By Alan Breznick; Light Reading ~ Jul 24, 2014

Leaving Verizon FiOS in its dust, AT&T U-verse continued to maintain a breakneck growth pace in the second quarter, albeit at a somewhat slower rate than in previous quarters.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) reported late Wednesday that it signed up another 190,000 subscribers for U-verse TV in the second quarter. That’s down from its gains of 201,000 TV subs in the first quarter and 233,000 in the same period a year ago. But it’s still far more than the 100,000 new FiOS video subs that Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) reported a day earlier and stands in stark contrast to the video subscriber losses that most US MSOs are still experiencing.

By Richard Eisenberg; MarketWatch ~ Jul 24, 2014

Parents in their 50s and 60s think they’ve done a bang-up job talking with their adult kids about their estate and retirement plans. Their kids think just the opposite. It’s the new Generation Gap.

That’s the upshot of the Fidelity Investments Intra-Family Generational Finance Study.

From The Associated Press ~ Jul 24, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — After spending nearly $300 million on a new computer system to handle disability claims, the Social Security Administration still can’t get it to work. And officials can’t say when it will.

Six years ago, Social Security embarked on an aggressive plan to replace outdated computer systems overwhelmed by a growing flood of disability claims. But the project has been racked by delays and mismanagement, according to an internal report commissioned by the agency.

By Ferdous Al-Faruque; The Hill ~ Jul 24, 2014

The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday individuals who fail to get health insurance this year will be fined a maximum of $2,448 and families with five or more members can be fined up to $12,240.

Under the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, people are either required to obtain health insurance or risk a tax penalty from the IRS.

By Matthew Rocco; Fox Business ~ Jul 23, 2014

AT&T (T) said Wednesday its second-quarter earnings declined 7.2%, even though its wireless business added more customers than expected.

The telecom giant reported net income of $3.55 billion, or 68 cents a share, compared to $3.82 billion, or 71 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted per-share earnings fell to 62 cents from 67 cents. The non-GAAP results exclude integration costs tied to Leap and a gain from the sale of AT&T’s stake in America Movil.

By Sarah Hurtubise; The Daily Caller ~ Jul 22, 2014

The Obama administration will continue handing out Obamacare subsidies to federal exchange customers despite a federal court’s ruling Tuesday that the subsidies are illegal.

A D.C. Court of Appeals panel ruled Tuesday morning that customers in the 36 states that didn’t establish their own exchange and use HealthCare.gov instead cannot be given premium tax credits, according to the text of the Affordable Care Act itself. (RELATED: Federal Court Takes Down Obamacare: Subsidies In Federal Exchange Are Illegal)

By David Morgan & Aruna Viswanatha; Reuters ~ Jul 22, 2014

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two U.S. judicial panels on Tuesday injected new uncertainty into the future of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, with conflicting rulings over whether the federal government can subsidize health insurance for millions of Americans.

The appeals court rulings, handed down by three-judge panels in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, augured a possible rematch before the U.S. Supreme Court, which in June 2012 narrowly upheld the Democratic president’s 2010 healthcare overhaul.

By Hazel Bradford; Pensions & Investments ~ Jul 21, 2014

Sponsors of defined benefit pension plans will be allowed to defer $51 billion in pension contributions under legislation approved July 15 by the House as part of the bill extending the Highway Trust Fund, according to an analysis by Moody’s Investors Service.

The Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014 increases tax revenue by allowing companies to use a higher interest rate when calculating liabilities, which lowers pension contributions. That will help companies with liquidity issues, but “the immediate credit positives turn into credit negatives if these companies do not address their liquidity issues or if they use the benefits derived from (the bill) in a creditor-unfriendly manner,” such as increased dividends, Wesley Smyth, Moody’s vice president and senior accounting analyst, wrote. “In effect, it allows companies to borrow cash from their pension plans.”

By Susan Jaffe; The Washington Post ~ Jul 20, 2014

Medicare is exempting some patients at dozens of hospitals from the controversial requirement that seniors be admitted to the hospital for at least three days to qualify for follow-up skilled nursing home care.

The exemptions are at hospitals participating in Affordable Care Act pilot projects meant to test ways to improve Medicare service while reducing costs or holding them steady.

The pilot projects are conducted under a provision of the ACA that created the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to develop ways of improving Medicare.

By Lauran Neergaard & Jennifer Agiesta; The Associated Press ~ Jul 20, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans consider insurance and a good bedside manner in choosing a doctor, but will that doctor provide high-quality care? A new poll shows that people don’t know how to determine that.

Being licensed and likable doesn’t necessarily mean a doctor is up to date on best practices. But consumers aren’t sure how to uncover much more. Just 22 percent of those questioned are confident they can find information to compare the quality of local doctors, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.