Top health care reform story this week
No CLASS. On Thursday, National Underwriter reported that the Obama administration appears to be shutting down the much maligned CLASS Act, the long term care insurance plan that was included as part of the 2010 health law. Of the nine HHS employees assigned to the program, eight were reassigned and one was let go.
This week's health care reform picks:
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Young adults make gains in health insurance coverage (New York Times)
PPACA could push 660,000 out of group health market in Ohio (National Underwriter)
Obama debt plan would fix $14 billion health care law glitch (Huffington Post)
The insurance industry gets bullish on health care reform (Washington Post)
U.S. firms expect health care costs to rise at lowest rate since 1997 (Los Angeles Times)
4 insurers will supply health data (New York Times)
Top retirement story this week
Fiduciary reboot. The DOL announced Monday that it will re-propose its rule on the definition of a fiduciary. Responding to intense pressure from Congress and the financial services industry, the DOL stated that the extra time will ensure better safeguards for consumers and business owners. The revised rule is expected to be issued in 2012. Don't miss BenefitsPro blogger Chris Carosa's piece on what really killed the DOL's fiduciary rule.
This week's retirement picks:
The theft of the American pension (Salon.com)
Delay on pension oversight (Wall Street Journal)
Changes coming to retirement plan tax treatment? (BusinessFinance)
Will you need 135% of your salary in retirement? (MarketWatch)
Top HR / benefits story this week
Flu infects employers' profits. Your competition may be the least of your concerns. According to a Walgreen's study released this week, last year's flu season resulted in 100 million lost workdays and $7 billion in lost wages for a total impact on employers of more than $10 billion due to lost employee productivity. Making matters worse, roughly 80 percent of respondents said they went to work while experiencing flu symptoms and only 60 percent said they were "fairly concerned" about exposing their coworkers to illness.
This week's HR/benefits picks:
We're living longer than ever before, but are we healthier? (The Atlantic)
'People pleasers," a worker's best friend? (Workforce)
Employee benefits: Rising costs will eat into your paycheck (Christian Science Monitor)
Fight obesity by putting calorie counts on menus (Baltimore Sun)
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This week's most popular story on BenefitsPro: Obama offers to fix $14B health reform glitch
This week's BenefitsPro blog roll:
Medical (data) breakthrough, by Denis Storey
No retirement but what we make, by Jenny Ivy
One nation, under psychopaths, by Kathryn Mayer
DB vs. DC: Epic showdown, by Dan Cole
What really killed the DOL's fiduciary rule?, by Chris Carosa
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