Employers likely would have better luck predicting winning lottery numbers than how the Supreme Court will rule this summer on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. So many benefits practitioners, like Karrie Andes, SPHR, senior benefits manager for Kansas City-based virtual meeting provider PGi, have decided simply not to try to read the legal tea leaves. Rather, Andes and her team - while keeping a close eye on the legal challenges that mounted since the law's passage two years ago, and this month's oral arguments before the Supreme Court - opted for a business-as-usual approach to make sure PGi's health plans first and foremost continued "protecting associates and dependents on our health plan and also helping competitively with attracting talent," Andes says.

I'm firmly on the record - both in this space and on EBN's blog, Employee Benefit Views - as a big advocate of telework. I've long said it's my favorite benefit and believe the corporate world would be a better place if only more employees were able to telework.

As medical costs go up and household income lags behind, more people are likely to qualify for health care tax deductions.

From carriers to brokers, enrollers to consultants, the message was the same to the more than 600 attendees gathered Tuesday in Atlantic City, N.J. for the Workplace Benefits Renaissance: Voluntary benefits are a mounting source of opportunity for those who are prepared to take advantage

A U.S. judge last week ruled the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and said a federal government worker should be allowed to enroll her same-sex spouse in her health insurance coverage, the latest rebuke of a law reviled by gay rights activists.

More than a third of Americans say they most trust financial advisers to better understand retirement issues, according to a new survey.

A federal judge declared last Wednesday that a Washington state rule requiring pharmacists to dispense emergency contraceptives against their religious beliefs is unconstitutional.

An increasing number of U.S. workers say they are willing to trade some of their pay for more secure and generous retirement and health care benefits, according to a survey released today by Towers Watson. In addition, nearly half of workers polled say they are worried about reductions in their retirement benefits over the next two years.

Most retirement planning exercises begin and end with a simple question: How much income will you need to replace after you quit work?

Average life expectancy has risen dramatically during the last century. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the number of centenarians, people who live to be 100, rose from 2,300 in 1950 to nearly 80,000 in 2010, and will exceed 600,000 by 2050. And according to the Society of Actuaries, a 65-year-old couple now has a 31% chance of at least one spouse living past the age of 95

It’s not often that you hear the leader of a Fortune 100 company publicly acknowledge the imminent demise of his venerable, profitable business model.

When American workers engage in healthy habits offered in consumer-driven health plans, they can lower their total medical costs an average of $9,700 per employee over a five-year period, according to a recent study.

This summer, the Supreme Court is set to rule on the constitutionality of a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires individuals to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Tuesday, the Supreme Court increased the time for next month’s oral arguments from 5.5 hours to six hours, allowing an extra half hour to discuss the Tax Anti-Injunction Act, a law that says courts may not halt a tax that isn’t yet being collected.

The fifth annual national survey assessing household saving revealed that — despite hopeful macroeconomic signs — an increasing number of Americans are having difficulty saving to meet goals ranging from meeting emergencies to affording retirement. Over the last three years, the number who spend less than their income and save the difference, are building home equity, have adequate emergency savings, and think they are saving enough for retirement has declined. However, the survey also revealed that having a savings plan has beneficial financial effects, even for lower-income families.

You may not be hearing it directly from your employees, but most are not happy with the customer service health plans provide. A new research report published by Temkin Group, a consulting firm, rates the customer experience of 206 large companies across 18 industries.

A leading group of U.S. doctors is trying to tackle the costly problem of excessive medical testing, hoping to avoid more government intervention in how they practice.

There’s no sense in denying it: Since its launch in 2004, Facebook’s effect on the Internet, the way we share and receive information, and the way we interact with one another has been profound and irreversible. I remember getting smacked with this reality once, as I updated my Facebook status while sitting in a movie theater waiting for “The Social Network” to start, and again as I watched a cable news report that invited viewers to…

Government is perhaps the last employer segment that provides benefits that liken to those retiring baby boomers remember: A strong pension plan and paternalistic health care benefits.

Heath savings accounts are the hot ticket item in private sector benefits these days. On Monday, Bank of America announced a record 34% growth in health savings accounts in 2011, adding more than 50,000 accounts last year. The growth is attributed to increases in account use among employees of existing corporate clients, and new relationships with individuals and employers.

Financial advisers have turned decidedly more optimistic about the market’s prospects for 2012, according to an SEI Quick Poll. Nine in 10 of the advisers surveyed in early February, including bank advisors, say they expect a positive return for the S&P 500 in 2012, up 18% from a similar survey conducted in mid-January. More than six in 10, 63%, predicted gains greater than 5%, a sentiment that spread dramatically from just three weeks ago.