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DOJ to Require Harvard Pilgrim to Divest Health Plan for Merger

"The Department of Justice is seeking to block Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's proposed merger with Health Plan Holdings unless it divests the Tufts Health Freedom plan, officials said Tuesday.... The department proposed a settlement at the same time, approving UnitedHealth Group or an alternative approved buyer of Tufts Freedom, part of Health Plan Holdings' commercial health insurance business in New Hampshire."

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Yale/Harvard Study Reveals Disturbing 401(k) Fee Paradox

"If the DOL requires the 401k plan fiduciary to ignore a fund's investment performance, but the SEC still requires funds to disclose that performance, which will 401k investors choose? More importantly, who's left holding the liability bag?"  MORE >>

Health Care Fixes Backed by Harvard's Experts Now Roil Its Faculty

"Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the heart of the 378-year-old university, voted overwhelmingly in November to oppose changes that would require them and thousands of other Harvard employees to pay more for health care. The university says the increases are in part a result of the [ACA], which many Harvard professors championed.... [T]he anger on campus remains focused on questions that are agitating many workplaces: How should the burden of health costs be shared by employers and employees? If employees have to bear more of the cost, will they skimp on medically necessary care, curtail the use of less valuable services, or both? ... Harvard says its plan pays 91 percent of the cost of services for the covered population, while the most popular plans on the exchanges, known as silver plans, pay 70 percent, on average[.]"

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OCR HIPAA Settlement Highlights Need for Plans and Plan Service Providers to Review Security, Business Associate and Other HIPAA Requirements

"A [recent OCR HIPAA] settlement agreement ... highlights the need for health plans and other HIPAA covered entities ensure servers are properly secured and that that they and every third party administrator, technology, audit, accounting and other plan service provider with access to protected health information can prove all necessary business associate agreements, security safeguards and other policies and practices are in place in the event of a HIPAA breach, audit or other compliance event."

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Free 401(k) Education Seminars for Small Businesses Offered by the Retirement Solutions Foundation

Excerpt: Are you a small business with a 401(k) plan that some of your employees aren't taking advantage of? Retirement Solutions Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to boost retirement savings, has received a grant for small business 401k education that involves offering free educational seminars, focus groups and follow-up to employees of small businesses. Any questions, please email Retirement Solutions president Jane White at smallbusiness@retirement-solutions.org.  MORE >>

Overcoming Short-termism: A Call for A More Responsible Approach to Investment and Business Management

This post on The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation is a statement by the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program's Corporate Values Strategy Group, of which John Olson is a signatory, along with 27 other business, investment, academic, & labor leaders. Excerpt: We believe a healthy society requires healthy and responsible companies that effectively pursue long-term goals. Yet in recent years, boards, managers, shareholders with varying agendas, and regulators, all, to one degree or another, have allowed short-term considerations to overwhelm the desirable long-term growth and sustainable profit objectives of the corporation. We believe that short-term objectives have eroded faith in corporations continuing to be the foundation of the American free enterprise system, which has been, in turn, the foundation of our economy. Restoring that faith critically requires restoring a longterm focus for boards, managers, and most particularly, shareholders -- if not voluntarily, then by appropriate regulation.  MORE >>

Retirement Solutions Seeks Volunteer Small Businesses for Free 401(k) Education Project

"Retirement Solutions Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to boost retirement savings, is seeking six small businesses to which it will offer free 401k educational seminars, focus groups and follow-up to employees. The purpose of the research is to improve participation rates and savings rates among small employers. The ultimate result of the research will be an educational CD-ROM which will be distributed free to all the attendees."  MORE >>

Harvard Graduate Student Council Talks 401(k)

"As a contingent of graduate students continues to call for unionization, the Council largely focused on discussing whether Harvard should offer a similar 401(k) retirement plan -- available to staff and faculty -- to graduate students.... [Council president Darcy Frear] said a graduate student emailed her about retirement plans, writing 'that they're spending so much time in grad school that they're wasting that time for investing money earlier on' ... [Vice President John Gee] said 'the reason that there isn't this option is almost certainly that Harvard graduate students don't have the status of employees.' "

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Harvard Professors Fall Out of the Ivory Tower with Health Care Hikes

"The New York Times recently stirred up a media firestorm when it reported about Harvard University professors who were lambasting the health care increases they were facing this year.... While Harvard employees have an annual deductible of $250 for a single individual and $750 for a family, nationally, most workers have an in-network median deductible of $1,500 for single coverage and $4,000 for a family ... Compare $1,500 for an individual and $4,500 for a family at Harvard to the national median in-network out-of-pocket limit of $3,500 for single and $8,000 for a family."  MORE >>

Agreement Required District Court to Consider Information from Post-Complaint Internal Review Process

"During the litigation process, the parties agreed that the plaintiff would be allowed to complete another internal administrative review of her claim, and that the information generated during that review would become part of the record before the district court.... The First Circuit noted that HPHC 'explicitly agreed -- twice in a two-page document' that information submitted or generated as part of the plaintiff's pending administrative review would be included in the record before the court." [Doe v. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, No. 17-2078 (1st Cir. Sept. 6, 2018)]  MORE >>

Immigrants Give More to Medicare Than They Receive, Harvard Study Finds

"Immigrants are crucial in balancing the age structure of American society, providing an infusion of young, working-age adults who support the country's aging population and help cover the costs of Medicare and Social Security. And with the largest generation in the United States, the baby boomers, now starting to retire, the financial help from immigrants has never been more needed, experts said."

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Smoke-Free Zones Gain New Territory and Companies Reject Smokers or Require Nicotine Tests

Excerpt: The push comes at a time when businesses are already targeting smokers in an effort to bring down healthcare costs. Some corporations are refusing to hire smokers - or firing them. A larger number are putting increasing emphasis on counseling and stop-smoking programs, even as they ban smoking anywhere on their property.

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Harvard Law Professor Einer Elhauge Discusses Constitutionality of Mandatory Purchase of Health Insurance

"In 1940, only nine percent of Americans had health insurance, but thirteen years later sixty percent did. Given the very different experiences in our nation's history, what constitutional principles should we consider in determining whether a purchase mandate is 'proper'?" [Ed. note: The article is an interview with Prof. Einer Elhauge, the Carrol and Milton Petrie Professor of Law at Harvard and the Founding Director of Harvard's Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics, whoe wrote extensively and accessibly about the battle over the constitutionality of the ACA.]  MORE >>

Harvard Says Its Health Care Costs Are Growing at 'Unsupportable' Rate

"Benefit costs at Harvard hit $476 million for the year that ended June 30, double what they were a decade ago, with health care accounting for the largest portion. The university's medical care obligation for retired faculty and staff is causing even greater fears. At $901.5 million, it's nearly equal to the pension obligation for retirees -- $910 million."  MORE >>

Harvard's Endowment Offers an Education in Asset Allocation (PDF)

2 pages. Excerpt: From yesterday's WSJ, how individual investors can benefit from the wisdom behind the successful returns of Harvard University's endowment.  MORE >>

What Makes Harvard Pilgrim Health Care So Good?

Excerpt: [M]ost successful companies rise and rise some more by doing the things everybody else does, except much better. That's the not-so-secret secret of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. The insurer is ranked the number one commercial plan in America by U.S. News & World Report and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. They say that Harvard Pilgrim leads the country in member satisfaction and quality of care.  MORE >>

Cigna Extends Free Coronavirus Tests to Self-Funded Employer Plans

"Cigna Corp. said it has signed up all of its self-insured employer clients to eliminate cost-sharing for coronavirus tests. Cigna sent letters to these 'administrative services only' clients ... giving them 10 business days to opt out of the program ... Two Democratic members of Congress introduced legislation [HR 6173]... that aims to fill gaps left by ERISA by requiring self-insured employers -- along with private health insurers -- to cover the full cost of the coronavirus diagnostic test and prevent them from passing those costs on to beneficiaries in the form of higher premiums."  MORE >>

DOL Announces Registration Requirements for Pooled Plan Providers

"The final rule establishes a straightforward electronic registration process for businesses that want to offer pooled employer plans. With the exception of Nov. 25, 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021, the process requires pooled plan providers to register at least 30 days before beginning operations. Plans must also submit supplemental filings regarding specific reportable events and a final filing after the provider's last pooled employer plan has been terminated and ceased operations. For the period of Nov. 25, 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021, the requirement to register at least 30 days prior to operating a pooled employer plan is waived, provided registration occurs no later than the start of the plan."

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New IRS e-Services Authentication Process Requires Re-Registration

"The IRS ... is strengthening the authentication process for identifying users and that the new, more stringent procedures will require existing users to re-register (Oct. 24 is the target date for the start of re-registration) ... Any current e-account holder is affected, which the IRS said includes: [1] Electronic return originators; [2] Return transmitters; [3] Large business taxpayers required to e-file; [4] Software developers; [5] Health care law insurance provider fee/branded prescription drug filers; [6] Health care law information return transmitters/issuers; [and] [7] Reporting agents[.]"  MORE >>

How a Harvard Economist Screwed Up -- and Then Saved -- Her Retirement

"Retirement expert Alicia Munnell confesses her 'not-so-smart' moves and explains how she recovered. It had nothing to do with stocks or bonds."

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