| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
July 16, 2001
Today's sponsor: The COBRA Administrator Handbook (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!
How Xerox Met its CEO's Mandate to Lower Benefits Costs by 10%
Excerpt: "Xerox's benefits budget is, of course, enormous by most benefits managers' standards. And in fact, some of its cost-cutting strategies were easy pickings given the generosity of Xerox's existing programs. [Benefits manager Cathy] Diamond's cost-control methods are a good model for a systematic approach to cost cutting. Here's her step-by-step process ..." (IOMA's Report on Managing Benefits Plans)
Analysis: Court Rules That Not Covering Prescription Contraceptives Violates the PDA
Excerpt: "In a case of first impression, a federal district court in Seattle ruled in Erickson v. Bartell Co. that an employer violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) by not covering prescription contraceptives under the group health plan." (Watson Wyatt)
Washington State Insurer Sued Over Health Plans
Excerpt: "Regence Blueshield, the state's largest insurer, is being sued for excluding prescription birth control in coverage plans." (Washington Post)
Lesser-Known Tax Provisions Affect Employers, Too
Excerpt: "[T]he Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act also affects educational assistance, adoption assistance and other employer programs." (Watson Wyatt)
Employee Benefit Provisions Beyond Pension Reform
Excerpt: "The [Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001] improves the tax treatment of employer-provided assistance for adoption, child care, and educational expenses.... To encourage employers to provide child care services for their employees or at least help their employees find a child care provider, the Act creates a new tax credit for employer expenses for child care assistance." (Deloitte & Touche)
Seven Weeks of Vacation?! Those Europeans Know How to Relax
Excerpt: "Within the 15 European Union countries, laws assure employees a minimum four weeks off. And a generous supply of public holidays pushes the actual minimum time off to as many as 43 days. The average is 36 days - roughly seven weeks." (The Palm Beach Post via the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Private, Federal Managers Share Doubts About Telecommuting
Excerpt: "Private sector managers are as reluctant to embrace telecommuting as those in the federal government, according to a new report by the General Accounting Office. 'Even though telecommuting has grown over the past decade, some proponents are concerned that various laws and regulations discourage employers from establishing these programs,' GAO found." (GovExec.com)
Pending Legislation Will Increase Meal Deduction
Excerpt: "The Senate is considering legislation that would accelerate the rise in the meals expense deduction for truck drivers to 80 percent. Under current law, truck drivers are entitled to deduct 60 percent of their allowable meal expenses. That percentage is scheduled to increase to 80 percent in 2008." (AccountingWeb)
Transcript Available for Conference of Market Analysts on U.S. Health Care System
Excerpt: "Many people are concerned about some of the implications for health care cost trends of the retreat from managed care. And I want to ask the panelists about which aspects of the retreat from managed care are the most important as far as having a potential large influence on medical cost trends." (Center for Studying Health System Change)
Analysts Say Prescription Drug Costs Driven By Consumer Demand; Expect Costs to Shift To Employees
Excerpt: "Efforts to control health care costs have taken a 'back seat' to demand for more 'freedom and choice,' health policy analysts said at a July 12 roundtable discussion hosted by the Center for Studying Health System Change' ... [P]anelists agreed that 'declining corporate profits' will force employers to shift more health care costs to workers." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Analysts Predict Continuing Healthcare Inflation
Excerpt: "Healthcare costs ... are likely to continue their upward path, Wall Street analysts said Thursday.... Another cost factor ... is the move to looser managed care plans with higher utilization, and the death of capitation.... [D]efined contributions, while saving employers money in the short run, could boost health costs overall in the long term 'because employers would lose bargaining power if they couldn't deliver a set number of workers to a plan.'" (Medscape; free registration required)
Doctors View Blue Cross Bonuses As Public Relations Ploy
Excerpt: "The San Diego County Medical Society calls the move [to pay bonuses to doctors based on patient satisfaction] a ruse. 'The idea that physicians will not focus on quality of care without direct financial benefit is galling on its own, but when put forth by the very same profitable HMOs that are bankrupting physician groups, this position is indefensible,' the doctors group said in a statement." (KGTV TheSanDiegoChannel.com via Yahoo! News)
Opinion: the Real Medicare Scare
Excerpt: "On Thursday, the Bush administration trotted out a nice little proposal to put discount prescription drug cards in the hands of senior citizens. At the 'See Spot run!' level of sophistication, this is all about helping elderly people pay less money for the expensive pills, patches, syrups and other medicines that the federal Medicare program doesn't cover." (Chicago Tribune)
Bush Pledges Medicare Overhaul
Excerpt: "President Bush pledged an overhaul of Medicare on Thursday to expand its coverage and improve its services and as a first step he offered seniors a discount card for cheaper drugs.... Bush said Medicare's most pressing challenge is helping seniors pay for prescription drugs, contending in many cases elderly people were paying a large portion of their income for the drugs." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
The President's Medicare Rx Discount Card Program
Links to an executive summary, an administration press release, and document entitled 'Why the President Thinks It's Important to Provide Seniors With a Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit." (Health Care Financing Administration)
Employers Offering Transportation Fringe Benefits Will Have To Make Retroactive Correction
Excerpt: "Employers that provide both 'qualified transportation fringe benefits' (such as programs that permit employees to pay parking expenses with pre-tax compensation) and a retirement plan will need to adopt a new amendment by the end of the GUST remedial amendment period." (Debra L. Hinshaw, Esq. of Baker & Daniels)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser Benefit One of America
Excerpt: "Benefit One of America, Inc. offers expertise in the areas of COBRA compliance, HIPAA certification, retiree and leave of absence billing, flexible spending account (FSA) administration, and personalized benefit statements. Their track record in the areas of compliance and client retention, coupled with competitive pricing, makes Benefit One the powerful choice for US employers when deciding to outsource benefits administration functions."
Another Question is Answered in the Stock Options, Restricted Stock and Other Long-Term Employment Incentives Q&A Column
Many privately held companies use stock options to attract new hires. What happens to these options when these companies are bought out by another company or go public via a reverse merger? Does the vesting schedule accelerate? Do the options convert to options for the new company's stock? (BenefitsLink.com)
NYSE Window for Stock Option Planning
Excerpt: "This past spring, the SEC issued a release that extended a pilot program under which the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) exempts certain compensatory stock plans from its shareholder approval requirements. The exemption expires September 30, 2001." (Mark Poerio, Esq. of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky, and Walker LLP)
Senator Lieberman Introduces Bill To Eliminate AMT In Connection With ISOs
Excerpt: "Under a bill introduced by the Connecticut Democrat and former vice presidential candidate, workers who exercise incentive stock options no longer would face the alternative minimum tax. The bill, SB 1142, was introduced June 28." (National Association of Stock Plan Professionals)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Managing Director-Executive Benefits-Dallas | for Clark Bardes/ Compensation Resource Group in TX |
| Pension Administrator | for Pension Investors Corporation in FL |
| Benefit Plan Administrator | for Del Monte in CA |
| Benefits Service Specialist | for Largest public transportation agency in the U.S. in NJ, NY |
| Benefits Specialist/Technical Writer (11704) | for CallConnect Communications, Inc. in CO |
| Client Services Consultant | for American United Life Insurance Company in MI, TX |
| Senior Worker's Compensation Claims Specialist | for Administaff in TX |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| Prototype Plan Workshop--NEW! Only in August at Four Locations; 1 | in IL on August 16, 2001 presented by SunGard Corbel |
| Prototype Plan Workshop--NEW! Only in August at Four Locations; 1 | in TX on August 22, 2001 presented by SunGard Corbel |
| Prototype Plan Workshop--NEW! Only in August at Four Locations; 1 | in CO on August 23, 2001 presented by SunGard Corbel |
| Prototype Plan Workshop--NEW! Only in August at Four Locations; 1 | in GA on August 15, 2001 presented by SunGard Corbel |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| IE-Engine COO to speak August 15th at Insurance Technology For Agents & Carriers Conference (IE-Engine Inc.) |
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