| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
April 19, 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.
Essay: the Privacy President?
Excerpt: "In an action that left medical data-swappers sputtering with rage and the well-heeled intrusion lobby moaning about its 'operational nightmare,' President Bush struck a blow last week for the privacy of medical patients' records. Few expected Bush to make good on the belated rule changes [President Clinton] made that so offended healthcare bureaucrats. But now doctors, hospitals and insurers are obliged to get patients' consent before passing around intimate personal information." (New York Times; free registration required)
Good Child-Care Resources Are Hard to Find on the Web
Excerpt: "Finding good child care on the Internet can be tough. Just as all politics is local, as the late congressman Tip O'Neill said, so is all child care. The type and quality of child-care providers vary widely from place to place based on culture, parental work habits, socioeconomic factors and state regulatory practices." (CareerJournal.com)
Studies Question Success of Family and Medical Leave Act
Excerpt: "Employee benefit boon or boondoggle? That is the question many organizations are wrestling with after a recent study concerning the effectiveness of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The FMLA, a well-known yet Byzantine law passed in 1993, provides for up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth or adoption of a new child, for an employee's own serious health condition or the serious health condition of a family member." (CareerJournal.com)
Big Public Pension Fund Sees 6 Percent Hike In Health- Benefits Premiums
Excerpt: "Grappling with escalating health-care costs, the health benefits committee of a huge California public pension fund yesterday recommended that the fund should increase the group health-benefits premiums it pays by 6 percent in 2002." (CFO.com)
Eyeing Health Benefits and Premiums for Federal Employees
Excerpt: "Unfortunately for federal workers, their health insurance premiums will probably continue to shoot up, just as health insurance premiums in the private sector have recently." (GovExec.com)
CalPERS Vote May Hasten Shift of Health Costs to Employees
Excerpt: "But in accepting smaller premium increases, CalPERS will offset rising costs with larger co-payments for doctor visits and drugs, the first such hikes since 1993. The proposed premium increase would be the smallest in two years. It rose 9.2% in 2001 and 9.7% in 2000." (Los Angeles Times)
Defined Contribution Health Plans: the Shape of Things to Come? (PDF)
Excerpt: "Defined contribution (DC) health benefit plan designs are now at the forefront of the emerging innovations in employer-sponsored healthcare benefits. This article examines the DC health plan concepts and features, their advantages and disadvantages, and the obstacles and challenges to their implementation." (Milliman & Robertson, Inc.)
Adwatch: Patients' Rights
Valuable collection of links on this issue, just published online. Excerpt: "One of the most controversial issues in the debate is the extent to which consumers should also be given expanded rights to sue their health plans if they are denied coverage for a service and harmed as a result.... The patients' rights debate has already entered the 107th Congress. The resources below provide information on Congressional and issue group response to this issue." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Long-Term Care Enrollment Increasing Through Employers
Excerpt: "The number of Americans covered by employer-sponsored long-term care (LTC) insurance plans increased by 19 percent in 2000. Despite a decline in new sales of the product from the previous year, the overall market for LTC continued to grow, according to a report from LIMRA International." (LIMRA International)
Information Technology in Benefits Plan Administration (PDF)
Excerpt: "This article describes the changes directly linked to technology developments now taking place in benefits administration. Specific information technologies (IT) are spotlighted, showing their ability to automate processes, strengthen ties to employees, and reduce administrative costs." (Milliman & Robertson, Inc.)
DOL Participates in Employee Benefits Outreach Program
Excerpt: "The U.S. Department of Labor's Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA) will participate with the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) in a series of conferences scheduled to be held in seven cities between May 7 and June 28." (U.S. Department of Labor press release)
CEO Could Not Sue Firm's Board To Recover Benefits Under Top-Hat Plan
The former chief executive officer of a company could not pursue a lawsuit against the firm's board of directors seeking to recover additional benefits under the company's top-hat plan because such a suit could only be brought against the plan itself. This was the ruling of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Garratt v. Knowles, et al. (SpencerNet)
The Ups and Downs of Equity-Based Compensation
Excerpt: "With billions of dollars in options under water resulting from the collapse of the NASDAQ, some of the irrational exuberance has obviously dimmed. But options are now a permanent part of compensation negotiations, at a much broader employee level than ever before. Cash-strapped entrepreneurs readily agree to equity ownership and often sign letter agreements promising equity to their future employees." (Faegre & Benson LLP)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE | for PRE-PAID LEGAL SERVICES, INC. in ALL STATES |
| Qualified Small Plan Administrator | for The Senex Group in CA |
| Senior Plan Service Team Specialist | for ICMA Retirement Corporation in DC |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| Western Pension & Benefits Conference 2001 Annual Meeting - Vail/Beaver Creek | in CO on July 15, 2001 presented by Denver Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference |
| Monthly Lunch Meeting | in CO on May 15, 2001 presented by Denver Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| MyBenefitSource Introduces Common Remitter Billing Services (MyBenefitSource) |
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