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November 11, 2003 - 8,649 subscribers
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Learn About Retirement Planning Opportunities & Challenges Facing the Tax-Exempt Employer An Interactive Audio Conference, November 18, 2003, 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET Recent changes in the law and regulations now give tax-exempt employers new opportunities to maximize retirement benefits for their employees. Learn from an expert in the field how to design a program that complies with the new requirements while also obtaining the most benefits for your employees. Register today and get the chance to ask your own specific questions!
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2003 Version of Publication 502 (Medical and Dental Expenses) Includes Significant Changes
Excerpt: "Other significant changes in Pub. 502 include the following new and revised items: ..." (EBIA)
Curtailing Medicines from Canada
Excerpt: "Brand-name drug makers have stepped up their drive to curtail exports of cheap medicines from Canada to the United States, raising prices in Canada for the first time in several years and imposing new restrictions on sales to Canadian pharmacies." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Republican Lawmakers Reach Out to AARP Over Medicare Drug Provisions
Excerpt: "Congressional Republicans are seeking support for a prescription drug bill from the politically influential AARP by addressing its objections to opening government health care to private competition." (AP via [St. Paul] Pioneer Press)
Long-Term Care in Developed Nations: a Brief Overview
Excerpt: "This report provides a brief overview of many of the key long-term care policy trends that cross national boundaries in developed countries. It focuses on examples of nations with much older populations than the U.S., which ranks 29th among the world's 'oldest' countries. The information presented here was derived from an extensive search for cross-national literature and empirical data." (AARP Research)
Towers Perrin U.S. Legislative Tracking Charts — Health and Welfare
11/7/03. Impressive! Status report on everything from the Bicycle Commuter Act to the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003. (Towers Perrin)
Cosmetic Treatment to Correct Deformity Arising From Congenital Abnormality Is Medical Care Expense
Priv. Ltr. Rul. 200344010 (Mar. 27, 2003). Excerpt: "[T]he IRS held that treatment to correct a facial deformity qualified as a medical care expense under Code Section 213(d) because the deformity arose from or was directly related to congenital abnormalities. The taxpayer had several unspecified congenital abnormalities that were ameliorated through numerous surgeries. However, the surgeries left a facial deformity that would require a course of treatment over many years to improve." (EBIA)
FMLA Continues to Pose Employer Challenges
Excerpt: "Although the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has been praised for supporting employee work/life issues and engendering a family-friendly workplace, employers have found FMLA certification, administration, tracking, and compliance confusing and problematic. In this article, we discuss employer challenges including lessons learned through the courts, outsourcing considerations, and what's potentially on the horizon in terms of paid leave." (Aon Consulting)
Employers Attaching More Strings to Tuition Assistance Plans
Excerpt: "Some employers are requiring workers to pay back the benefit if they bolt for another job after they graduate. Some are tightening up on what types of classes and degrees they will pay for. And even as tuition rates rise, nearly all have declined to sweeten the maximum benefit, instead sticking with what the federal government allows them to deduct annually from taxes (up to $5,250 per employee from their revenue), an amount that has not changed in nearly two decades." (Washington Post)
Formulating a Time-Off Policy
Excerpt: "Selecting a benefits packet for vacation and sick time is no longer as simple as determining how many sick days and vacation days should be allotted to full-time employees. Options now range from paid time off, also known as personal time off (PTO), to paid days for volunteer work, to a 'choose-one-from-column-A, one-from-column-B approach. The goal: Satisfy employees' needs while reducing those costly unscheduled absences." (Human Resource Executive Magazine via workindex.com)
Contain Rising Health Care Costs With Strategy and Education
Excerpt: "Companies across America face an overwhelming challenge: to control health care costs that are in their third year of double-digit increases. To combat this alarming trend, plan sponsors must abandon quick fixes and, instead, focus on developing long-term health care strategies supported by ongoing employee education campaigns." (Aon Consulting)
Key Legislation in the 108th Congress (PDF)
6 pages. Chart summarizes the content and status of principle health-related legislation introduced in or passed by the 108th Congress. (American Association of Health Plans and Health Insurers Association of America, via Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
Health Insurance Coverage and the Macroeconomy
Working paper. Excerpt: "The primary objective of this paper is to improve our understanding of the historic relationship between state and national macroeconomic climate and the health insurance coverage of Americans.... We estimate that 851,000 Americans, the vast majority of whom were adult men, lost health insurance due to macroeconomic conditions alone during the 2001 recession." (John Cawley and Kosali I. Simon, publicized by the National Bureau of Economic Research)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Actuaries Comment to FASB on Proposed Rules on Disclosure of Cost of Postretirement Benefits (PDF)
9 pages; 10/27/03 letter. Excerpt: "Pension and health actuaries are responsible for generating much of the information that is used in the disclosures required by Statements 87, 106 and 132, which have given us a detailed understanding of the benefit obligations, the cash flows and the use of plan assets. It is from this perspective that we offer the following comments on the disclosure exposure draft." (American Academy of Actuaries)
Taxes for Pension and Disability Expenses Up 20% in Portland, Oregon
Excerpt: "In the past decade, a steady increase in pensioners and a sharp rise in disability costs has more than doubled the tax levy for the Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund. This year, a Portland homeowner with a house assessed at $150,000 will pay $394 to support the fund, up from an estimated $318 last year." (The Oregonian)
Towers Perrin U.S. Legislative Tracking Charts — Human Resources
11/7/03. Impressive! (Towers Perrin)
Text of Corrections to Split-Dollar Regulations (PDF)
2 pages. (Internal Revenue Service)
Returning Reservists Filing Complaints with DOL
Excerpt: "Some veterans coming home from military duty say they are getting a cold reception when they return to work." (Washington Post)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Corporate Benefit Manager
for Manpower Inc
in WI
Pension Administrator
for Priority Pension Services, Inc.
in CA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
ERISA's Fiduciary Requirements in Today's Investment Turmoil: The Enron Decision and Mutual Fund Misconduct
in ALL STATES
December 2, 2003
Thompson Publishing Group, Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
R.J.L. Pension Services, Inc. Names Jeanette C. Lucadano as Executive Vice-President.
(R.J.L. Pension Services, Inc.)
Minnesota-Based 401(k) Executive Testifies About Recent Mutual Fund Scandals
(Alliance Benefit Group of Minnesota)
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