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University of Miami Sued Over Plan Fees

"The participants, who seek class-action status, said the university's 403(b) plan is both inefficient and expensive because it has six record keepers. This system 'has caused plan participants to pay and continue to pay duplicative, excessive and unreasonable fees for plan record keeping and administrative services,' the lawsuit said." [Santiago v. Univ. of Miami, No. 20-21784 (S.D. Fla. complaint filed Apr. 29, 2020)]

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Miami Commission Considers More Favorable Pension Rules for Executives

"Miami city commissioners, who in recent years have cut severance pay and pensions to balance budgets, could vote Tuesday to allow four of the city's highest earners to return from retirement and collect their pension on top of their hefty salary. The plan could mean millions of dollars of extra pay over the long haul for the city clerk, auditor, city attorney and the city manager."

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Court Says Referendum of Voters of Miami Beach Must Be Held on Firefighters Pension Changes

The case in the Circuit Court ... is The City of Miami Beach v. The Board of Trustees of the City Pension Fund for Firefighters and Police Officers of Miami Beach.

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Uninsured Patients and Malpractice Insurance Woes Stress Miami Health Care Market

Excerpt: In June 2005, a team of researchers visited Miami to study that community's health system, how it is changing and the effects of those changes on consumers.

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Audio: Ohio College, Miami University, Sued over Same-Sex Benefits

Excerpt: An Ohio lawmaker is suing Miami University, charging that its policy of offering benefits to employees' same-sex domestic partners violates an amendment to the state Constitution banning civil unions. Ohio is among a growing number of states where public colleges offering such benefits face legal challenges.  MORE >>

Appeals Court Upholds Federal Judge's Split Decision on HMO Lawsuit in Miami

Excerpt: A federal appeals court has upheld a March 2001 ruling by a Miami federal judge that threw out several charges against the nation's largest HMOs but that also allowed other charges to proceed.

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Ninth Circuit Affirms Insurer's Denial of Claim for Air Ambulance Transportation from Lima, Peru to Miami, Florida

"The court found that there was no evidence that [the patient] could not have received certain care and treatment at the hospital in Lima and that the hospitals' plan of care was similar.... [T]he court found that the independent review organization's (IRO) denial of benefits does not require de novo review because 'the IRO's non-binding affirmance of Blue Cross's denial of benefits did not negate Blue Cross's discretion.' " [Continental Med. Transp. LLC v. Health Care Serv. Corp., No. 21-35481 (9th Cir. June 7, 2022; unpub.)]  MORE >>

Miami Declares 'Financial Urgency' as It Moves to Cut Worker Pay and Benefits

The declaration gives unions for municipal workers two weeks to agree to contracts for the year that starts in October or be subject to actions imposed by the City Commission. Workers including police and firefighters absorbed about $80 million in reduced pay, health insurance and pensions in fiscal 2011.

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Broke Miami, Florida, Breaking Employee Contracts

Excerpt: The city is operating under a state of 'fiscal urgency,' declared earlier this summer. The budget deficit for next fiscal year is about $110 million. The proposed cuts in salary, pension contributions and health insurance costs amounts to about $86 million in savings for the city.  MORE >>

DOL's ESOP Shift Heralds New Grants, Fewer Probes

"The Trump administration is reorienting the [DOL's] approach to employee stock ownership plans, signaling it will pursue fewer lawsuits and investigations while focusing on awarding grants.... ESOP attorneys and advocates suggest the combination of re-calibrated enforcement, a forthcoming valuation regulation, and more education and outreach could lead to more employee-owned businesses."  MORE >>

PBGC's 2018 Annual Report Heralds Improved Financial Position

"On November 16, 2018, the [PBGC] released its Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Report, showing an $11.2 billion improvement in the multiemployer program and a $13.4 billion improvement in the single employer program. The single employer program, no longer in deficit, now has a $2.4 billion surplus.... [The authors] discuss what PBGC's FY2018 Annual Report tells us about the financial condition of and prospects for the single employer program and briefly discuss the financial condition of the multiemployer program."  MORE >>

DOL Rule Heralds New Era in Distribution

"The [DOL] rule designed to corral conflict of interests among financial advisors will likely lead to new ways of distributing insurance products into qualified retirement plans, say insurance carrier executives.... Instead of advisors heading the for the proverbial career exit in the wake of sagging sales, carriers and distribution partners seem to be poised to find innovative ways to sell more financial products through qualified retirement plans."  MORE >>

Next Year Heralds Major Changes in Nation's Health Care

"Within the next 12 months, consumers could get a quick check-up at the pharmacy, text glucose levels to a doctor through a smart-phone app or earn bonuses for treadmill time from their employer -- all as the nation grapples with growing health care costs. Spurred in part by ... the [ACA], as well as by the chronic disease costs associated with obesity, insurers, providers and businesses have re-imagined everything from where a person with a sprained finger should go for care to what employers can do to increase the overall health -- and productivity -- of their employees."  MORE >>

New Guidelines on Obesity Treatment May Herald Expansion In ACA-Mandated Coverage

"Recently revised guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force ... recommend that clinicians screen patients for obesity ... Further, they say patients who meet or exceed that level should be offered or referred to 'intensive, multicomponent behavioral interventions' to help them lose weight.... Under the [ACA,] new health plans and those whose benefits change enough to lose their grandfathered status must provide services recommended by the Preventive Services Task Force at no cost to members. For the 70 percent of employers that already offer weight management programs, that may mean just supplementing what they already offer ... But some employers are concerned they may be on the hook for ongoing treatment as employees make repeated attempts to lose weight."  MORE >>

Excerpt from Omaha World-Herald Article on Hospitals Seeking Fees Before Surgery, Followed by Don McCanne, MD Comments

Excerpt: The Nebraska Medical Center has joined an increasing number of hospitals nationally that request that patients pay out-of-pocket costs before a scheduled surgery. The trend is driven in part by the popularity of high-deductible insurance plans, which can mean bigger out-of-pocket costs for patients, said Rick Wade, spokesman for the American Hospital Association.  MORE >>

Obamacare Enrollees Become Urban Legend

"Nearly two weeks after the federal government launched the online Health Insurance Marketplace at HealthCare.gov, individuals who have successfully used the choked-up website to enroll for a subsidized health insurance plan have reached a status akin to urban legend: Everyone has heard of them, but very few people have actually met one."

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Florida Pension Reform Plan Put on Hold

"A report ... by Milliman ... concluded that closing the state's pension system to future employees would endanger the benefits of those currently enrolled in the pension plan. The problem: Because [the] proposal would turn away new workers, the pension plan would be forced to rely on a shrinking payroll base on which contributions to retirees are made. To make up the shortfall, either workers or taxpayers would chip in more, the report stated.... But what the report didn't include were costs associated with keeping the pension plan intact, making it difficult to compare costs between reform and status quo."

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AFL-CIO Group Says Report Bolsters Case Against Proposed Florida Pension Reform

"The Florida Retirement Security Coalition issued a stinging rebuke ... of Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford's efforts to reform Florida's pension system. Ok, that's hardly news coming from an outfit managed by the AFL-CIO.... But the group pegged [this] lament on a [recent] report ... that had been ordered by Weatherford to study the economic impact of the reform. It surely wasn't Weatherford's hope that the report would be used as ammo against his proposal."  MORE >>

Experts Question a Main Premise of Municipal Pension Reform

"Actuarial and financial investment experts told [Florida] lawmakers that an oft-quoted study by two non-profits is exaggerating the problems facing pensions for city and county workers throughout Florida.... [Both the CEO of a Fort Myers actuarial firm and] an investment manager at an Orlando firm said that a slumping stock market was largely to blame for flat returns from pension funds in recent years. But they both said that was about to change and now was not the time to overreact."  MORE >>

Past Time for Pension Reform in Florida

"As Florida continues to dig out of the worst economic period since the Depression, lawmakers have to look for any way they can to cut costs. And that includes pensions.... The Florida Retirement System covered about 623,000 people in 2012, but only about a quarter of them worked at state agencies or state-run universities or colleges. Almost half come from school districts, about 23 percent work for counties and the rest work for municipalities or special taxing districts."

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