FEATURED
BY ELIZABETH GALENTINE
Borislow Insurance’s Jennifer Borislow and Mark Gaunya take their passion
for consumer-driven health care to the presses with the publication of their
first book, “Bend the Healthcare Trend.”
They’ve got the drive
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 32)
ALSO INSIDE
Employee-Consumer
Spousal benefits come under scrutiny
Health Care
Recession-proofing your job
Quality of Life
Long-distance caregiving poses
challenges
Employers felt the pinch
as their average health
care costs increased
7.3%
according to data from
Thomson Reuters.
See page 52
BY THE NUMBERS
MAY 2010 • VOL 24 NO 6 • BENEFITNEWS.COM
HEALTH REFORM
Fight confusion
with communication
BY KELLEY M. BUTLER
This article is the ;rst in EBN’s an- nual three-part “Open Enrollment Boot Camp” series, aimed to get
bene;ts professionals ;exing their minds
and muscles in preparation for ;nal
decision-making regarding this year’s
open enrollment season.
When the Patient Protection and Af-
fordable Care Act became law in March,
benefits pros already were behind the
communications eight-ball, so to speak.
With the final congressional votes, bill
signing ceremony and ad infinitum
analysis on CNN for all to see, profes-
sionals weren’t afforded the carefully
timed and messaged rollout they pre-
fer when communicating large benefit
changes. In addition to the publicity
surrounding the landmark legislation,
it was difficult for employers to properly
communicate a law they didn’t fully un-
derstand themselves.
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 23)
CAPITOL HILL
SHRM advances on the Hill to
crank up HR advocacy
BY LYDELL C. BRIDGEFORD
The push is on to get more HR/benefits
professionals to realize that all politics is
local. Leading the charge, the Society for
Human Resource Management is stepping
up its state lobbying e;orts.
SHRM recently held its employment
law and legislative conference in Wash-
ington, D.C., an event where SHRM
members from around the country come
to the nation’s capital to visit their con-
gressional representatives. SHRM staffers
conduct a policy briefing with members
before they visit congressional lawmak-
ers and their staffers.
Workplace policies are increasingly
becoming a staple of American politics.
SHRM realizes that state lobbying efforts
are essential to ensure that pro-employer
legislation passes on the state level. “We
hope to put HR issues in the front of state
politicians’ minds when they are consider-
ing state laws,” said Recardo Gibson, mem-
ber advocacy specialist at SHRM, during a
session at the conference.
SHRM hopes that more of its mem-
bers will become more active on the local
level, so that state politicians will turn to
(SEE POLICY ON PAGE 66)
