Cost-Containment

The nominal rate of the minimum wage has increased by 2,800 percent from its original value of 25 cents per hour, but the real value of the wage has declined from its 1968 peak by 33 percent.

The PPACA wasnt intended to displace employer-provided health care, of course, though critics and others have suggested it will do just that.

Only 15.1 percent say they are knowledgeable or very knowledgeable about health care reform and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts public exchanges.

Now that the IRS has made health flexible spending accounts more attractive, its time for HR professionals to swing into action.

Gallup finds that just 18 percent of uninsured Americans have so far tried to visit an exchange website.

A study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center finds higher satisfaction scores among hospital patients who were given biographic information about their physicians, compared with those who did not.

Among other findings, Aetna said just 33 percent of respondents reported that their employers offer flexible work hours.

It's all about the difference between subsidized insurance and the cost of higher-priced options available on the various public exchanges.