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May 20, 2004 - 8859 subscribers
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New Health Savings Accounts Praised, Derided
Excerpt: "Witnesses and lawmakers at a U.S. Senate committee hearing Wednesday could not have been more at odds over the merits of the new 'health savings accounts' (HSAs) authorized under last year's Medicare law." (Reuters via Medscape; one-time registration required)
Links to Testimony at Hearing on Health Savings Accounts
Witnesses: John Snow, U.S. Department of the Treasury; John Goodman, National Center for Policy Analysis; Ronald Williams, Aetna; Kate Sullivan, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Edward Langston, American Medical Association; and Robert Greenstein, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging)
Overview: Health Savings Accounts, Health FSAs, and HRAs (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Employers seeking to limit the growth in their healthcare costs should review the IRS's and DOL's recent guidance in evaluating their options. An analysis of the health plan's experience should be undertaken, along with estimates of the various options, including adoption of a high deductible health plan with or without employer contributions to employee HSAs." (Milliman USA)
Overview: Coordinating HSAs with Other Health Accounts (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The basic guidance is no surprise. It is bad news to some, but entirely expected. In effect, it is 'the other shoe dropping' following the IRS guidance regarding pres.cription drug coverage (i.e., Revenue Ruling 2004-38)." (Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)
Overview: Treasury Guidance Restricts Use of HSA with FSA or HRA
Excerpt: "On May 11, 2004, Treasury and IRS issued the eagerly awaited Rev. Rul. 2004-45, which describes the circumstances under which an individual who is eligible to make contributions to a health savings account ('HSA') may also participate in a health flexible spending arrangement ('FSA') (usually offered as part of a Code section 125 cafeteria plan) and/or a health reimbursement arrangement ('HRA') (described in Notice 2002-45 and Rev. Rul. 2002-41)." (Groom Law Group)
Financial Accounting Standards Board Issues Final Guideline on Accounting for New Medicare Law
Excerpt: "The Financial Accounting Standards Board on Wednesday issued a final guideline on how companies that provide pres.cription drug coverage to retirees must account for subsidies they expect to receive under the new Medicare law, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Text of FASB's FAS 106-2, Accounting and Disclosure Requirements Related to Medicare Drug Act (PDF)
15 pages. Excerpt: "This Board-directed FASB Staff Position (FSP) provides guidance on the accounting for the effects of the Medicare Pres.cription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (the Act) for employers that sponsor postretirement heath care plans that provide pres.cription drug benefits. This FSP also requires those employers to provide certain disclosures regarding the effect of the federal subsidy provided by the Act (the subsidy)." (Financial Accounting Standards Board)
HSA Exclusion From ERISA Status Creates Privacy, State-Law Issues
Excerpt: "[T]here still appears to be cafeteria plan document requirements for HSA contributions to be funded on a pre-tax salary reduction basis. The existence of a cafeteria plan document should not create an ERISA plan.... Since ERISA would not be invoked, neither would ERISA preemption protections. That would appear to subject third-party administrators (TPAs) and others handling HSA administrative and other functions to state-law claims." (Thompson Publishing Group)
States Begin To Pass Legislation Easing Adoption of Health Savings Accounts
Kansas and Colorado have passed legislation that will make it easier to provide health savings accounts under state insurance laws. In states that mandate first-dollar coverage for certain benefits, it might not be possible to obtain an insured high deductible health plan (HDHP, required for establishing an HSA), especially in the light of recent IRS guidance. (Spencer Benefits Reports)
The Dangers of Shorter Maternity Leaves
Excerpt: "New mothers get plenty of gifts, toys and advice. But a new study -- the deepest look to date at how the length of maternity leave affects mothers' mental health -- suggests that what would really make them happy is a little more time off work." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
Yours For the Asking: Better Benefits
Excerpt: "[T]oday's tight market and scandals over favoritism have stripped many of the perks from the table. Still, says change management consultant Nicole Schapiro, author of 'Negotiating for Your Life,' people can get more than they realize." (Bankrate.com)
San Francisco Supervisor: Let's Extend Employee Health Insurance Plan to City Residents
Excerpt: "The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday proposed several amendments to the City Charter, including one that would make health coverage available to city residents through the San Francisco Health Service System, the San Francisco Chronicle reports." (California Healthline)
Small Businesses Get Help Finding Health Insurance
Excerpt: "A new guide is available to help small business owners better understand their health insurance options. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation prepared the guide in honor of Cover the Uninsured Week (May 10-16)." (BenefitNews.com)
SBC Communications Workers To Strike Over Benefit Cost-Shifting
Excerpt: "At an impasse in contract negotiations with San Antonio-based SBC Communications Inc. over increased health benefit cost-shifting and other issues, the Communication Workers of America union has voted to begin a four-day strike this Friday." (Business Insurance)
Microsoft Cutting Some Benefits
Excerpt: "Microsoft Corp. is reducing pres.cription drug benefits and employee stock discounts to save at least $80 million a year, workers have been told." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Why Young Adults Become Uninsured and How New Policies Can Help (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "Young adults (ages 19 to 29) are one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the population without health insurance in the United States. Young adults often lose coverage under their parents' policies at age 19, or when they graduate from high school or college. Nearly two of five college graduates and one-half of high school graduates who do not go on to college will endure a time without health insurance in the first year after graduation." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Opinion: 'Cover the Uninsured Week'-- With Honesty
Excerpt: "Rather than admit they have been overstating the number of uninsured by a factor of two and make an embarrassing retraction, which might tend to deflate the campaign, Cover the Uninsured Week continues to claim there are 44 million uninsured.... The danger in overstating the number of uninsured is that we might do something foolhardy, like force taxpayers to provide them with coverage." (Michael F. Cannon, published by the Cato Institute)
Association Health Plans Bill Faces Opposition from Insurance, Health Associations
Excerpt: "Association health plans, which many brokers oppose for the lack of regulatory oversight inherent in the plans' structure, came a step closer to market with the passage a House bill." (BenefitNews.com)
Study: Medicare Favors Private Insurers
Excerpt: "The Commonwealth Fund, which advocates research on health issues, said in the study released Thursday that the government is paying managed care plans 8.4 percent more on average than costs in traditional fee-for-service Medicare." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Intel Shareholders OK Stock Option Expensing Over Management's Recommendation
Excerpt: "Intel Corp. shareholders turned against management's wishes Wednesday and approved an advisory proposal calling on the chip-making giant to expense stock options in its financial reports." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Intel Management Balks at Shareholders' Request to Expense Stock Options
Excerpt: "[A]s long as accounting regulators permit it, the company's executives said, Intel would continue to report stock options - fiercely defended in Silicon Valley and widely used in technology companies as a popular form of compensation - in a way that does not show up as a direct cost on its profit-and-loss statements." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Valuing Stock Options with a Lattice Model
5 pages. Excerpt: "The [FASB] exposure draft would require companies to recognize the grant-date fair value of equity instruments issued to employees from 2005 reporting periods and takes the position that a lattice model is preferable for measuring the fair value of option awards in the absence of a market-price alternative. This edition of Defining Issues is therefore devoted to explaining the nature and application of lattice models." (KPMG via Financial Executives International)
Same Sex Marriages in Massachusetts and ERISA and Internal Revenue Code and Guidance
In November of 2003, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts held that Massachusetts' statutes and Constitution permit same sex marriages. However, federal law will not recognize spouses of same sex marriages as spouses for the purposes of federal statutes and regulations, such as ERISA, the Code, or Treasury Regulations. (Sanders, Schnabel & Brandenburg, P.C., Washington, D.C.)
Massachusetts Senate Vote Aids G.ay Marriages
Excerpt: "The Massachusetts state Senate yesterday voted overwhelmingly to repeal the 1913 law that Gov. Mitt Romney says forbids out-of-state homose.xual couples from 'marrying' in Massachusetts. The repeal was approved 28-3 as part of the Senate version of the state budget. To take effect, however, the repeal must pass the more conservative House and then both chambers would have to override the veto that Mr. Romney has promised." (Washington Times)
Opinion: G.ay Nuptials Are Coming to a State Near You
Excerpt: "[A] host of practical, legal and constitutional issues won't let g.ay marriage remain only the Bay State's business." (David Reinhard in the Oregonian)
House Panel Approves Travel Compensation, Thrift Savings Plan Changes
Excerpt: "Legislation that would give time off to federal employees who travel during off-duty hours and would allow employees to make changes in their allotments to the Thrift Savings Plan throughout the year has been approved by the House civil service subcommittee." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)
What Employee Benefits Conferences Are Upcoming in Cleveland? Los Angeles? Kalamazoo?
We're having some fun figuring out ways to use the new search engine ... see the target page for upcoming conferences in Cleveland, for example. In the search box, replace the word Cleveland with the city of your choice. (tip: if the city is two words, put a plus sign in front of each word, to require both words-- e.g., +New +York). Or replace the word Cleveland with the topic in which you're interested (e.g. 401(k) or COBRA) to find upcoming conferences on that topic! (BenefitsLink.com, Inc.)
Newly Posted Events
2004 Health Care Forum
in Massachusetts on May 27, 2004
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Minnesota on May 25, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Iowa on June 8, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Maryland on June 8, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Pennsylvania on June 8, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Colorado on June 9, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in New Jersey on June 10, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Massachusetts on June 10, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in North Dakota on June 10, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in California on June 15, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Ohio on June 15, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Oklahoma on June 15, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in California on June 17, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Michigan on June 17, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Minnesota on June 17, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Tennessee on June 22, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Missouri on June 22, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Alabama on June 22, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Texas on June 22, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Missouri on June 24, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Illinois on June 24, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Texas on June 24, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Two-Day IRA Workshop
in Florida on June 24, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Workplace Monitoring: Employer Concerns vs. Employee Rights
Nationwide on June 10, 2004
presented by Thompson Interactive, A Division of Thompson Publishing Group
Newly Posted Press Releases
Alliance Benefit Group Sets New Business Mark;Managing nearly $6.5 billion in Defined Contribution plan assets
(Alliance Benefit Group)
Newport Streamlines Access to its Plan Sponsor and Participant Websites
(The Newport Group)
Coalition Calls on Congress to Allow FASB to Issue Rule on Expensing Stock Options
(FACTS Services, Inc.)
ERIC Statement on the Need to Preserve the EEOC Rule to Exempt Retiree Benefits from ADEA
(ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee))
CalPERS Adopts Hospital Pricing Reform; Reduced Hospital Network Promises Long-Term Savings
(CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System))
CalPERS OKs Regional Pricing for Health Plans; Goal to Attract, Retain Public Agencies
(CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System))
RAND Study Finds Patients With Chronic Conditions Cut Use Of Preventive Drugs When Drug Co-Payments Double
(RAND Corporation)
Local Plan Advisor Launches Model Education Program For 401(k) Plans
(White Horse Advisors)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Annual Plan Reporting Administrator
for The Vanguard Group
in PA
Health & Welfare Associate
for Towers Perrin
in CA, CT, IL, NJ, NY, OH
Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Berlin, Ramos & Company, P.A. CPAs,
in DC, MD, VA
Account Manager II
for Mellon Human Resources & Investor Solutions
in GA
Program Consultant
for AXA Financial, Inc.
in NJ
Manager - Print, Assembly, Pay Process
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Associate Benefit Communications Consultant
for Growing Benefits Communications Consulting Firm
in AZ
Sr. Counsel
for Abbott Laboratories
in IL
Sales Executive
for Mullin Consulting, Inc.
in CA, IL
Contract Group Insurance Analyst
for BeneTemps, Inc.
in CT
Senior Benefit Communications Consultant
for Growing Benefits Communications Consulting Firm
in AZ
Plan Consultant for DB and DC Plans
for Fairfield County, Connecticut Actuarial and Pension Consulting Firm
in CT
Benefits Customer Service Representative
for Ceridian
in MI
Customer Service Supervisor - Benefits Administration
for Ceridian
in MI
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