Benefits in the News

Includes link to the text of the letter. Excerpt: "On November 13, the Mayors of Atlanta, Philadelphia and Phoenix wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Paulson asking that the federal government provide economic assistance to cities. The letter asked that money be made available, for among other purposes, to help in paying for unfunded accrued actuarial liabilities in public pension funds."

Excerpt: "Health insurers are aggressively marketing high-deductible insurance plans that allow patients to reduce their out-of-pocket costs by improving their health. But employers, concerned with legal issues and upsetting employees, have largely stayed away. A prolonged recession could change that, consultants and health insurers say."

Excerpt: "[W]e expect that the new risk review requirements of EESA Section 111(b)(2)(A) will become best practices for board compensation committees, including outside the world of financial institutions participating in TARP."

1 pages letter to Henry Paulson. Excerpt: "Given the fact that value of such accounts have fallen dramatically with stocks down more than a third this year, millions of Americans age 70? and older will suffer a financial catastrophe if they are forced to make withdrawals by December 31st."

Excerpt: "Companies have a unique opportunity to consider minimizing the adverse impact of potential payroll tax increases affecting executives and employers under the Obama administration by taking advantage of various payroll elections available to employers on behalf of executives."

12 pages. Articles include 'Help Your Employees Weather the Storm:Hardship Withdrawals and Loans from Retirement Plans,' 'Is My Plan the Right Plan?' and 'Failure to Provide a Safe Harbor 401(k) Plan Notice."

Excerpt: "In 1983, Congress approved recommendations from the National Commission on Social Security Reform (also known as the Greenspan Commission) to tax Social Security benefits above a specified income threshold."

Excerpt: "This recent order in the Vioxx Multidistrict Litigation demonstrates the problem inherent in health plan attempts to recoup expenditures associated with the plaintiffs' injuries or sickness in such cases."

Excerpt: "Workers from Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, Wis., and Huntsville-Decatur, Ala., had the highest participation rates in the private sector . . . "

Excerpt: "Health and retirement issues were prominent in the 2008 election and will be addressed by the new administration and Congress in 2009. To help provide a factual basis of reference for reporters and others involved in these campaign issues, EBRI is providing the following questions and answers about major employee health and retirement benefits. Hotlinks to relevant tables and charts of data are provided at the end of each answer."

Excerpt: "The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 provides that the funding target under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) is phased in over three years. Those plans that fall below the set target funding percentage for a particular year will be required to fund up to the specified funding percentage for that year, instead of 100%."

Excerpt: "The former Senator who will be Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services shares a lot of his new boss's views. But in his recent book on health reform, Tom Daschle goes beyond Obama's agenda."

Excerpt: "Seizing on the momentum of the presidential election and the promise of change on a historic scale, a grassroots 'conversation' about health care reform under the Obama administration began Thursday with town hall meetings around the nation, including several in the Bay Area."

Excerpt: "CCH has projected the maximum allowable value for employer-provided vehicles under the cents-per-mile method for computing the fringe benefit of personal use of a company vehicle. Relying on the consumer price index recently published for October 2008 (the measuring month specified under Code Sec. 280F(d)(7)), these amounts will remain at $15,000 for cars and drop to $15,200 for trucks and vans."

Excerpt: "Twila Brase, president of Citizens' Council on Health Care, releases the following statement: 'Mr. Obama's choice for Secretary of HHS signals a plan to eliminate free-markets and resurrect national health care.'"

Excerpt: "[M]any employers who sponsor 403(b) plans will likely reduce the number of providers and investment choices in their plans, as well as put in place restrictions on loans and hardship withdrawals."

Contains links to SEC press release and a news article about the development.

1 page. Excerpt: "Actuarial studies have concluded that average defined benefit plan contributions will triple. The funding relief provisions currently being negotiated between House and Senate leaders could reduce these contributions by approximately one-third. This simple fix could translate to many thousands of saved jobs."

3 pages. Excerpt: "The trend can no longer be ignored -- asset-based compensation asset-based commissions are under attack. What has been industry practice for decades has become a point of contention today with legal ramifications that cannot be ignored."

Excerpt: "As tens of thousands of state workers brace for possible pay cuts and layoffs, a lucky few retired state workers can look forward to bonuses in their pension checks. . . . In 2002, California legislators included 3,200 state employees in more than 90 classifications ? among them milk testers, billboard inspectors, barbering examiners and deputy directors of the Department of Real Estate -- in the universe of state employees who qualify for safety retirement benefits."

Analysts believe the move could protect participants from stock market volatility but that it also might affect the amount of payments at retirement.

Excerpt: "The country's largest trade publisher, Random House Inc., has frozen the pensions of its current employees and eliminated them for future hires, the latest cuts in an industry hit by declining sales and anticipating, at best, a difficult 2009."

Excerpt: "The health insurer Wellpoint is testing a new program that gives covered patients the option of going to India for elective surgery, with no out-of-pocket medical costs and free travel for both the patient and a companion."

Excerpt: "A bill designed to boost the economy in part by easing stringent pension funding rules for companies died in the lame-duck session of the Senate on Thursday, November 20. It's not clear whether the measure will be revived in another special session in December or will have to wait until a new Congress is seated in January."

Excerpt: "Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ('PBGC') is waiving certain penalties and extending certain deadlines in response to the severe storms, flooding and a tornado that occurred on September 11, 2008, in Missouri."

Excerpt: "The Laborers' International Union of North America and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are filing new proposals that seek compensation reforms at companies that participate in the U.S. Treasury Department's bailout program."

Excerpt: "On November 19, 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unanimously approved proposed rules and form amendments related to mutual fund prospectus disclosure. . . . The effective date of the rule changes and form amendments is February 28, 2009. The compliance date (the date by which all funds must comply with the rules and form amendments) is January 10, 2010."

Excerpt: "[The bill places] a one year moratorium on required minimum distributions from individual retirement accounts for 2009. . . . The funding target under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) is phased in over three years. . . . For purposes of staving off restrictions on benefit accruals as a result of being less than 60% funded, plans would be able to lookback to the previous plan year for purposes of determining their funding status as it would apply to benefit accrual limits only. "

Excerpt: "Most nonelderly Americans still obtain health insurance coverage through an employer. Nevertheless, the percentage of nonelderly people with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) coverage has declined steadily since 2000."

6 pages. Excerpt: "Though the new Minnesota tax targets deferred compensation, it does not impact 'retirement income' paid to nonresidents. Retirement income generally includes: . . . The three categories of remaining sources of deferred income that are affected by the new Minnesota tax are: severance pay; equity based awards; and other non-statutory deferred compensation."

Excerpt: "In this recent case, the Sixth Circuit views on necessary plan language are set forth, and the rules applied by the district court should be scrupulously followed by plan administrators and third party administrators in the Sixth Circuit. The case presents the typical health plan reimbursement dispute wherein the plan participant, injured in a car accident, obtains a personal injury settlement and then refuses to reimburse the health plan for related expenditures."

Excerpt: "Given the imminent revenue losses plaguing states, cities, counties and school districts, many of these employers are simply unprepared to start properly funding these benefits. . . . [T]he GASB Statement 45 rules permit employers to amortize their unfunded liabilities over 30 years, when the actual service lives of incumbent employees is less. And for retirees, it's even worse, as the expected lives of 65-year-old retirees is about 18 years, not 30."

Excerpt: "Detroit automakers have hundreds of thousands of retirees who are wondering what might happen if their former employers go bankrupt? Auto executives say without $25 billion in loans, they could be forced into bankruptcy."

Excerpt: "In separate actions, the two trade groups, America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, announced their support for guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, in conjunction with an enforceable mandate for individual coverage."

Excerpt: "For every employee who makes $75,000, a company typically spends $30,000 more in benefits. So for employees who still have jobs after cost-cutting layoffs, the potential for more pain lies ahead."

Excerpt: "The Chicago research firm today announced [on Thursday] it will launch a database of U.S. pensions, endowments and foundations, including information about their investment strategies, performance and portfolios."

Excerpt: "On Wednesday four senators announced a measure for consideration by the full Senate on Thursday that would give companies more time to make up investment losses and sort out other problems."

Excerpt: "The average U.S. worker faced out-of-pocket expenses of more than $1,000 this year, an annual study finds."