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Open enrollment 2012 is long wrapped up, but carriers are already preparing for 2013. As the health care market is in a constant state of change, EBA spoke with the major medical providers for their views of trends and what to expect in the future.

Two years after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, the U.S. Supreme Court this month will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of the individual mandate that requires all individuals who can afford it to buy health insurance. The Court will also determine whether the Medicaid expansion is constitutional, which may affect employers with retiree health care plans. The majority of employers, however, are attuned to the Court's decision on the individual mandate and how much of the law will survive if that provision is found unconstitutional. Whatever the Supreme Court ultimately decides in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, here EBA outlines each potential ruling concerning the constitutionality of the individual mandate and how it affects plan sponsors and advisers alike.

Obamacare. Or is it ObamaCare? However you spell it, if you're in the health care advisory business you shouldn't be saying it.

Aon Hewitt isn't letting health care reform dictate its business model. If anything, it's the other way around. In addition to publishing an influential report on the implications of health reform for large employers, CEO Kristi Savacool has been to the White House several times in recent months to discuss the company's retiree health care exchange and upcoming active employee exchange model.

What do you do when the trust you place in a carrier is violated? You assume your producer's agreement is in place to protect you. Think again. When we send carriers a request for proposal, we are trusting them to act in good faith. Sadly, I found out not all are trustworthy.

On January 3, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2012-9 which provides clarifying and additional guidance on the requirement that employers report the cost of employer-provided health coverage on employees' Forms W-2, as required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Discount dental plans have, for decades, been on the fringes of the benefits world, existing as an individual product almost exclusively. But as employers continue to shift costs, move to consumer-driven health plans and, in some cases, discontinue dental coverage altogether, voluntary discount dental plans could be poised for growth.

Today, employee benefit plans - and those responsible for administering and overseeing them - are facing greater scrutiny and more regulations than ever before. With the growth in the number of defined contribution plans, the Department of Labor is paying closer attention to how plan administrators and trustees discharge their legal obligations to prudently monitor plan investments, comply with the plan documents and exercise oversight over third-party vendors.

It was a sweet moment for John Alexander the day his eight-year-old daughter put her arms around him and said: "Dad! I can reach my arms around you now!" The 41-year-old IT account manager for Sprint had been overweight for years, suffering from high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Two of his brothers had died from heart attacks. Keeping up with his two young daughters had become more difficult. He knew he had to do something.

Over the past 60 years, women have entered the education system and the workforce in greater numbers than ever before, and it would seem that because of this work, they'd be on equal footing with men when it comes time to retire.