Health care reform will impact your business.  To what extent depends on a number of factors:  your business' size, its current health care benefits, and the makeup of its work force, to name just a few. 

At Alpha, we are working hard to make sure you have the latest information on the law.  Click the icon below to find out how The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect your business.

From the Desk of Renee Kral -Alpha Wellness Department

Happy New Year! With the start of the new year, many people are making resolutions to lose weight. Instead of making a resolution to never eat pizza again, workout for three hours six days a week and drink only water for breakfast (these resolutions, by the way, usually last about a week!), make one healthy, life-long change! Pick one behavior to address and take small steps to change your life.

One of the biggest "resolutions" this time of year is to lose weight. Here are some tips to help you lose weight and keep it off without getting discouraged.

First, understand that our bodies have a set weight where our bodies naturally stay. Our set weight isn't necessarily our healthy weight but our bodies have been trained to stay at a specific weight. The good news is our bodies can be trained at a lower set weight. By slowly changing eating habits and exercise behaviors, remember I said slowly, weight loss will soon follow. After weight loss is sustained for about six months, the body will have a new set weight. Rapidly losing large amounts of weight could cause a hormone imbalance, causing you to feel hungry and thus regaining the weight. Rapid weight loss is also difficult to sustain because of the extreme behaviors used to lose the weight. They are not usually lifestyle changes that can be maintained for a lifetime. So realize that a small amount of weight loss can have big effects. Not only will a small amount of sustained weight loss change your weight set point but it will also help you feel better, sleep better, have more energy and possibly reduce medications for issues such as high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.
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Download complete Wellness Issue #7

While many Americans were sleeping, the House of Representatives voted last night-- 277 to 148-- to approve the tax package that President Obama recently crafted with Republican lawmakers. Despite a flurry of opposition over the last several days, the tax compromise that the President and GOP agreed to a few weeks ago has stayed the same. The legislation that President Obama signed at approximately 4:00 p.m. EST today, includes the following: 

• Extension of Bush era tax cuts for two years
• An estate tax exemption of $5 million and a maximum tax rate of 35 percent through 2012 (an amendment to lower the threshold and increase the rate failed)
• Extension of certain unemployment benefits through 2011 for workers who have been laid off for more than 26 weeks and less than 99
• A two-year "patch" for the Alternative Minimum Tax
• The extension and expansion of certain business tax breaks, such as the research and development tax credit and the deduction of state and local income taxes
• A one year reduction to the employee portion of the Social Security payroll tax from 6.2 percent of wages to 4.2 percent
• A provision to permit businesses to depreciate 100 percent of the cost of new capital investments in 2011

Mark D. Klimek

Attorney

McDonald Hopkins

Benergy Client Case Study

 Alpha clients look to Benergy for benefits communication solution.   

Below is a Case Study from a Benergy client out of Wisconsin.  Could Benergy be the answer to your company's enrollment or benefits communication challenge?  Contact Diane with any questions or to set up a free demo.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today released final guidance for small employers eligible to claim the new small business health care tax credit for the 2010 tax year. Today's release includes a one-page form and instructions small employers will use to claim the credit for the 2010 tax year.

New Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums, and newly revised Form 990-T are now available on IRS.gov. The IRS also posted on its website the instructions to Form 8941 and Notice 2010-82 , both of which are designed to help small employers correctly figure and claim the credit.

Included in the Affordable Care Act enacted in March, the small business health care tax credit is designed to encourage both small businesses and small tax-exempt organizations to offer health insurance coverage to their employees for the first time or maintain coverage they already have.

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