Welfare Plans Edition
January 19, 2001
Today's sponsor is International Quality and Productivity Center (click on banner for more information)
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Clinton Medical Privacy Rules May Reach Into Corporate Pockets
Excerpt: "A warning to all employers: mum's the word on your employees' medical data. The punishment for simply giving out such data without a worker’s permission may be as severe as paying out $50,000 and spending a year in prison." (CFO magazine)
Women's Insurance Not Affected by Cancer Gene Status
Excerpt: "Women who get tested for mutations in the breast cancer gene BRCA1 do not use their results to gain advantage in the health or life insurance market, according to an economist from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City." (Reuters via Excite! News)
Denial Of Severance Benefits To Employee Was Arbitrary And Capricious: Eleventh Circuit
Excerpt: "The Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that a company arbitrarily and capriciously denied severance benefits to an employee who declined a position that did not have comparable salary or benefits. The ruling came in Yochum v. Barnett Banks, Inc., et al. (No. 99-13581)." (Spencernet)
Aetna Eyes Changes to Settle HMO Lawsuit
Excerpt: "Aetna Inc., the largest U.S. health insurer, said it's open to discussing changes in its managed-care plans to settle a lawsuit that alleges the company engaged in illegal business practices." (Bloomberg, via Los Angeles Times)
Humana, Others May Be Next To Settle HMO Suit, Laywer Says
Excerpt: "Managed care companies Humana Inc., Cigna Corp. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. may be next to enter settlement talks for a host of lawsuits filed by HMO members after settlement discussions by industry leader Aetna Inc., according to one of the plaintiffs' lawyers." (Reuters via Excite! News)
To Save, Firms Predict Who'll Get Sick
Excerpt: "Facing spiraling insurance costs, some employers and insurers hope to save by predicting which workers are likely to get sick, partly by asking them how they feel. Are they calm? Bored? Angry? Sad? The answers -- along with other medical history information -- will help predict which workers will use health services within a year." (USA Today)
State Health Insurance 2001 Forecast
4 pages (use Adobe Acrobat Reader to view). Excerpt: "The year 2001 ushers in a new era: all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia will convene for a regular legislative session. In prior odd-numbered years, Kentucky was the lone state without a session. However in November, Kentucky voters approved a ballot measure establishing annual sessions of the legislature. Only two states will consider carryover legislation from 2000: New Jersey and Virginia." (Health Insurance Association of America)
Anticipated Key Health Insurance Issues for States, 2001
4 pages (use Adobe Acrobat Reader to view). Excerpt: "State legislatures across the country have begun to address a wide variety of issues in their legislative sessions. The following is a cross section of the top health care issues that could impact the health insurance industry this year. Privacy and mandated benefits are two major issues that have been left off this list because they apply to every state." (Health Insurance Association of America)
Working Group Report on Long-Term Care: 2000
Orig. pub. Nov. 14, 2000. Excerpt: "There is a potentially future serious long-term care (LTC) crisis in the United States. It is important that policy makers pay attention to this potential crisis and take specific preventive action to avoid it ... Baby boomers and their parents are requiring LTC services in record numbers. At present LTC consumes approximately one-eighth of national health expenditures, about the same proportion as prescription drugs." (U.S. Department of Labor)
New Patient Protections Included in Medicaid Managed Care Rule
Excerpt: "Americans enrolled in Medicaid managed care plans will have greater patient protections under new regulations that will be published by the Department of Health and Human Services in tomorrow's Federal Register. The new regulation fulfills a promise made by President Clinton to extend a Patients' Bill of Rights to all Americans enrolled in public health care programs." (Press release by Department of Heatlh and Human Services, via U.S. Newswire)
Clinton Administration Will Issue Controversial Patient Protections on Final Day
Excerpt: "The Clinton administration said Thursday that it intends to issue final rules on its last full day of power that will provide a host of new protections to poor Americans enrolled in managed care plans... The Clinton administration said Thursday that the final rule, which would replace a proposed rule issued in 1998, would require state Medicaid programs to assure access to care for beneficiaries with ongoing healthcare needs who transfer between HMOs and fee-for-service organizations." (Medscape; free registration required)
Another Question is Answered in the Employee Assistance Services Q&A Column
We have an employee who has been in EAP for 5 years. She misses work very often, comes to work crying, can't perform her duties, rearranges the schedule to fit her needs, goes home early and threatens the boss, saying if he tries to write her up or insist that she do something she doesn't want to do, she will contact EAP and sue. Our boss says he can't do anything about her work habits because she is in this program. Is this true? (BenefitsLink.com) (Following also appears in Retirement Plans Edition)
DOL Expands Plan Expenses Audit Program
Excerpt: "The Department of Labor (DOL) audit program reviewing the practice of paying plan expenses with plan assets is expanding beyond the Kansas City office (see Watson Wyatt Insider, August 2000), potentially affecting many more plans. Sources report that six or seven of the 10 DOL field offices are gearing up for participation in the audit program." (Watson Wyatt)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
"Americans have come to view legal assistance as a necessity ... the best way for the majority of Americans to be able to assure themselves of legal assistance when they need it ... is through a prepaid legal plan." American Bar Association. For more information click here
Graef Crystal: Disney's Eisner Cashes in Big as Earnings Fall
Excerpt: "It's sad how Walt Disney Co.'s Michael Eisner has morphed from a high-performing chief executive who relished pay risk into a so-so performer and ultra- cautious CEO. He was a hero of mine for playing the pay game fairly. Now he is just another money-grubbing executive whose goal seems to be pay, period." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
Working Group Report: Studying Benefit Continuity after Organizational Restructuring
Orig. pub. Nov. 14, 2000. Excerpt: "The Working Group's assignment was to identify the challenges to benefit continuity confronting sponsoring organizations and their employees undergoing restructuring. This would be accomplished through a study of the ERISA and [Internal Revenue] Code provisions that are specifically aimed at such sponsor changes and those provisions, though not aimed at such activity, that have been cited as obstacles or impediments in maintaining continuity." (U.S. Department of Labor)
New Political Environment Will Affect Benefits Legislation
Excerpt: "Despite an end-of-the-session push, the 106th Congress failed to enact benefits-related legislation. So bipartisan pension reform, patients' rights, Medicare reform, stock options and other benefits-related issues are all waiting for the 107th Congress." (Watson Wyatt)
Workers Worry The Party's Over: Health And Retirement Benefits Are Top Concerns
Excerpt: "Despite an 11-year record-setting economic expansion, a new study shows that 74 percent of U.S. workers say they're worried about their financial future-- especially when it comes to their health and retirement benefits." (insure.com)
Finding the Sweet Spot -- Stock Option Overhang
Excerpt: "The measure of stock option usage is called "overhang," which is defined as stock options already granted, plus those remaining to be granted, as a percentage of the total shares outstanding at a company. Overhang has grown dramatically over the past decade because of much larger executive option grants and broader option eligibility." (Watson Wyatt)
| Pension Administrator | for Mid Atlantic Pension Services in NJ |
| 401(k) APPLICATIONS, OMNI-PLUS APPLICATIONS | for Management Recruiters of Portland in CA |
| Pension Compliance Specialist | for CNA TRUST in CA |
| Senior 401(K) Operations Management | for a prestigious financial services provider located in the Boston area in MA |
| Investment Products Manager | for Transamerica Insurance & Investments in |
| Pension Administrator/Senior Pension Administrator | for QPC, Inc. - Western Massachusetts in MA |
| Group Insurance Account Manager | for TLC Agency, Fremont in CA |
| Associate Health & Welfare Consultant | for Buck Consultants, a Mellon Consulting Company in PA |
| Communications Consultant | for MassMutual Benefits Management, Inc. in MA |
| Benefits 2001 Congress | in AZ on March 26, 2001 presented by International Quality & Productivity Center |
| Web-Based Communication | in MD on February 15, 2001 presented by The Baltimore Chapter of ISCEBS |
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Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
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