Leanne Fosbre

Contributing Editor Leanne Fosbre outlines what PPACA’s Summary of Benefits and Coverage can teach employers about plain language and readability.

In Chicago's South Side, a young man is just beginning his career in a steel manufacturing firm and an older man is approaching the end of his career after 49 years on the job. These two men work closely together, despite their significant age difference. Christian Reyes is a Millennial. He was born in 1991. Millennials have been shaped by dramatic technological advances. The Internet has always been a part of Christian's life. He's on Facebook and Twitter.

Among the most controversial requirements of health care reform is a preventive care provision that requires all insurers and nongrandfathered health plan sponsors to cover contraceptives without a deductible or copayment. Coverage includes all FDA-approved contraception methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling.

Do you have a personal physician? How did you choose your doctor?

It's no surprise that American workers have become sedentary as the nature of work has changed significantly over the decades. A recent study outlined in the New York Times concluded that over the last 50 years, American workers are expending an average of 120 to 140 fewer calories a day in physical activity. According to the study, the decline in caloric expenditures supplies a missing puzzle piece in the explanation for the rising rates of obesity.

The ability to save a little money by avoiding taxes will get smaller, unless Congress can be swayed to repeal new restrictions on health care spending accounts.

Atul Gawande became my hero when I read "The Cost Conundrum" in the June 2009 issue of The New Yorker. The article explores the question of why Medicare costs in McAllen, Texas, are higher than any other place in United States. Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, went to McAllen and conducted his own investigation into the matter.

The only things certain in life are death and taxes," Ben Franklin famously said. If you file a Form 5500 on behalf of your company's pension or health and welfare plans, the filing deadline for calendar-year plans is July 31. There are a number of changes in store for plan years 2010 (and any years prior that have not yet been filed) that might cause you to allow more than the usual preparation time.

Everyone likes a pat on the back. If you work in the field of employee benefits, your day of appreciation arrives Monday, April 4.

Richard Swanson is like any other hard-working American. He gets up each day, drives to work, puts in an eight- or nine-hour day, goes home and does the same thing all over again the next day. His routine is pretty unremarkable.