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July 28, 2003 - 8,417 subscribers
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“New COBRA Notice Rules” Now available on Tape and CD! Are you familiar with the DOL’s new proposed COBRA notice requirements? On May 28, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed regulations that clarify and expand group health plans’ obligations to provide notices of COBRA continuation coverage rights to qualified beneficiaries. Gain insight on the DOL’s proposal by purchasing a tape or CD of this important audio conference.
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House Approves Bill Allowing Reimportation of FDA-Approved Medicines from 25 Industrialized Nations
Excerpt: "The House on July 25 voted 243-186 to pass a bill (HR 2427) that would allow U.S. residents to purchase prescription drugs from Canada and some other nations ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
House Passes Drug Measure, but Faces Fight With Senate
Excerpt: "Now that army of lobbyists is turning its attention to the Medicare prescription drug conference, where the House-passed measure must be reconciled with a Senate bill that poses obstacles to drug imports." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Rev. Rul. 2003-72 Clarifies Meaning of a Child's 'Age' for Various Employee Benefits Purposes
Excerpt: "This revenue ruling applies a uniform method of determining when a child attains a specific age for purposes of the following sections of the Internal Revenue Code: 21 (dependent care credit), 23 (adoption credit), 24 (child tax credit), 32 (earned income credit), 129 (dependent care assistance programs), 131 (foster care payments), 137 (adoption assistance programs), and 151 (dependency exemptions)." (Internal Revenue Service)
What Are the Current Form 5500 Filing Requirements for Cafeteria Plans and Their Component Benefits?
Excerpt: "I am confused as to what filing requirements apply to our cafeteria plan. I know that we no longer need to file a Schedule F for our cafeteria plan, but do we still have to file the main body of the Form 5500 for that plan?" (EBIA Weekly (Question of the Week))
Inadequate COBRA Election Notice Leads to Liability for Medical Expenses
Emilien v. Stull Technologies Corp. (3d Cir. 2003). Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: This opinion is designated 'Not Precedential' and contains some apparent errors and confusing reasoning regarding COBRA. Nevertheless, it is interesting because it deals with the adequacy of a COBRA election notice. There are not many recent cases regarding this issue, presumably because employers and plan administrators have become more savvy over the years about what an election notice should say." (EBIA Weekly)
11th Cir.: Plan Not Liable for Interest on Reinstated Disability Payments Unless Document So Allows (PDF)
Flint v. ABB, Inc., No. 02-15029 (11th Cir. 07/21/03). Excerpt: "3 Kemper reinstated Flint's [disability] benefits and made the reinstatement retroactive to July 1, 2001.... Flint conceded that '[t]he Plan documents are silent regarding the payment of interest on Delayed Benefits'; nevertheless, he claimed that § 502(a)(1)(B) and § 502(a)(3)(B) of ERISA allow plaintiffs to recover accrued interest on reinstated benefits, even when an employer's plan is silent on the issue." (FindLaw.com)
2d Cir.: Multiemployer Trustees Couldn't Make Rule Applicable Only to Participating Business Owners (PDF)
17 pages. Excerpt: "We hold that neither ERISA, the collective bargaining agreements, nor the Trust Agreement vest the Trustees with authority to adopt the 100% owner rule." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, via FindLaw.com)
IRS Releases First Private Letter Ruling on Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs)
Priv. Ltr. Rul. 200329014 (July 18, 2003). Excerpt: "In this private letter ruling, the IRS concluded that an employer's medical reimbursement plan met the requirements of its 2002 guidance (Rev. Rul. 2002-41 and Notice 2002-45) with respect to health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs)." (EBIA Weekly)
Will Medicare Drug Coverage Be a Benefit or a Burden to Seniors?
Excerpt: "An estimated 38 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have no prescription coverage, and they are likely to welcome the enactment of any program of drug benefits, however limited. But there are consequences to the legislation that many retirees fear, particularly those who ... have prescription benefits as part of their retirement packages." (The [Raleigh, N.C.] News and Observer)
Retiree Benefits and Age Discrimination: Relief for Employers Ahead? (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Age discrimination is not a subject to be taken lightly, so the combination of Erie and General Dynamics has made employers skittish whenever the subject of retiree benefits is raised. However, the EEOC's proposed rule and the Supreme Court's decision to review the General Dynamics decision means employers may be able to breathe a little easier when it comes time to evaluate a retiree health plan." (Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP)
Soaring Big 3 Automakers' Health Costs Set Up Standoff Between Management, Unions
Excerpt: "Detroit's staggering and growing health care tab -- $8.8 billion in 2002 -- is expected to dominate the bargaining over a new labor contract this summer between the UAW and automakers. Like it has done every contract cycle since the late 1940s, the UAW hopes to enhance health care benefits ..." (The Detroit News)
Demographic Underwriting Moves In On Community Rating
Excerpt: "Community rating for small employer groups is rapidly disappearing amid intense competition from health plans using demographic information to underwrite new business." (BenefitNews.com)
Consumer-Driven Health On a Roll
Excerpt: "Now slipping off tongues as 'CDHPs,' consumer-driven health plans have shaken the initial misnomer of 'defined contribution' benefits and flowered into an array of plan designs for fully and self-insured markets." (BenefitNews.com)
National Health Care Back on Table, with Many Supporters Among Democratic Presidential Wanna-Bes
Excerpt: "Bold plans to expand the welfare state went out of fashion 10 years ago when opposition politicians, insurance industry lobbyists and talk-show hosts attacked Bill Clinton's proposal to grant every American health insurance, leaving it in tatters before it even went to a vote.... Ahead of the 2004 election, however, the political climate has undergone a seismic shift." (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Medicare Reform Need Not Jeopardize Employer-Provided Drug Coverage, Employers Say (PDF)
Excerpt: "We are convinced the coverage, flexibility and new choices available under this legislation will do much more to help, rather than threaten, employer-sponsored retiree health care coverage for those who currently receive it." (Employers' Coalition on Medicare, published online by the ERISA Industry Committee)
Another Question is Answered in the Eldercare: the Work/Life Issue Q&A Column
What happens when I give to my family my home with life tenancy? (BenefitsLink.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Top Hat Plans Under Fire
Excerpt: "Special retirement plans for top executives are becoming a target for other stakeholders." (CFO.com)
Some Employers Cutting Back on Employee Benefits
Excerpt: "America has spun a full 180 degrees from the booming '90s, when employers dished up mouthwatering incentives to lure potential workers in a tight job market. It's a different world today -- one in which employers are pressured by meager or nonexistent profits, soaring health care costs and pension shortfalls caused primarily by declines in the stock market." (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Administrators
for Associated Pension Consultants
in CA
401(k) / DC Compliance Analyst
for CNA Trust
in CA
Quality Control Analyst
for CNA Trust
in CA
401(k) Account Manager
for CNA
in CA
Health & Welfare Southeast Practice Leader
for PricewaterhouseCoopers
in GA, PA
Pension Sales Professional
for Preferred Pension Planning Corporation
in NJ
Senior Plan Administrator
for RPS Plan Administrators
in CO
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
The Benefit Advisors Network Welcomes Relph Benefit Advisors
(The Benefit Advisors Network)
Plan Committee Members and Frank Russell Trust Company Settle Pension Investment Lawsuit With Past and Present Services Group of America Employees
(Ekman, Bohrer & Thulin, P.S.)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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