The benefits packages have been delivered and may still be lying on your desk at home or in the office along with the cover letter saying that if you do nothing you will have the same health benefits as last year.

While the end of the year brings a flurry of shopping decisions (Can I get away with buying Uncle Charlie another tie?), some choices are even more daunting: health care plans.Fall is usually open-enrollment time, and workers may see an option called a Health Savings Account, or HSA, for the first time. It’s an alternative to traditional health insurance that gives consumers a way to pay for their own health care while reaping tax benefits.These HSAs allow consumers to save money in an interest-bearing savings account set aside for health care expenses.

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 6.1 percent in 2007, less than the 7.7 percent increase reported last year but still higher than the increase in workers' wages (3.7 percent) or the overall inflation rate (2.6 percent), according to the 2007 Employer Health Benefits Survey recently released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust.

Ninety-nine percent of financial executives polled at a professional conference are concerned about rising employee healthcare costs. Eighty one percent of the respondents said their employee healthcare costs have risen in the past year, from as little as 5 percent to more than 20 percent.While most of the executives said their organizations do not plan to reduce benefits, nearly a quarter indicated that employees would have to shoulder increased costs. Other tactics include offering high-deductible consumer driven plans and changing healthcare providers.

The number of U.S. workers enrolled in consumer-directed health plans with tax-free health savings accounts grew only slightly from 2005 to 2006, from 2.4 million to 2.7 million, according to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, The Wall Street Journal reports. Low satisfaction among workers who have enrolled in these plans also suggests that employers may need to make a greater effort to contribute to these plans and add coverage to make them more appealing.

Who is the largest payer of long-term care assistance? It’s the general public who fund long-term care from personal savings and through public assistance programs. But the numbers bear out that CPAs and advisors are doing a poor job of referring their clients to asset protection long-term care programs. Why is this?

If you have clients receiving pensions from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation or benefits under the Trade Adjustment Assistance programs, they may be eligible for the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC). The HCTC pays 65 percent of qualified health plan premiums for eligible individuals. These individuals can choose to have the 65 percent credit applied either monthly directly to their health plan as their premiums become due, or yearly on their federal tax return as a refund or credit against taxes owed.

The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury recently issued guidance regarding how employers can rollover their health Flexible Spending Arrangements (health FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for their employees. The guidance provides a special transition rule for transfers for 2006. Under the transition rule, the amendment, election and transfer must take place by March 15, 2007.The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-432, enacted Dec.

Financial advisers may be scratching their heads over two recent news stories that appear to be contradictory: Americans spend more than they save, yet many are saving enough for retirement.Not long after a news report that the national savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent, new research came out that suggested many Americans are well prepared for their golden years.The personal savings rate does not reflect increases in the value of assets such as houses, said economist John Karl Scholz, a professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.“This doesn't necessarily