The Top 5 things driving the sales process with most plan sponsors this year.

Largely lost in the furor have been the ways in which employers could potentially benefit from the ACA and the launch of the new public health insurance exchanges, starting six days from now on October 1.

In effect, the ACA’s biggest promise becomes its most formidable challenge: unprecedented access to care for a needy population when the nation is already grappling with overtaxed emergency rooms and a shortage of physicians.

Health insurance under the Affordable Care Act will cost individuals at least $2,988 a year on average, a price that Republican opponents may target as out-of-reach for many Americans who don’t qualify for U.S. subsidies.

In the not-so-distant future small employers may stop offering employer-sponsored health coverage because employees will demand it, said a speaker at the Workplace Benefits Summit in New Orleans Monday.

Answers to your clients’ questions before they ask them.

The biggest change will affect low income employees, who may receive affordable coverage through the workplace, but not for their dependents, said Rodger Bayne, president of Towson, Md.-based Benefit Indemnity Corp., at BFE, sponsored by EBN’s parent company, SourceMedia.

His workouts could easily be integrated into wellness programs – and no doubt have – but Richard Simmons’ own message was an individual one of self-empowerment and life-affirmation.

The average American registered an insurance shortfall of $320,000. The gap has widened substantially for Gen Xers since the financial crisis.

In recent years, many employers have introduced flexible work practices to help employees manage their work/life balance, although Culturerx founder Jody Thompson said she believes that “standard flexible work programs are holding us hostage.”

Although we are not lawyers, it’s helpful to have talking points you can go over with clients seeking information.

The calculator that determines subsidies for the 36 states relying on the federal government for exchanges come Oct. 1 isn’t working in tests, according to the Wall Street Journal.

A district court found that a claim seeking restitution to the plan for losses incurred as a result of a breach of a fiduciary duty under ERISA has the right to a jury trial. This will be an important issue to follow as the creation of a right to a jury trial could fundamentally alter the nature of ERISA litigation.

Adopting a diet rich in unprocessed foods combined with moderate exercise and stress management over five years increased the length of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes linked to aging.

The four-year slowdown in U.S. health care spending will end next year, and there is no sign the Affordable Care Act will significantly curb the acceleration in costs, government actuaries said in a report.

In one of the biggest steps for private health care exchanges so far, Aon Hewitt has announced that it will be offering health benefits for more than 330,000 American employees of some well-known companies, including Walgreens, Sears Holdings and Darden Restaurants – parent company of Red Lobster and the Olive Garden.

Americans may say they want to insure their future, but what they buy doesn’t measure up.

At 2 p.m. ET on Oct. 2, EBN and EBA will offer a web seminar on issues relating to ACA implementation and what they mean for employers – whether or not they plan having their workers participate in ACA marketplaces.

Privacy practices and business associates agreements should, in most cases, be updated by Sept. 23.

Brings total under management to approximately $52 billion.