With apologies to Sarah Palin, how's that change thing working out for you?

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.

These are uncertain times for employee benefit brokers and consultants. "Obamacare" and the minions in the federal agencies are entrenching national health care with speed and design. Most recently, brokers found out that pay for the various services they provide employers will be placed on the administrative side of carriers' ledgers, making commissions subject to the law's medical loss ratio restrictions.

Boosting employees' take-home pay by providing voluntary benefits at significantly reduced premiums? That's a winner.

When the Departments of Labor and Treasury sent out an RFI on annuities as a retirement savings vehicle in 401(k) plans earlier this year, Allianz Life Financial Services was one of 800 respondents.

If there was any doubt, the October 2010 401kExchange Opportunity Indices (reporting the percentage of plans that indicate they are currently searching for or thinking of changing recordkeepers, funds or advisers) definitively show that DC plan sponsors are much more concerned about finding the right adviser than changing their funds or recordkeepers.

Recent events and trends have thrust the topic of lifetime income products for retirement plans into the limelight. Retirements among the leading edge of Baby Boomers, medical advances increasing Americans' longevity, the market swoon of 2008 and continuing volatility in the financial markets have all contributed to a consensus that today's workers need options for their defined contribution plans that mimic the retirement income benefits of a defined benefit plan.

Agent and broker organizations work behind the scenes to find the best outcome after the NAIC recommends that commissions remain administrative costs.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, not all rules are equal. Some requirements apply to all plans, but others don't apply to a particular plan if that plan qualifies for - and then maintains - "grandfather" status. The PPACA statute itself provides few specifics on how this is supposed to work, leaving it up to regulators at the Departments of Treasury and Health and Human Services to spell out the details. In response, regulators have issued two sets of guidance.

If you want employees making better health care decisions, then give employers the data they need to create effective health plan choices.

Despite more than two-thirds of employees' self-proclaimed ignorance of critical illness insurance, the benefit is on the rise. Imagine what improved product knowledge and an enthusiastic broker could bring.