| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
March 20, 2001
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Key Democrats To Urge On-time Start For HIPAA Privacy Regs
Excerpt: "Three leading congressional Democrats will call on HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson to implement medical-records privacy regulations as scheduled on April 14. The lawmakers -- Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Rep. John Dingell of Michigan and Rep. Henry Waxman of California -- have scheduled a press conference [March 20] to make their appeal." (Modern Healthcare)
Law Firm Provides Free Online Access to Privacy Seminar, Including HIPAA Presentation
Includes presentation on HIPAA privacy regulations by attorney Tom Schroeder. Excerpt: "With new laws regulating data practices on and off the web, many businesses are finding privacy issues at the top of their business and legal agendas. Here's how to navigate the expanding minefield of privacy law." (Faegre & Benson LLP)
Questions on Firings and Severance at Computer Associates
Excerpt: "The fired workers said that the company, which makes software that many big companies use to manage their computer systems, is disguising a mass layoff as individual firings of subpar employees to avoid paying severance.... The company says the firings were routine and that it did nothing wrong." (New York Times; free registration required)
Survey: America's Employees Rank Their Health Benefits Above a Pay Raise
Excerpt: "A recent survey commissioned by Consortium Health Plans found that health benefits play an increasingly important role for Americans in terms of both their employment choices and job retention. Furthermore, for the first time, almost two thirds of employees surveyed are willing to pay extra for key services including continued access to prescription drugs." (Consortium Health Plans press release)
ERIC Testifies on Liability Proposals in Health Plan Legislation
Excerpt: "The best protection for plan participants is a sound claims review process, not litigation and tort damages.... The 'direct participation' standard contained in many patient protection bills in fact exposes employers to lawsuits. Even a small probability of being sued will be more than enough to reason for many employers to stop offering coverage." (ERISA Industry Committee)
Capitation At the Crossroads: the Trend Back To Fee For Service
Excerpt: "After years of trying to keep physicians under capitation, HMOs are taking the lid off and letting them switch back to fee-for-service reimbursements. Among just the large health plans, Aetna Inc., UnitedHealthcare, Cigna HealthCare, PacifiCare Health Systems and Coventry Health Care, all have acknowledged that they are moving some HMO contracts from fixed per-member, per-month payments under capitation to fee-for-service claims that doctors must submit for each procedure." (American Medical News)
2001 Annual Reports of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Supplementary Med
Excerpt: "The Trustees Reports are detailed, lengthy documents, containing a substantial amount of information on the past and estimated future financial operations of the Hospital Insurance and Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds." (Health Care Financing Administration)
Do You Have an Employee Benefits Business For Sale?
We now have 122 subscribers to our benefits-businesses mailing list, which opened last Friday -- these are folks who receive the full text of each new Employee Benefits Business For Sale advertisement that is posted here on BenefitsLink. If you are selling an employee benefits business, BenefitsLink's new online listing can help you find a buyer: https://benefitslink.com/bizforsale (BenefitsLink)
Medicare, Social Security Get Good Short-Term Checkup
Excerpt: "The short-term financial underpinnings of Medicare and Social Security brightened in the past year, the programs' trustees reported yesterday. But the long-term financial condition of the old-age health program slipped because of higher projected health care costs.... [T]he Medicare trust fund for hospital expenses would remain solvent until 2029, four years longer than previously estimated, largely because of the strong economy and a successful crackdown on Medicare fraud." (Washington Post)
Trustees' Report Shows Need to Reduce Tax Cut, Reserve Some of General Fund Surpluses, Group Says
Excerpt: "The Social Security and Medicare trustees' report issued today shows the danger of proceeding with a tax cut as large as the Administration has proposed and thereby failing to set aside a healthy portion of projected non-Social Security, non-Medicare surpluses for use in helping to restore long-term solvency to these programs. This is a conclusion of an analysis the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued today on the trustees' report." (Center for Budget Policies and Priorities)
Trustees Extend Solvency Estimates for Medicare, Social Security Benefits
Excerpt: "The government announced today that the principal Medicare trust fund would not run out of money until 2029, the longest period of solvency ever projected in the history of the program. And officials extended the life of the Social Security trust fund by one year, to 2038.... But the Bush administration said the long-term financial outlook for Medicare was bleak because health costs were rising rapidly. And it said Congress still needed to make major changes in Social Security ..." (New York Times; free registration required)
2001 Annual Report of Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds
Excerpt: "Under the intermediate assumptions the combined OASDI Trust Funds are expected to become exhausted in 2038, one year later than projected in last year's report. The projected actuarial deficit is 1.86 percent of taxable payroll, 0.03 percent smaller than in last year's report. Between about 2010 and 2030, OASDI costs will increase rapidly due to the retirement of the large baby-boom generation, and annual costs will exceed tax income starting in 2016." (Social Security Administration)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Consultant, Employee Benefit | for The Standard Insurance Company in ALL STATES |
| Benefits Specialist | for Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation in NJ |
| Benefits Supervisor | for Allied Waste Industries, Inc. in AZ |
| Manager, Benefits, Payroll & HRIS | for St. Jude Medical, world leader in cardiac medical devices in CA |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| Retirement Planning and Investment Education | in VA on April 26, 2001 presented by Richmond Chapter- Int'l Society of Certified Employee Benefits Specialists |
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