| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
September 14, 2001 - 6,306 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
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ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans is an authoritative resource for employers, administrators and advisors. Written by leading employee benefits attorneys, this manual has all the information you need to bring your welfare benefit plans into compliance with ERISA. Click on the link to learn more about this valuable treatise, which is always kept current through periodic updates.
(Help BenefitsLink to provide this newsletter at no charge to you -- our sponsors pay our way. Remember to visit them periodically; we try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
California Senate OKs Sale Without Prescription of "Morning-After" Contraceptive Pills
Excerpt: "Supporters expect Gov. Gray Davis to sign the legislation, which would make California the second state to permit pharmacists to dispense the prescription medication to women who haven't first seen a doctor.... The legislation ... has broad support in the medical community and is endorsed by organizations representing the state's doctors, nurses and pharmacists. Opposing it is the California Right to Life Committee, which considers the pills a form of abortion." (Los Angeles Times)
Business Models Emerge for Consumer-Driven Health Care (part 2)
Excerpt: "Key characteristics this model include giving employees discretionary funds for ordinary and elective health services, choices for catastrophic medical coverage, and tools for making health-related decisions. But there are many other approaches to defined contribution health benefits.... Categories overlap somewhat and their labels may soon change. But defining them is at least a start in helping employers to sort through the rising options for providing DC health benefits." (BenefitNews.com)
Business Models Emerge for Consumer-Driven Health Care (part 1)
Excerpt: "Once denounced as a betrayal of the social contract between employers and employees, consumer-driven health care is increasingly touted as the light at the end the 20-year managed care tunnel. Proponents say defined contribution (DC) health benefits will help employers evade the annual pummeling of double-digit cost increases. What's more, they say, employees will be happier with an expanded menu of spending options ..." (BenefitNews.com)
Oregon Law Expands State Health Plan To Cover More Uninsured Adults
Early in August, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed legislation that enables the expansion of the Oregon Health Plan to cover eligible uninsured adults earning up to 185% of the federal poverty level. The expansion enacted under HB 2519 will provide a less comprehensive benefit package than that currently offered under the Oregon Health Plan. Implementation of the expansion is contingent on the state obtaining a Medicaid waiver from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Spencernet)
Another Question is Answered in the Stock Options, Restricted Stock and Other Long-Term Employment Incentives Q&A Column
Last year my employer granted stock options to all 600 employees in anticipation of going public. The plan to go public has been delayed. Can the employer now reduce the number of option holders to less than 500 (so as to not have to register with the SEC) by soliciting buy-back offers from all employees but only accepting the minimum number of offers necessary to reduce the number of option holders to less than 500? (BenefitsLink.com)
Information & Articles to Help Us Cope
Excerpt: "As we all try to find ways to cope with varying degrees of grief and dismay and fear from the tragic events of the week, we at AccountingWEB are grateful to the staff at HR.com for providing our members with a wealth of articles and resources for addressing the emotional effects of this crisis." (HR.com via AccountingWeb.com)
Hedging Their Risk: Creating a Market for Managerial Stock Options
Excerpt: "An alternative way to reduce the employee's exposure to risk is to take positions in other securities to hedge this risk. The most direct hedge is, of course, to short-sell your own stock [but] the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) forbids officers and directors from short selling their own stock. However, it is not illegal for lower level employees to do this. Unfortunately, the transactions costs associating with shorting can be high ..." (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Defined Contributions Administrator | for Mellon Financial Services in NY |
| Human Resources Manager, Benefits & Employment | for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. in CA |
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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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