| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
May 24, 2001
Today's sponsor: EBIA's ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans (click)
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans is an authoritative resource for employers, administrators and advisors. Written by leading employee benefits attorneys, this manual has all the information you need to bring your welfare benefit plans into compliance with ERISA.
Texas House Passes Measure to Protect Patient Records from 'Commercial Interests'
Excerpt: "The Texas House on May 22 passed legislation (SB 11) that would 'better protect' patients' medical information from 'commercial interests,' the Austin American-Statesman reports. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jane Nelson (R), would prohibit doctors, hospitals, employers and pharmacies from releasing individual patient information for marketing without a patient's 'explicit consent' ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Retiree Health Care Coverage and ADEA: Issues Raised by the Erie County Case
Excerpt: "For now, Erie County is only law in the Third Circuit (Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania). The trial court's comparative analysis of the benefits in that case will be precedent in western Pennsylvania, in the area of that court's jurisdiction. Other ways of comparing benefits will doubtless be suggested in other cases. Some employers or plan sponsors will, doubtless, continue to contest the basic premise ... Few practitioners believe that the basic legal questions are settled." (The Segal Company)
U. Pittsburgh Committee to Consider Offering Same-Sex Benefits
Excerpt: "The University of Pittsburgh announced Tuesday that it would form a committee to study the feasibility of extending health benefits to the same-sex partners of University employees. The decision comes after more than five years of litigation between Pitt and the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents seven current and former employees to whom the University has refused to extend same-sex partner health benefits." (The Pitt News)
Vermont House of Representatives OKs Civil Union Law Repeal
Excerpt: "The bill given preliminary approval in the GOP-controlled House would provide marriage benefits to those in 'reciprocal partnerships.' Gay couples would be eligible, but so would other couples who cannot legally marry ... Opponents say the plan is an attempt to demean gay relationships, while insurance experts say partnerships would be so different from marriage that actuarial tables would be thrown off and some companies might stop doing business in Vermont." (Associated Press, via Yahoo! News)
Exxon Pressed on Gay Rights
Excerpt: "At the company's annual meeting next week, shareholders will vote for the second year in a row on a proposal to include sexual orientation in the company's anti-discrimination policy. The proposal is sponsored by the New York City pension funds, an institutional investor with a long history of shareholder activism aimed at improving workplaces." (Washington Post)
New Disclosure Requirements for Health and Welfare Plans (PDF)
Excerpt: "Sponsors of funded health and welfare benefit plans are subject to new disclosure requirements in their plan's financial statements under revised standards recently issued by the [AICPA]. Although any health and welfare plan with assets held in a trust is affected by the AICPA's Statement of Opinion (SOP) 01-2 (Accounting and Reporting by Health and Welfare Benefit Plans), the implications are greatest for funded retiree health benefits ..." (Milliman USA)
Jeffords Party Switch Likely to Influence Health Legislation
Excerpt: "As expected, Sen. James Jeffords (Vt.) announced this morning that he will leave the Republican party and serve as an Independent, giving Democrats control of the Senate for the first time since 1994, the Washington Post reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Patients' Rights Bill Likely 'Dead' in Tennessee State House This Year
Excerpt: "Under 'pressure' from the insurance industry, a Tennessee state House Budget subcommittee on May 23 voted to 'delay consideration' on patients' rights legislation (HB 1466) until the Legislature passes the state budget ... the Nashville Tennessean reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Rough Sailing for Bush Agenda After Jeffords Switch
Excerpt: "The immediate effect of the switch would be to elevate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota into the majority leader slot, where he would set the Senate agenda. Democrats would take over committee chairmanships, setting the course for those panels and taking what in some cases would be a radically different approach from their predecessors. The Democratic alternatives on issues such as HMO reform ... stymied under Republican leadership -- would move to the forefront." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
AMA Announces Opposition to Frist Managed Care Bill
Excerpt: "The American Medical Association (AMA) today announced its opposition to the Frist patients' rights bill (S. 889) and expressed confidence that a strong patients' bill of rights would be signed into law this year.... 'We continue to strongly support the McCain/Edwards bipartisan patients' bill of rights. It is similar to the successful Texas law, and we would love to see it become the law of the land,' [said Thomas R. Reardon, MD, AMA Immediate Past President]." (PR Newswire, via Excite News)
Economist: Consumerism, Not HMOs, Will Define U.S. Healthcare
Excerpt: "Managed care helped keep healthcare inflation at bay during the 1990s, but its restrictions so infuriated doctors and patients that proponents of the strategy are now in full retreat, a health economist writes in The Journal of the American Medical Association." (Reuters via Excite News)
U. Washington's Distance Learning Courses Can Help Managers Address Issues of Aging Workforce
Recently brought to BenefitsLink's attention, this UW program addresses many issues that benefits managers may wish to draw upon in future planning, given the rapidly increasing size of the elder population. Understanding fundamental social, cultural, biological, psychological and functional aspects and principles of aging may help managers to better understand older workers' and retirees' needs. (University of Washington Educational Outreach)
PWBA Creates Compliance Assistance Web Page
Excerpt: "The following is a compilation of the many items available on the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration's website that have been specifically developed by or for the PWBA to assist and inform employers and employee benefit plan practitioners in understanding and complying with many requirements of [ERISA] ..." (U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)
Technical Tip: Beware of DOL Service Provider Investigations
Excerpt: "In the PWBA's Strategic Enforcement Plan, it states that service providers, including third party administrators, will be a primary target for investigative activity. Why is that?" (Reish Luftman McDaniel & Reicher)
Effect of Change in Parties by Jeffords May Transform Powerful Senate Committees
Excerpt: "The new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee would probably be Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Mr. Kennedy would replace Senator Jeffords, who is now the Republican chairman of the committee. Mr. Jeffords is thought likely to move to the chairmanship of the Environment Committee under an agreement with the new Democratic leadership." (New York Times; free registration required)
How Employees Value (Often Incorrectly) Their Stock Options
Excerpt: "The typical explanation for the use of stock options is that these compensation vehicles enable companies to attract and retain the best employees and also provide superior incentives for employees to increase shareholder value.... [These explanations assume] that employees understand how stock options work. Yet according to recent research by Wharton professors David F. Larcker and Richard A. Lambert, employees, in fact, tend not to understand the basic economics of stock options ..." (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
Are Employers Out of Step With Older Employees?
Excerpt: "What if you held a contest for best workplace and no one applied? AARP, the advocacy organization for people 50 and over, almost found out when it invited employers to compete for a listing in its Modern Maturity magazine as one of the 'best employers for workers over 50.' ... Total applicants: 14." (CareerJournal.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Client Service Representative | for LaRhette Manin Benefits Service Group in MA |
| HR Supervisor | for Harris Mason Recruiting Services in CA |
| Senior Research Associate | for International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, Inc. in WI |
| Manager-Plan Service Team | for ICMA-Retirement Corporation in DC |
| Sr. Retirement Planning Analyst | for First National Bank of Omaha in IA, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| 2001 AICPA Annual DOL and Benefit Plan Update | in DC on December 3, 2001 presented by AICPA - American Institute of Certified Public Accountants |
| AICPA National Conference on Executive Compensation | in CA on June 13, 2001 presented by AICPA - American Institute of Certified Public Accountants |
| AICPA National Conference on Employee Benefit Plans | in CA on May 20, 2002 presented by AICPA - American Institute of Certified Public Accountants |
| AICPA National Conference on Employee Benefit Plans | in TX on May 5, 2003 presented by AICPA - American Institute of Certified Public Accountants |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| Senate Tax Bill Vote Brings Momentum for Prompt Enactment of Retirement Legislation (American Benefits Council) |
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