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The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Welfare Plans Edition |
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October 30, 2001 - 6,491 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates for Group Health Plans
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Written by two leading employee benefits attorneys, HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates for Group Health Plans is the authoritative HIPAA resource for employers, administrators and advisors. In addition to HIPAA, this 772-page manual covers a wide array of other federal mandates that group health plans must worry about. HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates has all the information you need to bring your group health plans into compliance with HIPAA and other federal mandates. Click to order!
(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)
If Signed Into Law, Federal Health Plans Will Cover Contraceptives
Excerpt: "House and Senate members have signed off on a fiscal 2002 Treasury-Postal spending bill that includes a bevy of provisions affecting federal employees. The ... bill, approved in conference committee late Thursday, is now headed to the Senate and House floors for approval.... Senate and House negotiators also signed off on a requirement for federal employee health plans. Under the provision, health plans that cover prescription drugs must also pay for prescription contraceptives." (GovExec.com)
Employers May Jump to Defined Contribution Products to Cap Health Costs
Excerpt: "As employers brace for another round of anticipated double-digit healthcare benefit cost increases next year, 20% of large employers surveyed by benefits consultants Watson Wyatt Worldwide say that they will probably adopt a defined contribution approach to healthcare benefits over the next 12 months." (Medscape; free registration required)
Laid-off Aviation Workers Could Lose Health Care Coverage
Excerpt: "The loss of health care benefits will be one of the big problems facing workers laid-off at three Wichita aircraft manufacturers, experts say. Some will qualify for extended company coverage. Others will have to purchase health insurance for themselves." (Wichita [Kan.] Business Journal)
HIPAA Online: Explanation of Key HIPAA Requirements, for Group Health Plan Sponsors
Includes: Guaranteed Availability for Small Employers; Renewing Group Health Insurance Coverage; Employer HIPAA Responsibilities; Health Coverage Options for the Self-Employed; and Learn About Your Employees' HIPAA Rights. (U.S. Health Care Financing Administration)
DOL Proposes Amendment to Class Exemptions, Clarifying Applicability to IRAs and Keogh Plans
Excerpt: "The class exemptions described in this proposed amendment do not define the term 'employee benefit plan'. As a result, the Department has become increasingly aware of uncertainty regarding the scope of these class exemptions. To address this uncertainty, the Department has determined to amend each exemption in order to define the term 'employee benefit plan' and 'plan' as used therein." (U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)
ERISA Plan Must Use Mailbox Rule to Resolve Disputes About Receipt of Employee's Required Paperwork
Schikore v. Bankamerica Supp. Retirement Plan (9th Cir. 2001). Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: [T]his is not the first court case requiring plan administrators to apply the mailbox rule (although the majority of cases probably involve COBRA issues). But as this opinion illustrates, plans have a choice about the mailbox rule, and thoughtful plan design can prevent disputes of this sort." (EBIA Weekly)
Top Ten Mistakes in Global Equity Programs (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "An overview of stock and equity-based compensation programs." (White & Case, L.L.P.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings ( Post Yours!)
| Paralegal |
for Howard Simon & Associates, Inc.
in IL |
| Retirement services (outside) sales representative- selling direct |
for National Retirement Services Financial Institution
in CA, GA, TX |
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.
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