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Employers can play an important role in strengthening the way employees and health care providers interact and make health care decisions. A more informed partnership can lead to better outcomes, higher satisfaction, lower health care costs and improved productivity.

Captive insurance programs trace their roots to the 1950s as an alternative form of risk financing in which the insurance company is owned by its policy holders. The type, size and complexity of Captives continue to grow and have become an increasingly popular means of risk transfer and financial control. The construction industry is reliant on insurance products and risk management for balance sheet protection, but the cyclical nature of insurance and catastrophic risks inherent in construction makes predictability in rates and coverages elusive at best.

Beginning in 2016, the definition of “small employer” for insurance rating and underwriting purposes changes. In general, employers with 51–100 full-time equivalents (FTEs) may now fall into the small employer category, and such groups will be subject to community rating and required to offer essential health benefits for the first time. However, transition relief issued by the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) allows states and insurers to choose to renew current policies through October 1, 2016. In other words, depending upon which state the insurance policy is being issued out of, employers with 51–100 FTEs who would otherwise be required to purchase a small group policy beginning in 2016 may have the option to renew their current policies through October 1, 2016.

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that all states must permit same-sex marriages within their borders and must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. This ruling puts to rest some of the big questions and the confusion that remained after the Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage and DOMA in 2013. Many employers must now consider how this decision affects their benefit plans.