| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
June 26, 2001
Today's sponsor: InvestLink Technologies, Inc. (click)
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4th and 8th U.S. Circuit Courts: "Serious Health Condition" Could Include Flu, Virus
Excerpt: "Although the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) originally was designed to provide job-protected leave in the event of 'serious health conditions,' two recent federal appellate court rulings seem to expand the law's coverage to the flu and other minor ailments. Both courts relied heavily on the definition of 'serious health condition' outlined in the law and the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) regulations and opinion letters to make their rulings." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Court May Review Health Insurance Case
Excerpt: "The United States Supreme Court asked the Justice Department today for its views on laws that bar health care plans from setting up closed networks of doctors, pharmacies and other medical providers. The health insurance industry has been fighting so-called any-willing- provider laws ... in 24 states. The laws generally require health plans with preferred provider networks to pay for coverage provided by any doctor who has accepted the plan's payment terms." (New York Times; free registration required)
Recent Legal Rulings Address Contraceptive Coverage (PDF)
2 pages, July 2001 issue of the Bulletin. Excerpt: "A series of recent legal rulings, discussed in this Bulletin, address the legality of plan provisions that exclude coverage for prescription contraceptives and contraception-related services, such as outpatient visits." (The Segal Company)
Meals and Lodging Costs Incurred During Non-Temporary Assignment Held Nondeductible
Alert: U.S. Compensation and Benefits News Brief for June 18, 2001. Other articles include 'Per-diem payments held to be wages subject to employment taxes; Domestic partner benefits only for same-sex couples held constitutional; Qualified plans and elective compensation reductions for qualified transportation; New alternatives for Sec. 415(b) accrued benefit limit under RPA amendments; Transfer of assets between VEBAs will not result in prohibited inurement." (Andersen)
Creative Options In Child Care Reduce Stress
Excerpt: "Two years ago, Abbott Laboratories, the giant global health-care company based in North Chicago, Ill., did a survey and found an astonishing fact: Its 15,000 employees at the time in Lake County had some 5,000 children under the age of 15. And many of the parents reported they experienced stress because of the lack of quality, affordable child care in their community." (Chicago Tribune)
Businesses Offer Perks to Attract Teachers to Aiken County, South Carolina
Excerpt: "With four dozen teacher slots to fill before the back-to-school bell rings, Aiken County businesses are banding together to make moving to the area more affordable.... the bag of incentives ... is worth about $4,500. Participating businesses have agreed to provide 15 of those packages, and the Aiken Chamber of Commerce is looking for more companies willing to do the same." (The Augusta Chronicle)
New Jersey Assembly Set to Pass Patients' Rights Bill
Excerpt: "While Congress 'grabs the headlines' in a fight over a federal patients' rights bill, New Jersey lawmakers this week will likely pass 'one of the strongest laws in the nation' that allows patients to sue HMOs, the Bergen Record reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Opinion: Tom Daschle Goes To Bat for the Trial Lawyers
Excerpt: "To sue or not to sue, that is the only relevant question holding up Congressional passage of something called a Patients' Bill of Rights this year. We in the United States seem to have arrived at the point in our social relations where many people, and certainly the entire Democratic Party, believe that no private institution will act in good faith absent the possibility of being torn to pieces by a lawsuit." (OpinionJournal.com)
Opinion: McCain-Kennedy Bill is Prescription for Litigation Disaster
Excerpt: "People who have had a long and deep interest in formulating sound public policy in our civil justice system never would have believed it possible, but it has occurred -- walking from Capitol Hill office to Capitol Hill office are respected leaders in the physician community, linked in arms with very wealthy personal injury lawyers." (Victor E. Schwartz, Esq. on Medscape; free registration required)
Kaiser Family Foundation Gathers, Publishes Ads Used by HMO Bill Interest Groups
Includes ads from the National Partnership for Women and Families, the American Association of Health Plans, the American Medical Association, the Health Benefits Coalition, the American Association of Health Plans and the American Medical Association. (KaiserNetwork.org)
California Law Already Guards Patients' Rights
Excerpt: "If you put California's patients' bill of rights back to back with the federal one being debated in the U.S. Senate, the state's laws definitely have the edge. 'While this whole patients' rights debate is being billed in Washington as a big deal, in California -- because we darn well enacted practically everything -- it's kind of ho-hum,' said Steven Thompson, vice president of governmental affairs for the California Medical Association, a state doctors' group." (Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
Comparison of Liability Provisions in McCain-Kennedy, Frist HMO Reform Bills
Concise online chart details the differences in causes of action, limits on liability, requirement of administrative remedy exhaustion, state or federal court jurisdiction, more. (Groom Law Group)
Harkin Pushes Right to Sue HMOs in State Courts
Excerpt: "Harkin, who last year sat on a patients' rights conference committee, is a co-sponsor of a bill that would allow consumers to sue in state or federal court, depending on the kind of case. In state courts, damages would depend upon state laws." (The Des Moines Register)
GOP Mounting Attacks on HMO Bill
Excerpt: "Republicans senators are introducing amendments, or changes, that would curb the lawsuit provisions sought by Democrats for aggrieved patients in HMOs and other health plans. In particular, they want to keep employers from being sued simply because they provided the health insurance. A vote was expected on the issue Tuesday." (Associated Press)
Continuing Live Coverage of the Patients' Rights Debate, from KaiserNetwork.org
Includes links to recorded debate during previous days. Requires Real Player to view. (KaiserNetwork.org)
Senators Seek Deal on Patients' Rights
Excerpt: "Senate Democrats said they hoped to reach agreement with moderate Republicans on Tuesday to limit the liability of employers under a far-reaching patients' bill of rights, increasing pressure on President Bush to back away from his veto threat." (Reuters via Excite News)
Debate: Will Patients' Rights Bill Be Good for Patients or for Lawyers?
Excerpt: "CNN's Jeanne Meserve spoke about the issue with Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, and Susan Pisano, vice president of communications for the American Association of Health Care Plans. This is an edited transcript." (CNN.com)
Opinion: HMO Bill Becomes Battle of Anecdotes
Excerpt: "The Senate debate over the patients' bill of rights has become, in large part, a battle of anecdotes--and a one-sided fight it is. Backers of the Kennedy-McCain-Edwards bill, the sweeping legislation President Bush has threatened to veto, come armed each day with stories about the youngster whose brain tumor was missed because an HMO denied his parents' request for a specialist referral or the mother whose breast cancer was ignored until it was too late." (David S. Broder on Yahoo! News)
Senate Likely To Approve HMO Reform
Excerpt: "As early as this week, the Senate is expected to vote to extend at least some of [the leverage of a threatened lawsuit] to virtually all 180 million people in the United States enrolled in health plans. But critical questions confronting lawmakers are how broad the right to sue should be and whether patients should face limits on what they can collect in damages." (Contra Costa Times)
Shield Is Sought for Employers Under Patients' Bill of Rights
Excerpt: "The Senate began a second week of debate [Monday] on a far-reaching bill to define patients' rights, with Democrats looking for some way to limit the liability of employers who might be sued by employees in disputes over health care benefits." (New York Times; free registration required)
DOL Acts To Aid Employers With Form 5500
Excerpt: "The Department of Labor (DOL) has taken steps to help employers in completing and filing the 2000 Form 5500 Series. Employers are required to file the form, unless they obtain an extension, seven months after the end of their plan year.... The DOL' s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA) on April 26 announced the approved vendors from which employers and plan administrators may obtain software that will allow them to use the ERISA Filing Acceptance System (EFAST)." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Opinion: Lennar Looks Like a Winner to This Homeowner
Excerpt: "Lennar Corp. offers something that is hard to find in a single enterprise: high shareholder returns, modest chief executive pay and excellent customer service. Stuart Miller, CEO of the Miami-based homebuilder, has held his job since April 1997. Between his start date and last Friday, Lennar delivered an average total return of 40.9 percent a year." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
How Can You Tell If a DOL Investigation Has Been Completed?
Excerpt: "The following question and answer are from the DOL Q&A Session at the 2000 ASPA Annual Conference: We have had clients who have had a DOL Audit where the field audit has been completed and we have not heard anything for a year. When can we assume the audit is complete and no action is to be taken?" (Reish Luftman McDaniel & Reicher)
Some Employees Are Torn When Firms Reprice Options
Excerpt: "Your pay is based heavily on employee stock options. So you are keeping your fingers crossed, hoping your stock sinks like a rock. Huh? That is the unlikely predicament currently facing some employees at companies [which] recently have adopted a new form of options 'repricing' strategy sweeping through the technology and telecommunications sectors. They have set plans to issue new employee stock options -- but not until six months and one day after employees give up their old ones." (CareerJournal.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Marketing Consultant (Conversion & Case Management) | for WESPAC Plan Services, Inc. in CA |
| 401k Product Director | for Transamerica in CA |
| Sales Consulting Manager (Retirement Plan Services) | for RSM McGladrey, Inc. in ALL STATES |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001-"Fitting the Pieces Together" Legislative Symposium | in IL on July 26, 2001 presented by NTSAA |
| Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001- | in LA on July 27, 2001 presented by NTSAA |
| Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001- | in CA on August 9, 2001 presented by NTSAA |
| Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001- | in PA on July 20, 2001 presented by NTSAA |
| SECURITIES LENDING SUMMIT | in DC on September 9, 2001 presented by Opal Financial Group |
| EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONAL INVESTING SUMMIT | in Europe on October 7, 2001 presented by Opal Financial Group |
| CDO SUMMIT | in FL on November 11, 2001 presented by Opal Financial Group |
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