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The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Welfare Plans Edition
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April 16, 2001
Today's sponsor: The COBRA Administrator Handbook (click)


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Health Care Information Technology Groups Fought for HIPAA Passage
4/9/2001 - Excerpt: "As Republican legislators continue to attack the Clinton administration's health data privacy rules, major health care IT groups last week urged the federal government to implement the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) on April 14 as scheduled. Without the final privacy rules, the health care industry can't move forward in automating transactions because the confidentiality of medical records would be at risk, said Soloman Appavu ..." (ComputerWorld)

New Health Privacy Rules a Bonanza for Software Services
Excerpt: "The health privacy rules present an opportunity for software services firms to deliver products that can help medical providers manage patient data legally. The privacy rules give patients, for the first time, full access to their medical records and more control over how their personal information will be used and disclosed." (InternetWeek)

Healthcare Industry Cautious on E-Commerce
Excerpt: "The U.S. health care industry, living up to its stodgy reputation, moved slowly and cautiously into the world of e-commerce in the past year. At the same time, the number of online marketplaces, where hospitals can buy anything from gauze to catheters with the click of a mouse, has contracted dramatically amid fierce competition." (Reuters via Excite News)

Summary: Final Health Information Privacy Rules
Updated February 23, 2001. Excerpt: "The basic requirement of the Final Rules is simply stated as follows: 'A covered entity may not use or disclose an individual's protected health information, except as otherwise permitted or required by this subpart.' (Section 164.502(a).) Fully understanding the definitions of who (Covered Entity) and what (protected health information) are covered is the first step to being able to comply with this complex regulatory mandate." (McDermott Will & Emery LLP)

HMO Praised for Settlement by Those Suing
Excerpt: "Kaiser Permanente said yesterday it will make changes in its buildings and its medical equipment as part of a wide-ranging settlement of a lawsuit seeking improved access to medical care for the disabled. The state's largest health maintenance organization said it will remove architectural barriers, install equipment suitable for treating disabled patients and look for other ways to serve those with mobility problems." (The San Francisco Chronicle)

Physicians Battle Insurers Over Payment Practices
Excerpt: "Thousands of doctors have banded together to launch a legal attack on some of the nation's largest health insurers, accusing the plans of systematically cheating them out of fairly earned payments." (Medscape; free registration required)

Maine Poll: Majority Back Domestic-Partner Benefits
Excerpt: "A majority of Mainers believe the state's businesses should provide insurance coverage to the domestic partners of employees, regardless of marital status or sexual orientation, according to a new poll by Critical Insights of Portland." (Portland Press Herald)

Small Businesses Fighting Extension of FMLA
Excerpt: "Small business owners and advocates are up in arms over a bill now before Congress -- the Right Start Act of 2001-- that would expand the 8-year-old Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to include companies with 25 to 50 employees." (MSNBC.com)

West Virginia School District Gets Static for Providing Perk to Teachers
Excerpt: "Kanawha County school board members and employees will no longer receive free and discounted repairs on personal vehicles serviced by students at the county's vocational schools. School administrators eliminated the employee perks this week. School system employees must now pay the same labor costs as the public when they take their cars and trucks to Garnet Adult Education Center and Carver Career and Technical Education Center." (Charleston [W. Va.] Gazette)

Health Expenses Create Dilemma For Small Firms
Excerpt: "Many Wisconsin small business owners are increasingly facing a gut-wrenching choice: eliminate health insurance coverage for their workers or accept the consequences of absorbing skyrocketing premium costs." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

HIPAA Nondiscrimination Regs Throw Horse Lovers
Excerpt: "The new [HIPAA nondiscrimination] regulations make it illegal for health benefit plans and issuers to deny coverage to individuals who engage in certain activities, including horseback riding, motorcycling, snowmobiling, all-terrain-vehicle riding and skiing. The catch is the rules also seem to open the door to allowing plans and issuers to deny certain injury benefits even though an individual is covered ..." (Atlanta Business Chronicle)

Providing Prescription Drugs to Seniors: a Patchwork of Care (PDF)
8 pages. Spring 2001 Issue Brief. Excerpt: "[T]he data on prescription drug coverage should be studied further before such a benefit is added to Medicare.... The prescription drug work group developed this issue brief to outline the programs available in the private sector that provide prescription drugs for seniors and to further discuss issues related to prescription drug coverage for this population." (American Academy of Actuaries)

Consumer Group Says New Report Confirms Drug Industry is Making Exorbitant Profits
Excerpt: "The pharmaceutical industry's opposition to Medicare prescription drug coverage is 'unconscionable' in light of new data confirming that the industry remains America's most profitable sector, a consumer advocacy group asserted [April 12, 2001]." (Medscape; free registration required)

What Purchasers Need to Know About Long-Term Care Insurance
Excerpt: "As you finally get closer to the freedom of retirement, you don't think about your future including a move to a nursing home or residential facility. But if you don't think about it, or plan for it, that kind of unexpected stay can end up costing you everything you've worked so hard to save. Health insurance or Medicare alone won't cover the costs ..." (Investorama.com)

Opinion: Long-Term Care-- There Must Be a Better Way
Excerpt: "The Blaus have joined other families as plaintiffs in a class-action civil lawsuit alleging that American Travellers and its parent firm, Conseco Senior Health Insurance Co., failed to disclose to policyholders that it planned to raise premiums and were engaging in 'low-ball pricing' to encourage sales." (Los Angeles Times)

Medical Savings Plans Offer Tax Protection Along with Insurance
Excerpt: "It's an experimental program that combines a high-deductible insurance policy with a tax-protected savings account. If sickness strikes, the patient first uses her medical savings account to pay the deductible, then the insurance kicks in. If the patient stays healthy, the money grows tax free until retirement at age 65. In effect, it becomes an IRA. The accounts are available only to the self-employed and companies with 50 or fewer workers." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Selective Severance: Some Posts Remain Hot Despite Spate of Layoffs
Excerpt: "Union Pacific Corp. plans to cut 2,000 workers through attrition and a generous early-retirement plan. But train dispatchers need not apply. 'They're not being offered the pension enhancement,' says Barb Schaefer, Union Pacific's senior vice president for human resources. 'We can't afford to lose them.'" (CareerJournal.com)




Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
401(k) Client Account Manager for New York Life Benefit Services LLC
in MA
Compensation Analyst for Raytheon Technical Services Company
in DC, VA
Senior Vice President Operation for Fast-Growing National EAP/Life Events Firm
in OR
Regional Vice President of EAP for Fast-Growing National EAP/Life Services Firm
in OR

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