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The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Welfare Plans Edition February 9, 2001 Today's sponsor is EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (click on banner for more information) Fill your employee benefits job openings fast by advertising on EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (a division of BenefitsLink). One of the 50 best recruiting sites on the whole Internet (says CareerXRoads). BenefitsLink is "one of the Web's best sites" (says Forbes magazine).
Health Industry, Consumers Spar Over Patient Privacy Rules Excerpt: "Clinton administration regulations issued in December to protect the confidentiality of medical records may have been called 'final,' but the debate is far from over. Groups representing patients and the healthcare industry both called for changes before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday." (Medscape; free registration required) Daimlerchrysler Taps Digital To Provide Dealers With Online Health Insurance Options Excerpt: "DaimlerChrysler Corp. has chosen Digital Insurance to become its online resource for employee health benefits offered by DaimlerChrysler to its more than 4,500 dealers and small business suppliers nationwide. The carmaker's independent dealers and suppliers with 500 or fewer employees will be able to research, price, compare, purchase, and administer a broad selection of health insurance products online..." (insure.com) HIPAA Regulation Enhances Protection of Patient Records but Raises Practical Concerns (PDF) GAO Testimony Before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, U.S. Senate; statement of Leslie G. Aronovitz, Director, Health Care Program Administration and Integrity Issues. Released by GAO on February 8, 2001. (U.S. General Accounting Office) Appeals Court Upholds School District Policy On Domestic Partners Excerpt: "School teachers can share their insurance policies with domestic partners, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, rejecting protests by school district residents who filed a lawsuit challenging the practice. The 4th District Court of Appeals' decision affirmed a Dane County Circuit Court ruling upholding a provision in the Madison School District's contract with Madison Teachers Inc., the teachers union, that includes same-sex partners and unmarried partners in medical benefits." (StarTribune.com) Changes In Workers Compensation Laws During 2000 Excerpt: "About half of all States changed their workers’ compensation laws to some extent, with most of them increasing benefits for both disability and death." (Monthly Labor Review, Bureau of Labor Statistics) State Labor Legislation Enacted In 2000 Excerpt: "Increases in minimum wage rates, overtime requirement changes, child labor revisions, bans on employment discrimination, and protection from workplace harassment and violence were major subjects of State labor legislation." (Monthly Labor Review, Bureau of Labor Statistics) The Employment-at-Will Doctrine: Three Major Exceptions Excerpt: "In the United States, employees without a written employment contract generally can be fired for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all; judicial exceptions to the rule seek to prevent wrongful terminations." (Monthly Labor Review, Bureau of Labor Statistics) Non-Compete Clauses: The Dark Side of a Tight Labor Market Excerpt: "Unlike such carrots as signing bonuses and stock options, non-competes provide employers with a punitive way to keep their best employees-- and client lists and intellectual property-- from moving to their market opponents." (CFO.com) Major Employers Remain Concerned Despite Administration's Rejection of Kennedy-McCain Bill Excerpt: "The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), representing the employee benefit plans of the nation's largest employers, remains deeply concerned about the potential impact of proposed patient protection legislation on employers, despite the thoughtful principles for reform identified in President George W. Bush's letter to Congressional leaders." (ERISA Industry Committee) Progress Report from the Coalition for Affordable Quality Healthcare Excerpt: "Welcome to a progress report on the Coalition for Affordable Quality Healthcare’s first year of work to improve the health care experience for American consumers and their doctors. Over the past year, 24 of the nation’s largest health plans have joined together to strengthen the American health care system for the more than 100 million Americans we serve." (Coalition for Affordable Quality Healthcare) Opinion: Bipartisanship on Patients' Rights Excerpt: "George W. Bush pledged on the campaign trail to bring Democrats and Republicans together on behalf of a patients' bill of rights. But his failure now to back the sensible bipartisan bill being sponsored by John McCain, John Edwards and others in Congress calls into question the sincerity of his pledge." (New York Times; free registration required) First Steps Taken to Reduce Managed Care Hassles Excerpt: "A national coalition of insurers has reported incremental progress on several initiatives aimed at alleviating the difficulties that patients and doctors encounter in dealing with managed care." (Reuters via Excite! News) The Aging of Aquarius: The Baby Boom Matures (PDF) 12 pages. Excerpt: "Employers and other plan sponsors engrossed in making daily decisions may wonder why they should take out time from tending to immediately pressing issues to take a broad look at the nation’s demographic profile. The answer: National demographic trends show who, from today’s labor market, will be available to do tomorrow’s work and point the way to making the transition effectively." (Special Report by The Segal Company) Dot-com Executives: Out of Options Excerpt: "It's a new-economy nightmare: Not only are most dot-com stocks worthless, but executives now have to quit their jobs to pay the taxes on options." (The Standard) What's the Size, Role & Future of TPAs' Marketplace? Excerpt: "SPBA's member Third Party Administration (TPA) benefits outsourcing firms administer the employee benefits of about 40% of all U.S. workers. Entities other than SPBA members performing TPA duties...such as insurance company Administrative-Services-Only( ASO) cover an additional estimated 12-15% of the U.S. workforce. Thus, about 55% of all U.S. workers' employee benefit plans are administered by some form of outsourcing TPA." (Society of Professional Benefit Administrators) ERIC Comments on Proposed NYSE Rule Requiring Shareholder Approval of Stock Option Plans Excerpt: "Because of current federal tax law restrictions, many companies have obtained shareholder approval of their option plans. Option plans should not be subjected to additional shareholder approval requirements." (ERISA Industry Committee) Graef Crystal: Amazon.com Option Plan Offers Less, But Sooner Excerpt: "Amazon.com Inc.'s chief executive, Jeffrey Bezos, is supposed to be a long-term thinker from everything that I have read. He's portrayed along the lines of the Japanese of a generation ago, who stressed building sales because they believed that higher market share would inevitably lead to juicy profits. So why is Bezos now urging employees to turn in long-term stock options in large numbers and to receive short-term options in smaller numbers?" (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
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