December 23, 2009 - Health Care Changes Near Enactment
With the imminent Christmas Eve vote and almost certain passage of the Senate’s amendment to HR 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009, we thought it would be appropriate to provide you with a list of the major provisions of this historic revised piece of legislation. Unless you have already read the entire amended bill, a number of these provisions will be new to you and more than a couple may startle or alarm you, however, it is what it is! These new proposals are rolling down hill like a huge snowball. There are some good parts and some bad, so sit down, brace yourself and read on! To read the entire article, simply click on the title.

September 29, 2009 - Congress Considers Changes to Federal Estate Tax Law
Believe it or not, health care reform is not the only thing lawmakers are working on this year. The search for additional revenue to fund proposed health care changes has led Congress and its minions to peer into every corner and under every rock for any loose change. The Federal Estate Tax Law has not escaped this scrutiny. Not surprisingly though, some of our lawmakers are looking to increase estate taxes while others look to reduce them. This article contains a snapshot of the various proposals, their sponsors and what affects they would have on various components of the law. To read the entire article, simply click on the title.

July 15, 2009 - Medical Tourism
According to one estimate, 1.5 million Americans underwent medical treatment abroad in 2008, the majority in Asia and Latin America. The number of these “Medical Tourists” is increasing rapidly. This trend raises a number of important questions for employers to consider. To read the entire article, click on the title.

May 15, 2009 - Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Prospects amid Recession
The domino effect of the current recession seems to have no bounds. Juan Kelly, our on-staff Actuary, wrote this piece as a way of drawing our attention to the declining fortunes of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. It’s just one more thing to think about. To read the entire article, click on the title.

May 15, 2009 - 401(k) Plan Investment Choices for Participants Closer to Retirement Age
The dramatic reduction in 401(k) and other retirement plan balances has left many would-be retirees in a state of shock. Unfortunately, many of them will not have enough time to recover their losses before they leave the work force. Plan sponsors may want to consider offering seminars on what kinds of investments are best suited for their more mature employees. To read the entire article, click on the title.

May 15, 2009 - Financial Education Seminars Boost Employee Productivity
Many employers are beginning to wonder - how many of our employees are spending excessive on-the-job time worrying about their financial problems than their jobs? We can’t answer that question but we do have a suggestion as to what can be done about it. To read the entire article, click on the title.

March 15, 2009 - 401(k) Guarantee Products: Current and Future
The transformation from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution plans as the main retirement savings vehicle has hit an inflection point. Recent studies have revealed the greatest concern among participants is one of longevity risk. Responding to their concerns, asset managers and insurance companies have recently developed the first generation of 401(k) Guarantee plans that will provide the “safety net” lacked in current programs. The purpose of this article is to draw the reader’s attention to this relatively new product in the marketplace and to briefly discuss its general characteristics. To read entire article, click on the title.

March 15, 2009 - Why Every Employer Should Implement an ERISA Severance Pay Plan
The majority of medium to large companies have formalized their severance pay practices, usually in the form of a section in the Human Resources Policies & Procedures Manual. This article offers several reasons why these practices should take the form of an ERISA Plan. If nothing else, ERISA offers certain protections for these plans, for example, avoidance of state law liability theories. We think this article may prompt many of our readers to re-consider their approach to severance pay. To read the entire article, click on the title.

February 15, 2009 - New Law Makes Low-cost Individual Health Coverage Available to Florida Residents
“Cover Florida”, a new law effective January 5, 2009, makes certain Florida residents between the ages of 19 and 64 eligible to apply for preventive or catastrophic individual health insurance.  Carriers offering the coverage in all 67 counties include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida and UnitedHealthCare.  To be eligible, residents must have been without coverage for at least 6 months or have lost coverage in the interim, by virtue of unemployment, death or divorce. To read the entire article, click on the title.