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The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Welfare Plans Edition
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July 17, 2001 - 6,294 subscribers
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Future of Patients' Rights to Go Before High Court
Case regarding Illinois law requiring independent review of HMO denial of plaintiff's claim. Excerpt: "At issue are laws regulating managed care, passed by dozens of states in recent years over such things as whether insurers should have to pay for most emergency room visits or allow women to stay an extra day in the hospital after a mastectomy. Do the laws, including those requiring independent review of disputes, apply to the 65% or so of workers who get insurance through a private employer?" (USA Today)

A Popular Perk for Parents: Backup Child Care
Excerpt: "For many working parents, when a day care center suddenly closes or the nanny phones at 6 a.m. to say she can't make it in, the delicate balance between work and family can topple like a stack of blocks ... Employees with backup care generally get 20 days a year and pay a nominal fee to use a facility-- which may be dedicated to one or a group of businesses-- when their regular arrangements go awry." (Christian Science Monitor)

Federal Employees' Student Loan Benefit Misunderstood, Officials Say
Excerpt: "While many federal employees believe the benefit is an entitlement, the real purpose of the student loan repayment benefit is to help agencies recruit and retain highly skilled workers for positions that are difficult to fill, officials from the Office of Personnel Management and Veterans Affairs Department said ..." (GovExec.com)

National Health Information Privacy: Regulations Under HIPAA
Good overview. Excerpt: "The rule reaches virtually all those who use medical and financial information in the health care system, creating a national standard of privacy protection. Specifically, the rule applies to 'covered entities,' including: (1) health plans ... (2) health care clearinghouses ... (e.g., billing service); and (3) health care providers who conduct certain financial and administrative transactions (e.g., billing and fund transfers) electronically." (Journal of the American Medical Association)

Demand Fuels Sharp Rise in Health Plan Drug Costs
Excerpt: "Consumers' voracious appetite for prescription medications, particularly new products, is what is primarily behind managed care plans' double-digit drug expenditures, University of Michigan researchers reported [July 13]." (Medscape; free registration required)

House to Get 'Little Time to Recover' from Campaign Finance Debate Before Taking on Patients' Rights
Excerpt: "Lawmakers in the House will likely face a 'searing partisan struggle' over patients' rights legislation 'as soon as this week,' the Los Angeles Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Workers Opting for Lower Health Premiums Instead of Pay Raises
Excerpt: "Faced with the option of 'putting money in their wallets' or lowering their health care costs, more workers are choosing affordable health care, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Overview: ERISA and HMO Liability
Excerpt: "State laws that 'regulate insurance' are saved from ERISA preemption by the Savings Clause of the Act. However, state insurance laws may not regulate self-insured ERISA plans.... The Savings Clause, which exempts state insurance laws from ERISA preemption, permits the state to regulate commercial insurers even if they underwrite the benefits provided by an ERISA health plan." (Vijaya M. Vemulakonda on the American Medical Association web site)

(Following items also appear in Retirement Plans Edition)


Another Question is Answered in the Stock Options, Restricted Stock and Other Long-Term Employment Incentives Q&A Column
How do employers handle employees who have vested stock options but who leave the company either voluntarily or involuntarily? (BenefitsLink.com)

Another Question is Answered in the Stock Options, Restricted Stock and Other Long-Term Employment Incentives Q&A Column
If an option that's "in the money" is exercised, and stocks are acquired but not sold, then my tax liability is on the "spread" at excercise, correct? So to avoid risk, isn't it wise to exercise, acquire and then sell? In other words, why should someone exercise a stock option, pay the tax, and then risk having the stock's value drop? (BenefitsLink.com)

Stock Options No Longer Guaranteed Windfalls for CEOs
Excerpt: "A look through the list of executives at companies that have been acquired or fallen on hard times offers stark lessons in what some compensation experts call 'at-risk compensation.'" (Washington Post)

Archive of IRS "Employee Plans News"
Excerpt: "A publication of the Employee Plans office of the TE/GE Operating Division of the IRS, these newsletters present information about retirement plans. The freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader software is required to view, print and search these files." (Internal Revenue Service)




Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
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in PA

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Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc., but you may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole. This newsletter is edited by David Rhett Baker, J.D.