| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
July 18, 2001 - 6,294 subscribers
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Employee Gene-Testing Bill Wins Support -- and Criticism
Excerpt: "Bills before the House and Senate would prohibit employers and insurers from using genetic testing to discriminate against workers. The House bill has about 250 co-sponsors, the White House has signaled a willingness to pass legislation and some employer groups agree in principle with the bills." (CareerJournal.com)
Doctors Group Sues Department of Health and Human Services Over HIPAA Privacy Regs Constitutionality
Excerpt: "The South Carolina Medical Association, which includes 6,000 physicians, wants to overturn the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's regulations that grant patients the right to see their records and to control who reviews them.... The association claims the rules are unconstitutional because they were drawn up by the federal agency with little congressional input. Agencies cannot exercise more power or authority than that authorized by Congress, according to the lawsuit." (Washington Post)
Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Constitutional Challenge To City's Domestic Partner Law
The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a constitutional challenge to a San Francisco ordinance that requires contractors with the city to provide nondiscriminatory benefits to employees with registered domestic partners. (Spencernet)
Tampa Council Set To Revisit Domestic Partner Benefits After Police Officer's Death
Excerpt: "Two weeks after the death of Police Officer Lois Marrero sparked debate over whether her longtime domestic partner should receive city benefits, the Tampa City Council will raise the question Thursday of modifying the city's pension package to encompass same-sex unions." (St. Petersburg Times)
Employer Finds Working Less Can Work Well
Excerpt: "But what really is mind-boggling is what she calls a 'mini-sabbatical': In addition to their regular vacation time, employees are required to take two additional consecutive weeks of vacation every three years." (Chicago Tribune)
Your Flexible Schedule Can Burden a Co-Worker
Excerpt: "When most workers talk about flexibility, they are looking for ways to make their own balancing act easier. But how does the flexible schedule of one worker affect everybody else in the office?" (CareerJournal.com)
House Panel Rebuffs Bush on Federal Contraceptive Coverage
Excerpt: "A key House panel yesterday overturned President Bush's proposal to eliminate contraceptive coverage for federal employees, virtually ensuring that the benefit provided to 1.2 million women in the government workforce since 1998 will remain in place." (Washington Post)
House Panel Restores FEHBP Contraceptive Coverage
Excerpt: "House appropriators Tuesday overwhelmingly agreed to restore to the fiscal 2002 Treasury-Postal appropriations bill a requirement that federal employee health plans that cover prescription drugs also pay for prescription contraceptives." (GovExec.com)
Increase in Drug Expenditures Tied to More Prescriptions, Costlier Brand-Name Products
Excerpt: "According to a report released by [the nonprofit National Institute for Health Care Management, or] NIHCM in May, consumers and insurers spent $132 billion on prescription drugs at community pharmacies in 2000, an 18.8% increase from 1999.... Prescription drugs account for only part of the health care price tag. NIHCM acknowledged that its report did not examine whether a decrease in another health care cost, such as for hospitalization, offset the increase in drug-related spending." (Medscape; free registration required)
Opinion: The Healthcare Disaster That Wasn't-- the Texas Patients' Bill of Rights
Excerpt: "When Texas passed its patients' bill of rights law, George W. Bush warned that it would unleash a plague of lawyers and drive up health costs. It didn't." (Salon.com)
Drug Ads Hyping Anxiety Make Some Uneasy
Excerpt: "The education and advertising campaigns have raised concerns that pharmaceutical companies, traditionally in the business of finding new drugs for existing disorders, are increasingly in the business of seeking new disorders for existing drugs." (Washington Post)
Another Question is Answered in the Stock Options, Restricted Stock and Other Long-Term Employment Incentives Q&A Column
How do Stock Appreciation Rights work, and can they assist management in the purchase of an owner's interest? (BenefitsLink.com)
Opinion: Computer Associates Proxy Fight Has No Good Guy
Excerpt: "One of the key charges Wyly has leveled is that Wang has been monstrously overpaid, thereby depriving the Islandia, New York-based software maker's shareholders-- such as himself-- of monies that rightly should have gone to them. Wyly has hit bone here, because it is hard for me to come up with another CEO who has been paid more excessively." (Graef Crystal, on Bloomberg.com)
List of Federal Tax Provisions Scheduled to Expire in 2001 through 2010
Excerpt: "The Joint Committee on Taxation has released a year-by-year list of the federal tax provisions that are scheduled to expire in 2001 through 2010, along with the applicable Code or Act section and the date of expiration. (See Document JCX-56-01). The list is as follows ..." (Practitioners Publishing Company)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Regional Account Representative | for Insurance Company Providing 401(k) and Other Retirement Plans in GA |
| Info Systems/Pension Business Analyst | for CNA TRUST in CA |
| Retirement Plan Administrator | for Nationwide Retirement Plan Services in FL |
| Defined Contributions Administrator | for Dreyfus in NY |
| Benefits and Compensation Specialist | for Data Systems Analysts in NJ |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| 401kExchange to Provide Services to FSC Securities Corporation (401kExchange.com) |
| LABOR DEPARTMENT TESTIFIES ON LEGISLATION TO EXPAND ACCESS TO INVESTMENT ADVICE (United States Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration) |
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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.
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