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The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Welfare Plans Edition
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July 31, 2001 - 6,168 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Glasser LegalWorks (click)


   This timely "how to" program will address new DOL claims
procedures, the avoidance of fiduciary liability after
the Harris Trust decision, identifying conduct that
might trigger a DOL investigation under its Strategic
Enforcement Plan, and more.   Designed for ERISA fiduciaries, investment advisors, and in-
house, corporate, tax, labor, and insurance counsel.
September 21 in Chicago; October 24 in New York.
Click for full details!

Administering Health and Disability Plans Under DOL's Final Regs on Claims Procedures and SPDs (PDF)
Excerpt: "The claims and appeals procedures will apply with respect to claims for benefits filed on or after January 1, 2002.... The claims procedures set forth in the final regulation must be followed closely. If a plan fails to establish or follow claims procedures consistent with the regulations, the claimant is deemed to have exhausted the plan's administrative remedies and is entitled to pursue any available remedies under Section 502(a) of ERISA." (Pillsbury Winthrop LLP)

EGTRRA Gives Businesses a Handsome Tax Break for Offering Child Care
Excerpt: "[T]he Child Care Infrastructure Act is now a reality and goes into effect on January 1, 2002.... The law provides a handsome tax credit -- 25% of eligible child-care expenses up to a maximum of $150,000 yearly -- to employers who help create child-care services for their employees. The details of the law are to be worked out in the coming months by the IRS, but the credit could be applied, for example, to the cost of constructing a child-care center." (Business Week)

Complying With HIPAA's Medical Records Privacy Regulations (PDF)
Excerpt: "Compliance by most covered entities is required by April 14, 2003. Small health plans have until April 14, 2004 to comply.... A group health plan and authorized issuer and HMO with respect to the group health plan may disclose [personal health information] to a plan sponsor only if the plan sponsor certifies to the plan that it will use and disclose the information in accordance with the regulation." (Pillsbury Winthrop LLP)

Congress May Order Insurers to Cover More Mental Illnesses
Excerpt: "As the public stigma over mental illness fades, the Senate is poised to require health insurance companies to provide coverage for psychiatric disorders that is comparable to what they offer for other medical conditions. A Senate panel writing that legislation this week will confront the question of which types of mental illnesses should be covered." (New York Times Syndicate via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)

New Jersey Enacts Patients' Rights Bill
Excerpt: "While Congress is mired in a partisan debate over a patients' bill of rights, acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco signed a bipartisan bill yesterday that allows most New Jersey residents to sue their health-care carrier if they are seriously harmed by an insurer's decision to deny or delay medical treatment." (The [Philadelphia] Inquirer)

Norwood Reported To Be Near Deal With Bush on Patients' Rights Bill
Excerpt: "Representative Charlie Norwood, the Georgia Republican who has been leading a six-year effort to enact a patients' bill of rights, was moving close to an agreement with the White House on compromise legislation that could be put to a vote in the House of Representatives this week, Mr. Norwood's spokesman said [Monday night]." (New York Times; free registration required)

Toward Full Mental Health Parity and Beyond
Excerpt: "This paper examines what the [1996 Mental Health Parity Act] accomplished and steps toward more comprehensive parity. We explain the strategic and self-reinforcing link of parity with managed behavioral health care ... The paper ends with a discussion of what might be behind the claims that full parity in mental health benefits is insufficient to achieve true equity and whether additional steps beyond full parity appear realistic or even desirable." (Health Affairs via Medscape; free registration required)

Cashless Severance: Paying Off Departing Employees
Excerpt: "A new method allows companies to save cash by restructuring the laid-off employee's pension benefit ... Through a qualified severance arrangement, a few companies have increased pensions by the amount of the calculated severance package. Companies then save cash while still delivering the value of the severance benefit to the departing employee. How? By somewhat raiding their overfunded pension plans." (CFO.com)

Spencer Releases Third Party Administrator Survey
Third party claims administrators paid $18 billion in claims in 2000 for welfare plans covering approximately 15 million employees, dependents, and retirees, according to 91 respondents to Charles D. Spencer & Associates'16th annual Survey of Third Party Claims Administration. The claims dollars paid in 2000 represented an increase of 6% from 1999 for welfare plans covering approximately 12% fewer individuals. (Spencernet)

(Following items also appear in Retirement Plans Edition)


Overview of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, With Comments
Includes helpful practical comments from the law firm on each principal section in the Act. Excerpt: "The Employee Benefits practice group at Ruder, Ware & Michler, A Limited Liability S.C., has prepared the following discussion of the new law for the use of all of our private sector clients and friends." (Ruder, Ware & Michler, s.c.)

Using Deferred Compensation to Strengthen the Ethics of Government Financial Regulators
Working paper, available from Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. for $5. Excerpt: "In principle, a forfeitable fund of deferred compensation could be combined with provisions for measuring, verifying, and rewarding multiperiod performance to make top regulators accountable for maximizing the long-run net social benefits their enterprise produces." (Edward J. Kane published by the National Bureau of Economic Research)




Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
Daily Valuation Administrator for WESPAC Plan Services, Inc.
in CA
Trust Officer/Trust Administrator for CNA TRUST
in CA
Retirement Plan Analyst/Pension Administration for BAE SYSTEMS
in TX
Consultant-AWIBNL14252-CDM for Wachovia
in GA



Newly Posted Webcasts (Post Yours!)
Making a Federal Case out of Health Care: Five Years of HIPAA on July 31, 2001
presented by Cato Institute

Subscribe to the Retirement Plans Edition, too (click)


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.