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Peter Browne may well be one of the most distinguished individuals on the sales side of today's financial services industry. His career spans five decades as a manager and leading producer at Union Central Life and co-founder of Price Raffel and Browne of New York and Los Angeles.

Without a doubt, many of us working deep in the weeds of our organization's health plans are wary of the ever-mounting regulations surrounding health care reform. Recently, I attended a presentation that included a flowchart of implementation dates that looked sort of like a MapQuest depiction of lower Manhattan.

As the first ruling in federal court to declare a portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, Virginia Judge Henry Hudson’s Dec. 13 finding that the individual mandate provision falls outside "constitutional boundaries” puts a kink in the armor of President Barack Obama’s health reform package — but the battle over PPACA is just beginning.

The IRS released final guidance Dec. 2 for small employers eligible to claim the new small business health care tax credit for the 2010 tax year — including a the one-page form small employers will use to claim the credit for the 2010 tax year.

It's hard to believe we've reached the end of yet another year - it seems like 2010 began just a couple of months ago. And what a year it has been.

Unemployment. These days, it's an unfortunately common term. Many women have lost their jobs - single, married with children, or otherwise. But even more men have been laid off, which brings rise to another problem: a major shift in family roles.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act begins to take effect on Jan. 1, 2011. Under the CLASS Act, which is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a public insurance option offering employees voluntary long-term care insurance will be an option for employees to consider.

The employee benefits market in Southeast Michigan has historically been heavily union-oriented. As a result, the rich benefit packages had little need for voluntary coverage offerings such as hospital indemnity plans.

Adopting Single Sign On can improve security, reduce overhead and empower employees

Whether it's serving a niche market through international benefits or simply finding an angle of your existing business that you're truly passionate about, the November issue taught us that a sense of direction is critical to success.