A whopping 72% of workers age 60 or older are putting off retirement because they feel they can’t afford to retire, according to a new Harris Interactive/CareerBuilder study.

And it appears women are more likely to stay on the job than men — 76% of women said they plan to work longer because they can’t afford to retire, compared to 68% of men who said they’ll stay in the workforce.

Luckily for most (71%) of those who want to keep working, they enjoy their job and don’t want to leave.

Some other reasons older works say they want to stay on the job:

• To collect health insurance or other additional benefits they need (50%)
• They think retirement will be too boring (24%), and
• They enjoy feeling needed (15%).

The deadline for eligibility for the 65% health insurance premium subsidy has now been extended to those who are laid off through March 31. Previously, eligibility only extended to those who lost their jobs through Feb. 28.

Those eligible can still receive the subsidy for 15 months.

Last week, the House passed the one-month extension, but the bill got held up in the Senate until Tuesday. Once it passed the Senate, Obama quickly signed it into law.

The bill also allows thousands of workers whose unemployment benefits expired on Feb. 28 to receive them for another 30 days. The Department of Labor estimated nearly 400,000 could’ve seen their aid cut if Congress didn’t act.

Congress will now consider a much larger bill that would extend the COBRA subsidy and unemployment benefits through the end of the year.

We’ll keep you posted.

Why? 64% of Gen-Y workers now say the quality of benefits packages offered to them impacts their loyalty to their employer.

In addition, 62% say it influences their choice of employer.

That’s according to new Fidelity Generation Y study of U.S. employees ages 22-33.

To retain and attract Gen-Y workers, consider tailoring benefits communication to them. Example: Some companies have created their own Twitter feed to keep young workers abreast of changes and updates to company benefits.

Employers are less than happy with their health insurance companies than they were a year ago.

Fifty-nine percent of companies are satisfied with the service of their health insurance company and the overall results of their health plans, according to recent research by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Last year, 64% were satisfied.

Employers’ biggest gripe: Their insurance programs’ performance in the areas of disease management and wellness programs — two areas that could improve workers’ overall health and lower companies’ claims costs.

Are you satisfied with your health insurance company? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

U.S. Sen Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that the Senate is looking at how businesses will pay for employee health insurance, as well as the more publicized possibility of giving states the chance to “opt-out” of the so-called public option, which would be the government-run health-insurance arm.

Regarding the costs to businesses, the Senate is kicking around a plan that would not require businesses to provide health insurance to workers. However, firms with more than 50 employees would be hit with big financial penalties if any of their workers needed government subsidies to buy coverage on their own.

The penalties could be as high as $750 per employee, even if only a few workers needed the subsidy.

That’s tougher than the stipulation in the bill OK’d by the Senate Finance Committee. That proposal sets penalties of $400 but only for each employee receiving a subsidy.

Right on the heels of the release of the Senate version, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled the version crafted in the lower chamber.

‘Opt-in’ proposal
The Senate proposal to allow the opt-in public option for states is one that has the best chance for approval by Republicans and moderate Democrats who have opposed the public option until now.

Under the opt-in proposal, detailed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), each state would be empowered to pass legislation granting or denying access to a public option for residents of that state.

First, let’s cover what the act isn’t. It’s not a mandate that your health insurance must offer benefits for mental health benefits or addiction treatment. Employers still have the choice of whether they want those types of coverages for their employees.

Now, let’s consider what the act prohibits if you offer benefits for mental health and addiction treatment:

• Group health plans (or health insurance coverage offered by such plans) can’t impose more burdensome financial requirements or greater cost-sharing for mental health or substance-use-disorder benefits than are required for substantially all medical or surgical benefits covered by the plan. So you can’t have higher deductibles and co-pays for mental-health and addiction treatment. 
• Your plan can’t impose stricter treatment limitations on mental-health or substance-use-disorder benefits than those that apply to substantially all medical or surgical benefits.
• And your plan can’t impose treatment limitations only on mental health or substance use disorder benefits.

Two notes: (1) For most plans, the act goes into effect January 1, 2010. (2) The act doesn’t apply to companies that have fewer than 50 employees.

Take Google, for instance. The so-called dream employer ended up with a public-relations nightmare and a lot of angry employees when it nearly doubled the employees’ share of what had been  reasonably priced, company-sponsored daycare.

You probably don’t get the kind of publicity that Google does. Few of us do. But everyone has employees — who get angry when perks are pulled.

Still, sometimes cutting or changing a benefit is unavoidable. A survey last year by Towers Perrin showed that 11% of publicly traded companies said they had cut at least one benefit. The most common ones to fall under the ax were company cars, club memberships, life and health insurance packages, and financial-planning services.

So, what do you do
So, again, consider what employee reaction will be if someday you have to take away or change a benefit that seems reasonable and do-able today. And how will you get employees to swallow the idea?

Sigal Barsade, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania recommends:

• Make it fair and across-the-board. If some employees — usually higher level ones — get to retain the benefit, expect the move to lead to anger and poor performance among employees who lose the benefit. Worse, if you try to keep it a secret, expect a full-scale employee revolt.
• Make it equitable. The Google case is a good example. By drastically raising the employees’ share for daycare, the company sent off signals that the benefit was being made accessible only to higher-paid people. That’s when things got ugly for the once-admired employer.
• Give the reason — other than “to save money.” It’s not that saving money is an evil goal. It’s that when employees perceive it as the only goal, they rebel. If, for example, you’re pulling one benefit to make sure employees get to keep a another higher-priority benefit, say so. If it’s to keep wages at high level, mention that. Whatever it is, the reason should be tied to what’s best for the employees, and not just to what’s best for the company’s bottom line.

Health insurance
Someone who’s never been sick – or never had to pay the bills for being sick – probably has little understanding of what’s involved with health insurance, much less the definition of “deductible” or “co-pay.” 

Take a little extra time to explain your organization’s plan, if you have one, and health insurance in general. No, it’s not your responsibility to make sure they don’t make a mistake. Yes, it’ll make you a better person. 

Taxes
For most new workers, taxes represent something their parents complain about or some mysterious disappearance of part of their paycheck from last year’s summertime job. Sit with them and go over the responsibilities and realities of filling out IRS Form W-4 and deductions for Social Security, Medicare and state and local taxes. 

And if you do a good job of explaining, they’ll be complaining like their parents in no time at all. 

Retirement
If you come across a 23-year-old who’s given retirement a lot of thought, you’re dealing with either (a) the smartest person in the world or (b) the scariest. Most people who are taking on a first job need a primer on 401(k)s and other types of retirement plans – how they work, who pays for them, and the expected payoff. 

What seems to work best is the use of projections. Show newbies what can happen with a regular contribution to a retirement plan and what happens when they don’t contribute. It’s true that most of the rookies can’t imagine the day they turn 60 and their financial needs on that day. All you can do is make them aware.

Question:
The COBRA regs appear to say that any health insurance plan we offer to former employees should be a “continuation” of the plan they had while employed with us.

Does that mean for those eligible for COBRA we can’t designate a separate plan under a separate insurance carrier?

Answer:
You’re right that the regs mandate a continuation of the current plan, says Edward Fensholt, an employment-law attorney who specializes in COBRA compliance. But there’s another aspect to this.

The law was designed to make sure people get the same coverage as what they had when they were with the company. So if your “special” COBRA continuation plan contains lesser benefits than your regular plan, that’s a problem.

Bottom line: You can have two plans, but both plans should offer the same benefits.

1. Put your vending machines on a diet. Get rid of the cookies and candy bars, and replace them with healthier snacks such as granola bars and reduced-fat or low-calorie treats.
2. Hand out pedometers. For under $500, the average company can supply every employee with a pedometer. And if you’re really cheap, check with your insurance company about getting hooked with free pedometers (some hand them out as promotional gimmicks). Start a walking club, maybe with small rewards for those who hit mileage goals, but make it totally low key.
3. Educate your employees. How many calories and grams of fat are in a Burger King Whopper with cheese? Don’t know? Neither do most of your employees. Charts that show information like that will at least inform employees about healthy choices. Or send them to CalorieKing.com for the nutritional facts about some of their favorite foods. (By the way, the answers for the Whopper are: 770 calories and 48 grams of fat.)
4. Offer health-risk assessments. For $5 to $15 per employee, your health insurance company or a third-party vendor such as Wellstream may be able to provide personal online assessments — usually 80 to 120 questions — based on a user’s family health history, eating habits and physical activity.
5. Review your claims. Take a look at your health-insurance claims. If you spot a cluster of the same types of claims, such as treatment for diabetes, considering bringing in speakers to talk about managing it or screeners from a local hospital or clinic.