| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
November 9, 2001 - 6,532 subscribers
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Overview: Cafeteria Plans and the Family and Medical Leave Act (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The IRS has issued final rules governing the administration of a cafeteria plan for employees on leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)." (Milliman USA)
Can Subsidizing COBRA Health Coverage Help Most Laid-Off Low-Income Employees? (PDF)
Excerpt: "Only 57% of non-elderly workers and their adult dependents were potentially eligible for COBRA in 1999. Those who are not potentially eligible failed to qualify because they did not have employer-sponsored health insurance, were employed at small firms that are not required to offer a COBRA option, or were self-employed. Implications: Even if a large share of the potential COBRA eligibles used a new subsidy to purchase coverage, many adults could still not be covered under COBRA." (Urban Institute)
Five Things You Need to Know to Control Health Care Costs in 2002
Excerpt: "If you've received your health care renewals for next year, you've joined other HR and benefits managers who feel like the rock they've been leaning against got a whole lot closer to the hard spot. To help you make the right choices, for next year and for the long term, IOMA has researched these useful planning tools and benchmarks." (Ioma's Report on Managing Benefits Plans, via IFEBP)
Fewer Choices for Workers on Health Benefits
Excerpt: "Tens of thousands of employees are being forced to drop their health plans and choose a different one this month as companies across the country sharply reduce their rosters of H.M.O.'s and other managed care insurers." (New York Times; free registration required)
California Health Purchasing Group to Offer New Fixed Account Health Plan to Cut Employer Costs
Excerpt: "The Pacific Business Group on Health, a San Francisco-based purchaser of insurance for 44 California employers, is expected to announce Nov. 8 that it will offer a new plan designed to shift more costs to employees and give them greater flexibility, the Contra Costa Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Opinion: MSAs Can Be a Windfall for All
Excerpt: "Medical Savings Accounts are a broad term for the notion that much of health care can be paid directly by the consumer, and that government policy should be neutral as to whether such expenses are paid through an insurance mechanism or directly by the patient. To the extent contributions to health insurance premiums are tax-advantaged, so should be contributions to an account that is dedicated to paying for health care expenses." (National Center for Policy Analysis)
Cease Firing
Excerpt: "Some companies buck the crowd and hold workers in hard times. Sometimes that's a winning strategy." (Forbes)
Some Executives Say Layoffs Are Unpatriotic
Excerpt: "It isn't unusual for executives to be called greedy or hard-hearted when they lay off workers. But Boeing Co.'s Sept. 13 announcement that it would dismiss up to 30,000 workers brought forth a new adjective for Chief Executive Phil Condit: unpatriotic." (CareerJournal.com)
IRS Allows Redesignation of Estimated Income Tax Payments In Wake of Terrorist Attacks
In Announcement 2001-112, the Internal Revenue Service states that it will allow taxpayers who have made estimated income tax payments for their current taxable year to redesignate those payments as employment and withholding taxes. (Spencernet)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Defined Contribution Plan Administrator | for Actuarial Firm In Las Vegas in NV |
| Benefits Manager - North America Operations - IBL/580hs | for Acterna in MD |
| 401(k) SALES PROFESSIONAL | for MBM Advisors Inc. in TX |
| 401(k) SALES PROFESSIONAL | for MBM Advisors Inc. in TX |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| Southern Employee Benefits Conference Fly-In Meeting | in GA on April 25, 2002 presented by Southern Employee Benefits Conference |
| 48th Annual Employee Benefits Conference | in on September 20, 2002 presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans |
| Benefit Communication and Technology Institute | in FL on March 10, 2002 presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans |
| Los Angeles Benefits Conference | in CA on January 31, 2002 presented by Internal Revenue Service and American Society of Pension Actuaries |
| Fraud Prevention Institute | in NV on November 13, 2002 presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| NADART Launches New Web Site (National Automobile Dealers and Associates Retirement Trust) |
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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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