| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
April 4, 2001
Today's sponsor: The ERISA Health and Welfare Handbook: Questions and Answers on ERISA Compliance (click)
Offers guidance on more than 30 key issues involving ERISA and employee welfare plans, including benefits entitlement, HIPAA, plan document language, discrimination issues and employer obligations under managed care plans. 2d edition; 350 pages; written by veteran benefits consultant Terry Humo, Esq., of Intermountain Administrators. $102.50.
Live Coverage Today of Hearings on Health Care Quality and Affordability
Excerpt: "Kaisernetwork.org will provide live coverage beginning 10:00a.m. ET Wed., April 4th. The second in a series of Health Subcommittee and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee joint hearings on health care quality and affordability." (KaiserNetwork.org)
3rd Tennessee Patients' Rights Bill Called More Industry-Friendly
Excerpt: "A move to adopt a patients' bill of rights slowed down yesterday in the state House to give the governor and key legislators time to meet on an alternative bill that some characterize as less patient- friendly. Under a patients' bill of rights, Tennesseans would be able to sue their HMO managed-care plan if they think they have been denied necessary medical care." (The Tennessean)
California Employers Move Toward Defined Contribution Health Accounts
Excerpt: "A new report by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that about one-third of California employers are moving toward defined contribution health plans, in which employees take a more active role in choosing and purchasing their own coverage." (insure.com)
Testimony of Consumers Union to Congressional Committee on Tax Credits for Health Insurance
Excerpt: "We are concerned that, unfortunately, most tax credit proposals are misguided: some are too small to make coverage affordable; some undermine employer coverage; some have inadequate protections for sick people who are shifted into the individual market. Because of the variation in proposals, they have dramatically different implications for the health care system." (Consumers Union)
Medical Savings Accounts Offer a Good Alternative in Health Coverage
Excerpt: "Without the deep pockets or insurer price-haggling muscle of a big business, small businesses and the self-employed are often hard pressed to find affordable choices in health coverage. The answer for some of them may be a medical savings account, a frequently overlooked option. An MSA is a tax-exempt savings account set up in conjunction with a bare-bones, high-deductible insurance plan." (Knight Ridder/Tribune)
Individuals May Not Sue States Under ADA in Federal Court
Excerpt: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state employees could not sue their employers for violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act because the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution grants state government employers immunity from lawsuits." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Analysis: Supreme Court Preempts State Designation of Beneficiary Statute
Excerpt: "This ruling should make interstate administration of plans easier, as it allows plan administrators to rely on the plan documents to determine the appropriate beneficiary. This ruling also may make it easier to argue other state laws affecting a plan's 'system for processing claims and paying benefits' are analogous to those impacting distribution schemes and thus should be preempted." (McCalla Thompson law firm)
Retaining Key Employees and Terminating Non-Performers While Protecting Trade Secrets
Excerpt: "In today's information age, companies are increasingly coming to realize that some of the most critical elements for their success are their key employees and the information, procedures, plans, developments and strategies which they hold as confidential ... Given these circumstances, how does today's enlightened employer protect these critical assets?" (Haynes and Boone, LLP)
Ex-utility CEO Has $828,845 Pension
Excerpt: "If you don't think a few years on the job can be lucrative, just talk to former Florida Progress Corp. chief executive Richard Korpan. In addition to raking in $17.4-million last year in salary, bonus and severance pay with the sale of the utility holding company to Carolina Power & Light Co., Korpan walked away with a nice retirement package: an $828,845 annual pension for the rest of his life." (St. Petersburg Times)
Summary of 2000 Regulatory and Other Developments Affecting Executive Compensation
Includes discussions of stock plan accounting issues, SEC issues, new insider trading rule, more. (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Tax Revolt: Small Businessmen Take on Uncle Sam
Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service has taken aim at a new group of tax protestors: dozens of small business owners who have stopped withholding taxes from their employees' paychecks." (CBSnews.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Defined Contribution Plan Administrator | for Jordan & Andrews, Consultants and Actuaries in CA |
| Pension Benefits Assistant | for Producer-Writers Guild of America Pension Plan in CA |
| Pensions/401(k) ERISA Compliance Specialist | for Pensioncareers Ltd. in NJ, NY |
| Assistant Manager of New Business | for DailyAccess.com, Inc. in AL |
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