| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
May 25, 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!
House Bill Would Provide Tax Credits For "Telework"
Rep. Frank Wolf (Va.), along with five cosponsors, has introduced H.R. 1012, the Telework Tax Incentive Act. The bill would provide a tax credit to both employers and employees in order to encourage telecommuting. (SpencerNet)
Consumer Groups Sue Pharmaceutical Companies
Excerpt: "Consumer groups all over the country have started filing lawsuits to stop what they say are illegal actions by the pharmaceutical companies, and sometimes generic firms, that squelch competition." (StarTribune.com)
Mandatory Health Coverage Bill for Domestic Partners Passes in Maine
Excerpt: "... the House on May 22 voted 91-49 to approve a bill (LD 1703) requiring health insurers that cover spouses of policy holders to also cover domestic partners, the AP/Foster's Daily Democrat ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Where Are You Taking Your (Unpaid) Vacation This Year?
Excerpt: "Intel has asked its employees to take two weeks unpaid leave this summer, becoming the latest high-tech firm to use payless vacation as a cost-reduction measure. But unlike most other large companies that have announced unpaid leave strategies over the past month, Intel said Wednesday that its plan is purely voluntary." (Newsfactor.com)
Minnesota Governor Signs Bill Prohibiting Genetic Testing by Employers
BNA's Pension & Benefits Daily is reporting that the legislation, S.F. 1721, becomes effective August 1, and is patterned after a similar law in Rhode Island. (StarTribune.com)
Medical Costs Surge as Hospitals Force Insurers to Raise Payments
Excerpt: "Many hospitals are winning sharply higher payments from insurers, and the efforts by insurance companies to pass those costs along to employers and consumers are contributing to the most rapid surge in medical costs in years." (New York Times; free registration required)
Jeffords Switch Spells Uncertainty for Health Care
Excerpt: "Democratic control of the U.S. Senate rekindled investor concern on Thursday that legislation seen cutting into the bottom line at drug companies and health maintenance organizations may find new life." (Reuters via Excite News)
U.S. Senate Democrats Outline Legislative Wish List
Excerpt: "The power shift in the U.S. Senate gives Democrats the leverage they need to advance their top priorities, chief among them a patients' bill of rights, but most of the items on their legislative wish list are unlikely to become law any time soon without dramatic changes." (Reuters via Excite News)
Jeffords Switch May Aid Patients Rights Bill
Excerpt: "Democrats pledged to make patients' rights a top priority of their newly gained Senate leadership, a possible blow to President Bush's desire to limit lawsuits against HMOs. 'The second bill will be the Patients' Bill of Rights,' Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Thursday..." (Las Vegas Sun)
Health Care Industry Braces for Change in Senate
Excerpt: "Lobbyists for the managed care industry immediately began saying that the right to sue insurers for medical malpractice would be unacceptably costly unless awards were held to no more than $500,000 and cases were confined to federal courts, as the Republicans have proposed. Drug companies, meanwhile, are preparing for a fight over management of a prescription drug benefit for the elderly." (New York Times; free registration required)
Senate Switch Alters Outlook for Businesses
Excerpt: "Other industries will lose significant clout. Health care, for instance, will come under the purview of a committee led by Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Drug makers now face increasing likelihood that the Senate will investigate pricing practices with renewed vigor and adopt a patients' bill of rights measure that includes prescription benefits provisions opposed by the industry." (New York Times; free registration required)
Jeffords Defects, Forcing Shift in Agenda
Excerpt: "Seeking issues with broad public support, Democratic leaders said that when they take control -- probably within two weeks -- they would complete the bipartisan education bill and then shift the agenda to their own priorities, which are bills to guarantee rights to managed-care patients, to provide money for prescription drugs for the elderly ..." (New York Times; free registration required)
Organizations Under Pressure To Meet HIPAA Deadlines For Electronic Transactions and Privacy
With less than 18 months remaining until the compliance deadline for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) transaction regulations, three quarters of healthcare organizations (HCOs) have not completed assessments of their current environments and risks, according to a recent survey . (SpencerNet)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| 401(k) Consultant | for Louis Kravitz & Associates, Inc. in CA |
| Sr. Retirement Planning Analyst | for First National Bank of Omaha in NE |
| 401K Administrator | for NFS in CA |
| Senior Level Defined Contribution Manager | for Merit Benefits Group, Inc. in IL |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| 4th Annual ESOP Communications Seminar | in IL on July 12, 2001 presented by The ESOP Association |
| 3rd Annual ESOP Repurchase Obligation Seminar | in IL on September 11, 2001 presented by The ESOP Association |
| 11th Annual ESOP Technical Conference | in NV on November 1, 2001 presented by The ESOP Association |
| 25th Annual ESOP Conference | in DC on May 15, 2002 presented by The ESOP Association |
| Equity Compensation Seminar | in DC on October 4, 2001 presented by The ESOP Association |
| Employer E-Health | in CO on July 12, 2001 presented by Active Communications International (ACI) |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| More than 90 Group Insurance Carriers and Specialty Vendors Participate in IE-Engine Private e-Marketplaces (IE-Engine Inc.) |
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