A.M. Best Company Publishes The Guide to Understanding Employee Benefits

Business Wire, April 1, 2008

OLDWICK, N.J. -- A.M. Best Company has published The Guide to Understanding Employee Benefits. The new guide outlines and explains the various choices available to benefits professionals--buyers and sellers, such as human resources officers, insurance agents, brokers and business owners.

More employers are handing control to employees in the form of consumer driven health plans. In a recent A.M. Best survey on employee benefits, the question that attracted the most attention dealt with these plans. While 58% of benefits providers said their clients had asked about or begun to offer a consumer driven health plan, 55% of purchasers said they do not offer one. The Guide examines this and other trends in the area of employee benefits, covering a broad range of options, including health care benefits, retirement plan options, life insurance and more.

"We've really reached a crossroad on employee benefits," said Chris Sharkey, Senior Associate Editor, Supplements, "but the new has not completely buried the old. So in regards to the total compensation package--there have never been more elements available. The new guide is a place where it can all be easily digested and understood."

The Guide to Understanding Employee Benefits is available for purchase online at www.insurancebookstore.com. For additional information about this and other books in the A.M. Best Guide series, please visit http://guides.ambest.com.

Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is a global full-service credit rating organization dedicated to serving the financial and health care service industries, including insurance companies, banks, hospitals and health care system providers. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.