| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
May 4, 2001
Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Webcast (click)
Webcast coming up May 30! FMLA: The Family and Medical Leave Act -- "It's Not Getting Any Easier." Instructor: Christine E. Howard, Esq. and Jennifer B. Sandberg, Esq., Fisher & Phillips LLP. Presented by Human Resource Consultants. Click to register and purchase this webcast through BenefitsLink!
Point-of-Service Alternative to HMOs Not as Popular as Predicted
Excerpt: "As an increasing number of people bolt from HMOs that route all treatment through primary care physicians, many have flocked to less restrictive health plans that allow them to choose their doctors. But a new study shows that in the case of point-of-service plans, one of the fastest-growing alternatives to HMOs, very few people exercise the freedom they pay for." (Sacramento Bee)
House Nears Plan to Help Poor Get Health Insurance
Excerpt: "Moving to help the 43 million Americans who lack health coverage, the House of Representatives early today neared approval of a plan that could lead to the biggest expansion in decades in government funding and tax credits for the uninsured." (Los Angeles Times)
Senators Examine Technology to Reduce Prescription Drug Errors
Excerpt: "Sen. John Breaux (D-La.) said, 'New technologies like these help prevent us from short-circuiting our seniors.' But Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) said that such technology is 'too expensive for hospitals.' Graham is cosponsoring a bill that would give care providers $97 million in technology grants over 10 years to help them purchase such technology ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
California Medicare Beneficiaries Can Sue Their HMOs in State Proceedings, Court Rules
Excerpt: "California Medicare+Choice beneficiaries can sue their health plans in state court for denying 'necessary but expensive medical treatment,' the California Supreme Court ruled in a 5-2 decision on May 3, the Los Angeles Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
District Court Holds on Remand that Erie County's Retiree Health Program Flunks ADEA Test
Excerpt: "On April 16, 2001, the United States District Court ... issued a much-awaited ruling on remand from Erie County Retirees Ass'n v. County of Erie ... [which] held that Erie County's retiree health benefit program fails to satisfy the 'equal cost or equal benefit' safe harbor codified in [ADEA because] benefits paid to Medicare-eligible participants through a Medicare HMO unlawfully are lesser in amount than those paid to pre-Medicare retirees through a point-of-service ... plan." (Groom Law Group)
Amicus Brief for American Association of Health Plans In State Law Bad Faith Preemption Case
In the 11th Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals. Excerpt: "[Issue:] Whether the district court erred in finding that the Alabama common law tort of bad faith refusal to pay a claim is not preempted by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended ('ERISA'), where the court failed to apply established principles of preemption requiring a determination of whether state laws, even those arguably regulating insurance, conflict with ERISA before finding that such laws are not preempted." (Groom Law Group)
Bill Blocks Ventura From Offering Same-Sex Benefits To Minnesota State Employees
Excerpt: "The Republican-controlled House has voted to prevent Gov. Jesse Ventura from extending health insurance to same-sex partners of state employees. The amendment was attached to a state government funding bill the House passed 69-62 early Friday morning." (Associated Press via StarTribune.com)
Dental Benefits Continue Shift to Network-Based Benefits
Excerpt: "EGS 2000 dental benefit market year-end growth trends show a 8% decline in dental HMO enrollment, a 19% decline in dental indemnity members, a 21% increase in dental PPO enrollment, and a 126% increase in dental referral plan enrollment." (PRNewswire via Excite News)
Delta Dental takes on New York
Excerpt: "The Delta Dental Plan of Minnesota is taking a bite out of the Big Apple by conducting back-office operations for the largest health insurer in the state of New York, Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield. The deal with Empire is Delta's first major step toward being a national dental plan offered in conjunction with Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans across the country." (CityBusiness, The Business Journal of the Twin Cities)
Big Bucks Go to Patients' Rights Fight in Tennessee
Excerpt: "Political action committees and individuals interested in a patients' bill of rights pumped at least $1.28 million in contributions to state lawmakers and gubernatorial candidates in the past three statewide races, according to an analysis by The Tennessean. Since 1996, Republican Gov. Don Sundquist, who says the legislation could harm TennCare, has received about eight times more in contributions from insurance companies opposed to the bill than from interests for it." (The [Nashville] Tennessean)
Minnesota Physicians' Group Claims Contracts with Health Plans 'Limit' Authority
Excerpt: "Minnesota's health insurance market has become so consolidated that insurers 'can force physicians to accept lopsided business deals that limit their authority, violate patient privacy and even restrict what doctors can tell patients about managed-care plans,' according to a report released May 2 by the Minnesota Physician-Patient Alliance ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Singles Push for Tax Benefits
Excerpt: "'All we hear about is families, families, families,' said Stephanie Knapik, spokeswoman for the American Association of Single People (AASP), a newly formed lobby for singles. 'And we're just ready to gag.' ... What the AASP wants is a marriage-neutral tax code. AASP executive director Thomas Coleman asks, 'why should Congress be trying to encourage or discourage that highly personal choice' of marriage?" (Associated Press via StarTribune.com)
Free Long-Term Care?
[This article caught my eye; I sure can't vouch for it, though. Caveat lector! --BenefitsLink editor.] Excerpt: "Before you finish reading this article, you will discover an astounding fact: Because of a new crazy (but wonderful) tax law, you can actually buy, use and benefit from a long-term care policy for free and -- are you ready for this? -- actually make a substantial profit." (Irving L. Blackman and Brian Whitlock, published by Modern Machine Shop)
Vendors Offer Single Portal Web Sites To Integrate Benefits Communications and Administration
As benefits administration and communication moves to the Web, plan sponsors have found they are needlessly complicating matters by having employees handle some aspects of benefits management on the Web and others via the telephone or on paper. Requiring employees to use a variety of different Web sites further adds to the jumble. (SpencerNet)
The Wired Plan Sponsor: Web Sites That Work
Excerpt: "The results presented here are the product of two reader surveys-one conducted late last year, and the other early this January among readers of this magazine, and NewsDash, our daily e-mail news service. While our readers have been very generous with their comments about our own site (www.plansponsor.com), we have excluded ourselves from the choices offered below." (PLANSPONSOR.com)
U.S. Supreme Court Decisions Affect Pension and Health Plans (PDF)
Excerpt: "The U.S. Supreme Court's recent actions in three cases will have significant implications for employer-sponsored health and pension benefit plans. The cases involve beneficiary designations under a retirement plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); retiree health benefits for Medicare-eligible vs. non-Medicare-eligible retirees; and lump-sum benefits under a cash balance pension plan." (Milliman & Robertson, Inc.)
Share Scare
Excerpt: "Chief executives are stuffing their pay packages with shares that will allow them to profit even if investors don't. This is not a bullish sign from corporate bigwigs: They must expect things to get worse." (Forbes.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Retirement Benefits Assistant | for Morrison & Foerster in CA |
| Benefits Analyst | for Porter & Hedges, L.L.P. in TX |
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