| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |  |
November 29, 2001 - 6,612 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Glasser LegalWorks
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You are invited to attend the nation's leading seminar on how recent cases affect claims, plan design and operations. Highlights of this year's program include: -Health Care Plan Litigation -Fiduciary Litigation -Preemption after Egelhoff -Aftermath of Pegram -Managed Care Litigation More details are available now in an online brochure: http://www.legalwks.com/conferences/erisa_lit/home.htm
(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)
Health Costs Squeeze Everyone: Employers and Employees Struggle With Rising Expenses
Excerpt: "Along with an anemic economy and ailing corporate profits, the feverish increase in health care costs has sparked a new sense of urgency among employers.... It's a dual-edged sword. To attract and retain the best workers, particularly during the decade of record employment that ended this year, companies must offer competitive benefits." (Auto.com)
Many Health Insurance CEOs Do Not Feel Well Prepared to Meet Industry Challenges, Says Survey
Excerpt: "Fewer than a third of health insurance executives say that their companies are well prepared to meet a range of near-term challenges. That is one result that emerges from the 2001 CEO Survey of the U.S. Health Insurance Industry, recently conducted by Tillinghast - Towers Perrin." (Business Wire via Excite News)
Job-based Health Insurance Increased In 2000, But Trend Not Expected To Last
Excerpt: "'At some point, the combination of a slowing economy and rising health insurance costs will likely result in an increase in the uninsured,' says EBRI President Dallas Salisbury. 'It is also likely to affect the range of health benefits for those who have health coverage.'" (insure.com)
Free Prescription Drugs Come With Strings
Excerpt: "As advertising barriers have fallen, competition among drug makers has grown fiercer. Many blockbuster drugs have lost or are losing their patent protection, and their manufacturers are struggling to stave off competition from companies that make generic versions that sell for 20 to 40 percent less." (ABCNews.com via Yahoo!)
Higher Premiums Strengthen HMOs; Profit Up 8 Percent
Excerpt: "'The industry is continuing to bear the fruit of the rate increases it has been implementing over the past three years,' Martin D. Weiss, chairman of Weiss Ratings, said in a statement. 'This, unfortunately, comes on the backs of consumers, but ultimately is necessary to regain stability in the industry.'" (Palm Beach Post)
Employee Who Resigned Was Not Entitled To STD Benefits From Former Employer: Eighth Circuit
An employee who resigned from his position and who executed a waiver of claims in exchange for severance benefits was not entitled to recover short term disability benefits from his former employer. This was the ruling of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Mead v. Intermec Technologies Corporation, et al. (No. 01-1066). (Spencernet)
Insureds' Share of Costs For Prescription Drugs Rising To Address Escalating Costs
Insured consumers will pay a higher share of prescription drug costs as health care plans take more aggressive steps to control rapidly rising drug costs, according to a study recently released by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). According to HSC, consumers' increased costs will come largely as a result of multitier copayments. (Spencernet)
Mellon to Acquire HR Consulting Services of Unifi
Press release. Excerpt: "Mellon Financial Corporation (NYSE: MEL) and PricewaterhouseCoopers today announced a definitive agreement under which Mellon will acquire the human resources outsourcing and consulting businesses of Unifi Network, a PwC subsidiary.... Mellon becomes the fourth-largest global provider of human resources consulting/administration services." (Mellon Financial Corporation)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Compliance and Nondiscrimination Testing Specialists | for Fidelity Investments in KY, OH, TX |
| Pension Administrator/Accountant | for First Mercantile Trust Company in TN |
| SALES CONSULTANT | for Diversified Investment Advisors in IL, NY |
| Retirement Plan Specialist | for American Funds in IN |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| HIPAA Compliance for Hospitals and Healthcare Networks | in AZ on February 11, 2002 presented by American Conference Institute |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| Old Mutual Chooses SunGard Pension Administration System (SunGard Insurance Systems) |
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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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