| The BenefitsLink Newsletter - Welfare Plans Edition |   |
December 14, 2001 - 6,712 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
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)
Congress Addressing Health Insurance Provisions in Economic Stimulus Bill
Excerpt: "Democrats want a one-year, 75 percent federal subsidy for the COBRA insurance policies available to laid-off workers and more money for Medicaid so that states can extend coverage to those not eligible for COBRA. Bush and congressional Republicans favor a 50 percent tax credit for many types of health insurance policies and grants to states that could be used to provide coverage." (The Baltimore Sun)
Available Online: Amicus Brief of DOL in Supreme Court ERISA Preemption Case (PDF)
Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Moran. Excerpt: "Section 4-10 of the Illinois Health Maintenance Organization Act ... requires [an HMO] to 'provide a mechanism for * * * review by a physician * * * in the event of a dispute between the primary care physician and the Health Maintenance Organization regarding the medical necessity of a covered service proposed by a primary care physician' ... The question presented is whether Section 4-10 ... is preempted by [ERISA]." (FindLaw.com)
Labor Department Sues Nevada Associations and Principals for Misusing $6 Million in Health Assets
Press release. Excerpt: "The U. S. Department of Labor obtained a temporary restraining order December 13 freezing the assets of Carson City-based Employers Mutual, LLC, affiliated associations and their principals for diverting more than $6 million of health plan assets to pay excessive expenses rather than paying the benefits of participants. The health plan provides benefits to more than 22,000 participants and beneficiaries throughout the country." (U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)
Insurer Properly Terminated LTD Benefits For Beneficiary Who Was Capable of Working
An insurer properly terminated a beneficiary's long term disability benefits based on its conclusion that the beneficiary was capable of performing numerous positions with his experience and physical limitations. This was the decision of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in O'Reilly v. Hartford Life & Accident Insurance Company (No. 00-3760). (Spencernet)
Office Chaplains Flourish Following Sept. 11 Attacks
Excerpt: "When employees at Herr Foods Inc. felt anxious after the Sept. 11 attacks, many found someone at work to turn to: a chaplain. At least once a week, Protestant chaplains roam factory and warehouse floors in various buildings of the Nottingham, Pa.-based snack maker to talk with some 1,300 workers." (CareerJournal.com)
Your Rights After a Mastectomy (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "If you have had a mastectomy or expect to have one, you may be entitled to special rights under the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998 (WHCRA). The following questions and answers clarify a woman's basic WHCRA rights." (U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)
HIPAA Transactions Standards Delay Now Before Bush for Signature
Excerpt: "Legislation for a yearlong delay of electronic healthcare transaction standards has been sent to President Bush for his signature.... Unlike an earlier plan approved by the Senate, the extension would come with the requirement that organizations at least tell the government by Oct. 16, 2002--the original compliance deadline--what they'll do to be ready by the following year." (Modern Healthcare)
Senate Passes Sept. 11 Mental Health Bill But Parity Bill Flounders
Excerpt: "House and Senate negotiators on the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education spending bill for fiscal 2002 are expected to vote next week on whether to keep in the bill the Senate passed 'mental health parity' provision that would require health plans that cover mental health services to cover them to the same extent they cover all other services. That vote is expected to fail, and the provision will likely be dropped, said both supporters and opponents of the plan." (Medscape; free registration required)
Sept. 11 May Force Employer Coverage for Mental Health Problems
Excerpt: "Although the idea that employers should offer the same coverage for depression as for diabetes has long been a passionate cause within the mental-health community, the campaign was energized by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which prompted many Americans to seek help for emotional trauma." (Knight Ridder/Tribune via IFEBP)
Federal Mental Health Parity Bill Would Not Lead to Cost 'Surge,' BusinessWeek Op-Ed Says
Excerpt: "opponents have said a Senate-passed bill ( S 543) that would expand the 1996 mental health parity law would 'provoke a disastrous surge in health care costs,' new studies suggest that employers' financial burden under parity 'could be very small -- amounting to less than a 1% increase' in costs, Paul Raeburn writes in a BusinessWeek opinion piece ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
New Health Plans Raise Consumers' Stake
Excerpt: "With health care costs soaring and hard-pressed employers looking for relief, insurers are rolling out plans that protect employees against catastrophic illness but make them shoulder more of the financial burden for routine medical expenses. The new breed of insurance raises the consumer's personal financial stake in his or her decisions about medical care. Some in the industry call it 'putting more skin in the game.'" (Knight Ridder/Tribune via IFEBP)
Senate Passes House Version of HIPAA Transactions Delay Bill
Excerpt: "[T]he Senate unanimously passed an identical version of the Administrative Simplification Compliance Act bill (HR 3323) as was passed by the House earlier last week. The bill delays the compliance date of the transactions and code sets regulations by one full year until October 16, 2003 for covered entities who submit a plan to the Secretary of DHHS ..." (HIPAAdvisory.com)
Aetna to Cut 16 Percent of Work Force
Excerpt: "Aetna Inc. is slashing 6,000 jobs, about 16 percent of its work force, as the nation's largest health insurer struggles with rising medical costs and declining enrollment." (StarTribune.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings -
| Retirement Service Specialists | for Constantin Control Associates in NJ, NY |
| Paralegal | for Howard Simon & Associates, Inc. in |
| Defined Contribution Plan Administrator | for Petersen Hastings Investment Management, Inc. in WA |
| 401(k) / DC Administrator | for Sentinel Benefits Group in MA |
Newly Posted Conferences (Post Yours!)
| Introduction to ESOPs | in FL on March 26, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in FL on March 27, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in CA on April 9, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in OR on April 9, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in WA on April 10, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in CO on May 8, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in VA on May 8, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in PA on May 9, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in CA on May 21, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in WI on May 22, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in MI on May 23, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| Introduction to ESOPs | in CA on May 23, 2002 presented by National Center for Employee Ownership |
| 2002 Great Lakes Area IRS/ASPA Benefits Conference | in IL on May 2, 2004 presented by ASPA/IRS |
Newly Posted Press Releases
| Labor Department Sues Nevada Associations and Principals for Misusing Over $6 Million in Health Assets (U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration) |
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.
- How to Sponsor an Issue: reach 6,712 benefits professionals!
- How to Subscribe
- Privacy Policy
- Archive of Prior Issues