| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
April 12, 2001
Today's sponsor: The COBRA Administrator Handbook (click)
The first and only compliance manual designed specifically for COBRA self-administration. Simple step-by-step format ensures accurate COBRA documentation, efficient record keeping and complete COBRA compliance protection. The only manual written by expert third-party administrators for COBRA nonprofessionals.
Bush Decides HIPAA Privacy Rules Will Go Into Effect April 14 After All
HHS Secretary's announcement: 'Today, I am pleased to announce that the President is taking a bold and definitive step to protect the rights of citizens to keep their medical records confidential. President Bush wants strong patient privacy protections put in place now. Therefore, we will immediately begin the process of implementing the patient privacy rule that will give patients greater access to their own medical records and more control over how their personal information is used." (HIPAAdvisory.com)
States On Track To Adopt Consumer Privacy Regulations
Excerpt: "At least 21 states will have privacy protections for insurance consumers by July 1, 2001, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). However, the extent of those protections varies from state to state, with some states giving consumers more control over how insurers can use their financial and health information." (insure.com)
Vip Patel's Treatment Plan for the E-health Insurance Business
Excerpt: "Although the e-commerce sector has clearly suffered an unrelenting fall in its fortunes, Vip Patel, 38, founder and chairman of eHealthInsurance Services, Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., believes it would be wrong to paint the whole e-commerce sector as unworkable." (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
Eleventh Circuit Rejects Plan's Interpretation on Provider Discounts
HCA Health Services of Georgia, Inc. v. Employers Health Insurance Company (11th Cir. 2001). Excerpt: "On February 2, 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision to grant summary judgment to a health care provider who challenged a discount claimed by an insurer as a violation of the terms of an employee health plan." (Groom Law Group)
More Hospitals May Sue Insurers
Excerpt: "-- All Saints Health System's lawsuit against insurer PacifiCare Health System over late medical claim payments may be the first punch thrown locally in a courtroom brawl between hospitals and managed care companies. Industry experts say other Texas hospitals, whose finances have been strained by late payments, may soon join in the melee." (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Attorney Who Helped Hide Part of Recovery Must Reimburse Group Health Plan
Excerpt: "An attorney who lied to a group health plan about his client's recovery from a third party was found liable to the plan under ERISA by a federal district court and was ordered to reimburse the plan." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Cambridge Mass. Again Moves Toward Domestic Partner Benefits
Excerpt: "The Cambridge City Council last night made the first move toward reclaiming its power to grant domestic partnerships marriage benefits, following the annulment of the city's 1992 ordinance by the state legislature earlier this year." (Harvard Crimson via Excite News)
Bush Budget Would End Contraceptive Coverage For Federal Employees
Excerpt: "The budget President Bush sent to Capitol Hill this week eliminates a Clinton-era program that provided prescription contraceptive coverage to federal employees. As a result, thousands of female employees may soon lose insurance coverage for birth control." (NJ.com)
Patients' Bill's Foes Back Away From Ad
Excerpt: "In a letter to President Bush last month, nearly 300 companies and trade groups ... [said that if] Congress passes a patients' bill of rights allowing workers to sue their employers for damages in health insurance disputes ... some employers' 'only option to avoid costly litigation would be to stop offering coverage altogether.' ... But in recent interviews, executives of three [of the] trade associations ... came up with only one example of a company that would drop coverage." (Washington Post)
Will Work-Life Programs
Excerpt: "With layoffs and mergers sweeping her industry, an Atlanta financial analyst admits a fear has crossed her mind: Amid cost cuts, will her employer kill off flexible work arrangements, too?" (CareerJournal.com)
Circuit-by-Circuit Review: Scope of Court Review of Discretionary Employee Benefit Plan Decisions
Excerpt: "The evidentiary scope of judicial review of discretionary employee benefit plan decisions is well-established: review is usually confined to the evidence in the plan administrative record. As this article demonstrates, however, the rule is not absolute. Courts have developed variations on and exceptions to the rule, which present opportunities or pitfalls, as the case may be, for claimants and plan administrators. This article surveys the variations and exceptions ..." (Groom Law Group)
Report: High CEO Pay Does Not Translate to Good Stock Performance
Excerpt: "United for a Fair Economy, a Boston-based non-profit working to reduce the inequities of wealth distribution in the U.S., has taken a closer look at the stock performance of companies led by top-paid CEOs. They found that shareholders may not be getting their money's worth." (SocialFunds.com)
Opinion: When Stocks Suffer, So Should Options
Excerpt: "For months, corporate governance experts have been warning of a wave of stock option repricings, once company execs realize their share prices won't be bouncing back anytime soon. So far, out-and-out repricings have been sparse. But that doesn't mean companies have stopped the practice. Far from it -- they've just come up with new ways to bail out execs. Problem is, these new practices are just as bad for outside shareholders as the simple repricing schemes they replace." (BusinessWeek.com)
Graef Crystal: CEOs Bakke, Sherman Prove Cash Isn't Sole Spur
Excerpt: "Searching for CEOs who play the pay game fairly is about as rewarding as panning for gold in the High Sierras today, 152 years after the original strike. Curiously enough, I came across two who qualify and whose companies are headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area, not heretofore known as a mecca of modesty -- in pay or anything else." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
Why One CFO Said Good-bye to His Defined-Benefit Pension
Excerpt: "'Dot-corps' give senior financial execs a chance to test E-commerce waters with less risk of drowning.... Thus while dot-corps may offer 'a significant equity component,' it may be in the form of restricted stock rather than options so as to expose employees to less downside risk, he says. Signing awards and guarantees on bonuses may also be part of the package." (CFO.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| 401(k) Document Compliance Analyst | for Automatic Data Processing - Retirement Services in NJ |
| 401(k) Benefit Specialist | for Automatic Data Processing - Retirement Services in NJ |
| 401(k) Client Service Reps | for Automatic Data Processing- Retirement Services in NJ |
| Requirements Analyst | for The 401(k) Company in TX |
| Employee Benefits Tax Consultant | for Deloitte & Touche, a Professional Services Firm in OH |
| Senior Consultant, Health & Welfare Systems | for J. Glancy & Associates, Inc. in TX |
| Benefits Specialist | for Occidental Petroleum Corporation/Oxy Services Inc. in OK |
| Pension Services / Marketing | for Benefit Services Group, Inc. in IL |
| Director, Consulting and Compliance | for Fidelity Investments in MA |
| PENSION ENROLLMENT SPECIALISTS | for Diversified Investment Advisors in CA, NC |
| Defined Benefit Client Account Manager | for New York Life Benefit Services LLC in MA |
| SR. COMPENSATION REPRESENTATIVE | for JET PROPULSION LABORATORY in CA |
| SR. BENEFITS REPRESENTATIVE | for JET PROPULSION LABORATORY in CA |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| Swerdlin & Company Holds Its 3rd Annual Fun Day! (Swerdlin & Company) |
| Programs to Cover Latest Department of Labor Regulations (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans) |
| June IFEBP Educational Programs Available (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans) |
| Media Advisory - The Ottawa Legislative Update (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans) |
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