Benefits

According to a new study by the American Health Policy Institute (AHPI), it could cost some businesses almost $6,000 extra per employee. The report, “The Cost of the Affordable Care Act to Large Employers.” draws on internal cost data shared with AHPI by over 100 large employers (10,000 or more employees each) doing business in the United States.

The IRS has been struggling in its efforts to close an estimated $385 billion “tax gap” between the amount that taxpayers owe and the amount they’ve actually paid. Now, to add another crushing weight, it has to ramp up Obamacare activities despite recent budget cutbacks.

Despite reports of a formal extension circulating in the media, March 31 was the last day that individuals could sign up for health insurance coverage for 2014 under the Obamacare mandate without risking a hefty financial penalty. Or was it?

With home ownership, job opportunity and retirement security in decline, an Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll shows that most Americans agree with what the experts have said. Seven in 10 think that tomorrow’s adults – today’s kids – will have less financial security than adults today.

A bill designed to switch new state employees who participate in the Oklahoma Public Employees Retirement System from a defined benefit plan to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan was approved Tuesday by the state Senate Pensions Committee.

The Internal Revenue Service today reminded taxpayers who turned 70½ during 2013 that in most cases they must start receiving required minimum distributions (RMDs) from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and workplace retirement plans by Tuesday, April 1, 2014.

Despite recent claims that the deadline for signing up for Obamacare would not be postponed beyond the initial March 31 deadline – the day before April Fool’s Day – the White House has finally caved into the pressure. According to a report in the Washington Post on March 25, the Obama administration is extending the open enrollment period for two to three weeks in three dozen states around the country.

The government seems to have worked out most of the kinks in www.healthcare.gov, the online site used to sign up for Obamacare. But it has yet to address another glitch that surfaced almost two years ago: Language in the law that prevents married taxpayers who file separate tax returns from qualifying for special tax subsidies.