benefitnews.com.
Even against the backdrop of a stronger economy, modern families are still feeling the pinch of financial security, pointing toward the need to tailor products to the needs of specific family structures that are considerably different than the traditional nuclear family.
As a result, the increased diversity will require more comprehensive offerings on the part of benefits managers hoping to provide the best to an increasingly diverse workplace.
Traditional families — or those married to someone of the opposite gender with at least one child younger than 21 — were found to have fewer struggles with financial security than their modern blended, multi-generational or same-sex counterparts. Nearly 36% of modern families were reported to have collected unemployment versus 21% of traditional families, according to a recent report from Allianz.
The LoveFamilyMoney Study analyzed the financial security of a more diverse household landscape. According to the report, only 19.6% of today’s households constitute a “traditional” family, a drop from 40.3% in 1970.
The study included:
▪ Multi-Generational Families — Three or more generations living in the same household.
▪ Single Parent Families — One unmarried adult with at least one child younger than 18.
▪ Same-Sex Couple Families — Married or unmarried couples living together with a member of the same gender.
▪ Blended Families — Parents who are married or living together with a stepchild and/or child from a previous relationship.
▪ Older Parent with Young Children Families — Parents age 40+ with at least one child younger than 5 in the household.
▪ Boomerang Families — Parents with an adult child (21-35) who left and later returned to rejoin the family.
Each structure brings different dynamics to the inner workings of the family, Allianz says. For example, while traditional families provide hierarchy, collaboration and structure; boomerang families, while closely traditional, view their adult children more as friends.
Additionally, the study notes, only 30% of modern families feel financial secure, unlike 41% of traditional families. For example, twice as many modern families say they have declared bankruptcy — 22% compared with 11% of traditional families.
“New family structures have a direct impact on a family’s relationship with money and finances—and we found that, while modern families have similar strong emotional ties, they often feel financially less secure than their traditional counterparts," said Katie Libbe, Allianz Life vice president of Consumer Insights.
"While family structure plays a prominent role, our study of these different modern family cohorts uncovered a number of unique insights into each group’s attitudes, perceptions and beliefs around money and financial planning," she adds.
Although most employees understand the need for medical and dental insurance, the value of voluntary benefits is less understood and can open doors to the modern family structures seen in today’s society. Voluntary products are changing the employee benefits game and can help employers meet objectives while providing more choices for employees.