| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
April 20, 2001
Today's sponsor: The COBRA Administrator Handbook (click to order now) (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.
Privacy Rules' Enactment Jolts Providers
Excerpt: "Health-care providers now have roughly two years to comply with new federal medical-privacy rules after President Bush decided ... not to delay their implementation, against the wishes of many in the industry.... 'We were more or less stunned,' said Mike Tidwell ... 'We thought they had heard the groans and cries of the hospital industry. We didn't expect this. We really thought that some of the regulations would be softened.'" (The [Nashville] Tennessean)
EEOC, Railroad Settle Suit Over Genetic Tests
Excerpt: "Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad has settled a federal lawsuit that challenged its secret genetic testing of employees. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said today that as part of the settlement, the railroad will not conduct any more tests or analyze any test or blood previously obtained, and will not retaliate against employees who complained about the practice." (Washington Post)
Insurer's Denial of Benefits For Breast Reduction Surgery Was Arbitrary and Capricious
An insurance company's denial of benefits to a participant who required breast reduction surgery as a 'medical necessity' was arbitrary and capricious. This was the ruling of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Milone v. Exclusive Healthcare, Inc. (SpencerNet)
District Court Applied Improper Standard In Reviewing Benefits Denial, Ninth Circuit Rules
A federal district court erred in reviewing an insurance company's denial of long term disability benefits under the deferential abuse-of-discretion standard because the terms of the LTD plan did not unambiguously state that the plan administrator had discretionary authority to grant or deny benefits. (SpencerNet)
Georgia County Commissioners Consider Plan to Offer Insurance to Domestic Partners of Gay Employees
Excerpt: "DeKalb [county] could become the first county government in Georgia to offer benefits to domestic partners of gay employees under a proposal introduced Monday. The measure, which awaits approval from the board of commissioners, would make employees' domestic partners eligible for health, life and dental benefits in the same way that dependents are eligible." (Atlanta Constitution)
Domestic Partner Benefits Won't Break the Bank
Excerpt: "While increasing numbers of employers are offering these benefits to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples, there is limited information about the additional expenses incurred as a result. Clearly, one important factor in assessing this added expense is the extent to which employees will use the domestic partnership benefit, known as the 'take-up' rate. On average, how many workers will request domestic partner benefits?" (Urban Institute)
Firms Have Second Thoughts About Lending to Executives
Excerpt: "Across the U.S., publicly held corporations are starting to lose their ardor for lending well-paid insiders money. Blame a bearish stock market, investor outcry and a flurry of embarrassing flaps involving loans that hastened some CEOs' departure." (CareerJournal.com)
Feeling the Pinch Bosses Across the Country Are Cutting Perks Back Everywhere
Excerpt: " Across the area, companies are attempting to avoid economy- related layoffs with nonpayroll cost elimination. From cutting pagers to removing the grapefruit juice option on United flights, cost- conscious managers are examining the cost of nonessentials. And they intend to keep pinching pennies until they add up to significant savings." (Chicago Daily Herald)
CalPERS Raising Drug, Doctor Visit Fees
Excerpt: "The California Public Employees' Retirement System will sign HMO contracts next year that save the pension fund millions of dollars by charging its 1.2 million members significantly more for doctor visits and drugs." (Sacramento Bee)
Av-Med, Citing Costs, to Stop Covering Fertility Treatments
Excerpt: "Av-Med Health Plan Inc. will no longer pay for fertility treatments as part of its basic insurance coverage, a decision the HMO attributed to the high costs of the care. Miami-based Av-Med was the only Florida HMO covering fertility treatments and it was seeing people join the health plan just for that benefit, said spokeswoman Valerie Rubin." (The Palm Beach Post)
Sex Change Benefits Get Key OK in San Francisco
Excerpt: "San Francisco's plan to offer sex change benefits to city employees appears headed for approval after winning a key endorsement yesterday from a Board of Supervisors committee." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Medscape Newsbeat: Patients' Bill of Rights
April 19, 2001 collection of links to articles about the federal managed care reform proposals. (Medscape; free registration required)
ERISA Preemption Manual for State Health Policy Makers (January 2001 Update) (PDF)
Excerpt: "This Update summarized briefly the ERISA preemption issues raised in [the areas of state external review laws, state managed care regulation, state HMO liability laws, and the DOL claims payment regulations] and the implications of the new developments for state policy." (National Academy for State Health Policy)
Norwood Plans to 'Push Forward' Patients Rights Legislation
Excerpt: "Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) 'apparently has decided that the Bush administration has had long enough' to develop a patients' rights bill, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Earlier this year, Norwood, a 'chief advocate' of patients' rights legislation in past years, delayed co-sponsoring the 'latest version of his own bill' to allow the White House and Republican senators time to 'fashion their alternative' ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Insurance Plan Would Help 6 Million, White House Says
Excerpt: "The Bush administration's proposal for making health insurance affordable for more Americans would enable an estimated 6 million of the uninsured to buy coverage, a White House official said yesterday." (Washington Post)
Pharmaceutical Industry Ranks as 'Most Profitable' in 'Fortune 500'
Excerpt: "The pharmaceutical industry has proved 'largely immune to the economic gyrations' that shook several other industries this year, making the industry 'more profitable than any other,' according to the new 'Fortune 500' rankings." (KaiserNetwork.org)
As Congress Ponders Patients' Right Strategy, Businesses Boost Efforts to Fend Off Legislation
Excerpt: "Dan Danner, chair of the Health Benefits Coalition, is standing behind an ad campaign that stated that many businesses would drop health coverage for their employees if Congress approves a patients' bill of rights with a provision allowing employees to sue their employers for denial of care, despite an April 12 Washington Post article that reported otherwise, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Blue Cross Expects Introduction of Legislation to Delay HIPAA Rules
Excerpt: "The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association said April 19 that it 'expects members of Congress to introduce legislation in the next two weeks' that would delay the implementation of regulations the simplify the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, CongressDaily reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Oregon Insurers Moving Away from HMO-Type Plans
Excerpt: "Providence Health Plan, the second largest HMO in Oregon, announced last week that it won't run like an HMO after July 1. In its new incarnation, the health plan will let enrollees go directly to specialists without referrals. The insurer won't assign primary care 'gatekeepers.' Nor will it give doctors financial incentives to limit spending on patient care. It will however, require individuals to foot a bigger share of the bill." (The Oregonian)
H.M.O.'s Late on Paying Many Claims, Study Finds
Excerpt: "More than $1 billion of H.M.O. claims will not be paid promptly enough to comply with a New Jersey law this year, according to a study released yesterday by an association of doctors in the state." (New York Times; free registration required)
Six Major HMOs are Breaking State Prompt Pay Law, NJ Medical Society Says
Excerpt: "A prospective study by the Medical Society of New Jersey (MSNJ) reports that more than $1 billion of this year's HMO claims will not be paid in accordance with the prompt payment law signed by Governor Christie Whitman in December 1999. The study -- which is the most comprehensive ever in the United States -- tracked medical claims from ... [six HMOs, representing] 90 percent of the managed care market -- [and says they] violated the law more than 25 percent of the time." (PR Newswire, via Excite News)
Ihavegoals.Com Introduces Goal-Setting System for Corporate Market
Excerpt: "In an effort to help companies recruit and retain a high-performance workforce for competitive advantage in today's unsettled economy, ihavegoals.com (www.ihavegoals.com) [has] unveiled a version of its personalized goal-setting system targeted at the corporate marketplace." (Business Wire)
Dot-coms Juggle Dot-gone Options
Excerpt: "FREE-FALLING DOT-COM SHARE values have driven some online companies to reissue now-worthless employee stock options in an effort to keep morale up amid the market downturn.... To reinject employees' benefits and keep them on board, these companies and a host of others like them are giving employees the chance to trade in their original options for reissued options that have a different exercise price, or fixed price at which the employees can buy shares ..." (IDG.net)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Executive Compensation & Benefits Consultant | for Clark Bardes Consulting/Compensation Resource Group, Inc in CA, DC, GA, IL, NY, OH, TX |
| Pension Specialist | for Western Growers Association (leading agricultural trade association) in CA |
| Pension Consultants/Administrators; F/T & P/T | for Northern NJ Mid-Size Pension Consulting Firm in NJ, NY |
| Team Leader - Benefits Administration | for Towers Perrin in NY |
| 401(k) Retirement Plan Administrators | for Third Party Administrative Firms in CA |
| Senior Plan Service Team Specialist | for ICMA Retirement Corporation in DC |
| 401(k) Operations Manager | for Decimal, Inc. in CA |
| Junior Plan Administrator/Technical Support Technician | for Pensions Ltd. in San Diego County in CA |
| Employee Benefit Analyst | for Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in DC |
| Benefits Writer | for Prudential in NJ |
| Retirement Plan Specialist-New Business Officer for Fifth Third Bank, Kentucky, Inc | for Fifth Third Bank in KY |
| Benefits Consultant | for Plante & Moran, LLP in MI |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| MERCER/FOSTER HIGGINS NATIONAL SURVEY OF EMPLOYER-SPONSORED HEALTH PLANS | in CA on May 8, 2001 presented by Employee Benefit Planning Association of Southern California |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Anchorage | in AK on June 19, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Atlanta | in GA on June 19, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Buffalo | in NY on June 5, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Chicago (SW) | in IL on June 5, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Chicago (O'Hare) | in IL on June 19, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Dallas | in TX on June 25, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Fargo | in ND on June 12, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Houston | in TX on June 5, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Jacksonville | in FL on June 26, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Minneapolis | in MN on June 19, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Orlando | in FL on June 4, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Richmond | in VA on June 12, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Salt Lake City | in UT on June 11, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Sioux Falls | in SD on June 26, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Syracuse | in NY on June 26, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Tampa | in FL on June 25, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Virginia Beach | in VA on June 19, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Austin | in TX on July 10, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Boston | in MA on July 24, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Charleston | in SC on July 31, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Charlotte | in NC on July 24, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Kansas City | in MO on July 31, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Knoxville | in TN on July 24, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Memphis | in TN on July 18, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Nashville | in TN on July 10, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Philadelphia | in PA on July 31, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Providence | in RI on July 10, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Raleigh | in NC on July 18, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Sacramento | in CA on July 18, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - San Antonio | in TX on July 18, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - San Jose | in CA on July 31, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - St. Louis | in MO on July 18, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
| FMLA; Coordinating FMLA, ADA, and Workers' Comp; COBRA; HIPAA; and Section 125 - Wilmington | in DE on July 10, 2001 presented by A.E. Roberts Company |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| 401kShopper, a New Search-and-Comparison Tool, Simplifies & Speeds Employers' 401(k) Retirement Plan Search! (401kExchange.com) |
Subscribe to the Retirement Plans Edition, too (click)
Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
You may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole.
Click here to learn how your company can sponsor a future issue!
BenefitsLink is a registered trademark of BenefitsLink.com, Inc., published by Dave Baker with much help from Mary Hall and lots of friends.
We're proud of our privacy policy.
To subscribe (free): visit https://benefitslink.com/newsletter - or the person desiring to subscribe can send an email to BLwelfare@add.mb00.net
We have an online archive of prior issues at
https://benefitslink.com/newsletters/