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May 19, 2004 - 8844 subscribers
Today's sponsor: American Lawyer Media

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Complete Benefits Law Guidance from Law Journal Press
The nation's workforce and health care system are constantly evolving
and so are the legal issues.  Law Journal Press helps you handle any
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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
CalPERS Drops 36 Hospitals
Excerpt: "The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the state's largest buyer of health care, took a dramatic stand Tuesday against rising hospital costs as it moved to drop 36 hospitals from its HMO plan." (Sacramento Bee)

Higher Copays Cut Drug Utilization, Study Finds
Excerpt: "Patients suffering from chronic disease cut their use of preventative pres.cription drugs by up to 23% when pharmacy copayments double, a RAND Corp. study found." (Business Insurance)

Insurers With MSAs Are Well Positioned for HSA Market; Others Add Bank Partners
Excerpt: "Managed care plans are rushing to bring to market high-deductible health plans that are compatible with the health savings accounts (HSAs) created by the Medicare reform law. Although insurers' focus may be on benefit designs, deductible levels and premium rates, payers also must address how to administer the funds deposited into these accounts by employers and enrollees." (Managed Care Week via AISHealth.com)

Swollen Waistlines, Swollen Costs
Excerpt: "Obesity is endangering the nation's health care system in at least three ways: ..." (RAND Corporation)

Overview: New Medicare Part D Drug Benefit Creates Choices for Retiree Drug Plan Sponsors
Excerpt: "[W]e offer specific strategies for using the newest Medicare benefit to reduce retiree medical plan spending." (HayGroup)

Florida Governor Urges Employers To Provide Health Spending Accounts
Excerpt: "Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) announced plans to tour the state this summer to promote health savings accounts to employers as one way of providing health insurance to the state's three million uninsured residents, the AP/South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Health Savings Accounts: Beyond the Hype
Excerpt: "[W]e explain why the new tax-favored HSAs are not the solution to skyrocketing health care premium costs for most employers or employees." (HayGroup)

Health Plans, PBMs Reap Big Savings Through Tried-and-True Generic Programs
Excerpt: "It's been said that three components of drug cost management can make the biggest bottom-line impact: mail order, specialty pharmacy and generics. Over the past few years, several pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and health plans have taken leadership in implementing generic substitution programs." (Drug Cost Management Report via AISHealth.com)

Medical Management After Managed Care
Excerpt: "Health insurers are under conflicting pressures to improve the quality and moderate the costs of health care yet to refrain from interfering with decision making by physicians and patients. This paper examines the contemporary evolution of medical management ... It highlights the role of claims data, predictive modeling, notification requirements, and online enrollee self-assessments; the choice between focusing on behavior change among patients or among physicians ..." (Health Affairs)

Association Health Plans: Improving Access to Affordable Quality Health Care for Small Businesses (PDF)
14-page advocacy brochure. (U.S. Department of Labor)

Young Adults Take Major Gamble On Health Insurance Needs
Excerpt: "A growing number of 19- to 29-year-olds are gambling with their health and finances by going without health insurance." (Newhouse News Service via Houston Chronicle)

Opinion: the Seduction of the AARP
Excerpt: "For many Democrats, AARP's support for last November's Medicare pres.cription-drug bill came as a total shock. Not only could the law cause millions of seniors to lose more generous employer and state-coordinated drug benefits while providing only limited help to others; it is a major step toward the Republican Party's goal of privatizing Medicare and decimating employer-based health coverage." (AlterNet.org)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Reporting and Disclosure Guide for Employee Benefit Plans (PDF)
19 pages. (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

Online Form 2848 Lets You Click, Fill In, and Print (PDF)
Cool! Seems to require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to work. Let me know if it doesn't work for you, and what version of Adobe Acrobat Reader you're using -- davebaker@benefitslink.com. (Internal Revenue Service)

Same-Sex Marriages Require Massachusetts Employers to Make Benefits Decisions (PDF)
2 pages; authored by a Massachusetts law firm. Excerpt: "Insured Health Plans: Check with the health insurer to determine whether, as will probably be the case, the insurer's position is that the plan must offer health benefits to same-sex spouses. If it is not, decide how broadly to offer health benefits to same-sex spouses.... Self-Insured Health Plans: Decide whether to extend health benefits to same-sex spouses." (Palmer & Dodge LLP)

G.ay Marriage's Minefield for Businesses
Excerpt: "Massachusetts' legalization will create a slew of new headaches when it comes to health care and other benefits for g.ay employees." (BusinessWeek Online)

G.ay Couples Enter Golden Years With More Risk
Excerpt: "Older g.ay couples face a much greater risk of spending the end of their lives in poverty because they're ineligible for a host of federal protections, ranging from Social Security survivor benefits to estate tax exemptions, g.ay rights advocates say." (USA Today)

Married G.ay Couples Face Other Legal Obstacles
Excerpt: "The denial of certain federal employment benefits could also provoke litigation. Benefits provided under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, such as insurance and retirement plans, are regulated by federal law, which would not require companies to offer such benefits to g.ay couples." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

G.ay Marriage Opponents Work to Reverse Ruling
Excerpt: "With g.ays and les.bians now legally wed in Massachusetts, foes of g.ay marriage vowed Tuesday to campaign hard, in state and national elections, for candidates willing to reverse the tide." (AP via Yahoo! News)

Governor Moves on Non-Massachusetts Couples
Excerpt: "One day after the start of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney demanded copies of marriage applications from four cities and towns that are defying his order not to marry out-of-state couples." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Black Pastors Assail G.ay Analogy
Excerpt: "More than 50 black pastors yesterday decried efforts to compare the battle over same-sex 'marriage' to the civil rights struggle of blacks, and called on the Congressional Black Caucus and legislators to support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman." (Washington Times)

Employee Deferrals Under Non-Qualified Deferred Comp Plans Subject To Penn. Personal Income Tax
Excerpt: "On May 12, 2004, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled, in a question of first impression, that voluntary employee contributions to an unfunded, non-qualified deferred compensation plan are constructively received for purposes of Pennsylvania personal income tax in the year earned (i.e., the year in which the services are performed, not the year in which the amounts are ultimately paid)." (Buchanan Ingersoll)

Tapes Available from ABA Tax Section Meeting (May 2004)
2 tapes available of the employee benefits committee's proceedings on Friday; 2 more available of the proceedings on Saturday. $20 for each set; order directly from the ABA's Audio Tape Store (the target web page). (Section of Taxation, American Bar Association)

Opinion: Security in Retirement? Not Longer on the Menu
Excerpt: "We've gone from a menu of jobs that have benefits and security to a menu of jobs dominated by companies that thrive on part-time workers who receive limited benefits. It's a different world." (Scott Burns in the Houston Chronicle)

Selecting An Auditor For Your Employee Benefit Plan
Excerpt: "If your employee benefit plan is required to have an audit, one of the most important duties of the plan administrator is to hire an independent qualified public accountant. The sponsor of the plan is the plan administrator under the law unless another individual or entity is specifically designated to assume this responsibility. The following material will assist you, as plan administrator, in selecting an auditor and reviewing the audit work and report." (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

Questions Linger on Stock Option Expensing
Excerpt: "After more than a year of promising to do so, the nation's accounting rulemaking body ... finally issued its long-anticipated Exposure Draft outlining the compulsory expensing of employee share-based compensation, which includes stock options. While the proposed regulations seem to settle the 'if' question of stock option expensing, and shed light on the 'when,' the 'how'-- generally, the most problematic issue for expensing opponents-- remains somewhat fluid." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Newly Posted Events

Fall Forum
in Georgia on September 13, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services

Fall Forum
in Minnesota on October 4, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services

Fall Forum
in Maryland on October 18, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services

Fall Forum
in California on November 15, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services

IRA Institute
in Virginia on June 14, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services

IRA Institute
in Illinois on August 9, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Newly Posted Press Releases

SunGard Corbel Acquires SBPA Systems, Inc.
(SunGard Corbel)

Federal Pension Insurer Pays Benefits At Archibald Candy Corporation.
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))

Massive Part B Premium Increase Seen by 2011 For Highest Income Medicare Beneficiaries
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))

EEOC Final Rule Helps Restore Common Sense to Retiree Health Care Coverage
(American Benefits Council)

Financial Accounting Foundation Chairman Responds to House Subcommittee’s Action on “The Stock Option Accounting Reform Act”
(Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB))

U. S. Labor Department Launches National Education Campaign: “Getting It Right – Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities”
(U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.)

Aetna Expands Consumer Choice with Introduction of Aetna HealthFund Retiree Reimbursement Accounts
(Aetna)

Safety Top Priority in Drug Importation Debate
(American Medical Association (AMA))

Workplace Financial Education Expands At American Express
(American Express Retirement Services)

American Express Retirement Services To Provide BlueStar® Recordkeeping, Employee Education And Investment Services For The Flexsys America LP Retirement Plan
(American Express Retirement Services)

MyBizBenefits.com Launches Small Business Benefits Education and Quote Service
(MyBizBenefits)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Defined Benefit Actuarial Assistant
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA

Operations Systems and Compliance Specialist
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC

401k Administrator
for The Vanguard Group
in PA

Communication Administrator
for The Vanguard Group
in PA

Participant Education Consultant
for The Vanguard Group
in PA

Senior Plan Service Team Specialist
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC

Plan Specialist
for Transamerica
in CA

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