Young employees are much less likely than their older co-workers to participate in the tax-advantaged benefit plans offered by employers. When it comes to funding retirement, this means thse employees are missing out on important years for gaining the most from the time value of money. It also means these employees are missing the opportunity to pay for their current medical needs in the most tax-efficient way, and losing dollars that could be directed toward savings or other purposes. Given that individuals are being expected to bear an increasingly larger share of the responsibility for funding their retirement, it’s important that employers find ways to effectively communicate with young workers about the need for them to step up and become more involved, now, in planning for their future, and in participating in benefit plans that offer tax advantages.
Click here to read the full article

A recent article in Money magazine offered consumers simple advice to cut their health-care costs. The advice? Floss daily. According to the writers, you’ll save up to $2,000 in dental expenses down the road if you start flossing today.
Click here to read the full article

While Americans’ satisfaction with the U.S. health care system as a whole seems to be falling, individuals, by and large, remain satisfied with their own employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. Concerns about costs are driving the system-wide dissatisfaction, but rising costs do not seem to be affecting how employees feel about their own coverage.
Click here to read the full article

While the overall quality of health care delivered by U.S. providers continues to improve, use of prevention tools lags, resulting in missed opportunities to avoid certain serious diseases and their complications, according to annual reports from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The most recent editions of the National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report found less than optimal participation in cancer screenings, obesity counseling, and disease management strategies by individuals with chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma. These missed opportunities can increase health care costs and deter effective prevention and treatment of disease.
Click here to read the full article