If this message looks garbled to you or if the headlines in this message don't connect you to Web pages when you click on them, please request the "plain text" version of this newsletter ("Welfare Plans Edition") by emailing your request to publisher Dave Baker at davebaker@benefitslink.com
Jobs | Today's Messages | Topical News | Q&A Columns | Services & Products | Search | Reference

The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Welfare Plans Edition
To BenefitsLink home page Fill your job openings fast by advertising on BenefitsLink

December 18, 2001 - 6,656 subscribers
Today's sponsor: The ERISA Health and Welfare Handbook: Questions and Answers on ERISA Compliance

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

This important book offers guidance on more than 30 key issues
involving ERISA and employee welfare plans, including benefits
entitlement, HIPAA, plan document language, discrimination issues
and employer obligations under managed care plans.
Written by veteran benefits consultant Terry Humo, Esq. of
Intermountain Administrators.

(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)

Stimulus Bill Talks at Impasse Over Health Care
Excerpt: "Negotiations between the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate on an economic stimulus plan appeared to be at an impasse over health-care issues on Monday as congressional Republicans sought to build pressure on Senate Democrats to accept a deal." (Reuters Health via Yahoo! News)

Think Tank: Employer Targeted Premium Subsidies Increase Health Coverage Only Modestly
Excerpt: "Only about 500,000 of the 16 million people working in small firms not currently offering health insurance would gain coverage through a 30 percent premium subsidy targeted at employers, according to a study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change." (Center for Studying Health System Change)

American Benefits Council Sets Out Proposed Terms for Providing Health Coverage to Displaced Workers
Excerpt: "Subsidies for health coverage for displaced workers should not be limited solely to COBRA which is often an individual's most costly coverage option." (American Benefits Council)

For Newly Jobless, Insurance Options Are Few, Costly
Excerpt: "With the nation's unemployment rate at 5.7 percent -- the highest level in six years -- hundreds of thousands of Americans are struggling to maintain health care coverage or entering an uncertain world without it." (Washington Post)

ERISA Preempts State Wage Claim Challenging Propriety of Payroll Deductions Under ERISA Plan
Jackson v. Walmart Stores Inc. (4th Cir. 2001). Excerpt: "The employee in this case claimed that his employer had made excessive payroll deductions for insurance premiums required under the employer's ERISA benefit plan. (The opinion does not describe the kind of ERISA benefit plan at issue.) The employee challenged the employer in state court under the South Carolina payment of wages law." (EBIA Weekly)

Disability Case Thrown Out for Failure to Follow Plan's Appeal Procedures
Guerrero v. Lumberman's Mutual Casualty Co. (D. Kan. 2001). Excerpt: "The employer in this case maintained a long-term disability ERISA plan that provided for two levels of appeal after a denial or termination of benefits. The plan document also expressly prohibited a participant from suing for a denial of benefits unless the participant first followed the plan's appeal procedures on a timely basis." (EBIA Weekly)

Supreme Court Denies Review of Case Involving Denial of Benefits After Death From Drunk Driving
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a petition to review the decision of the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Buce v. Allianz Life Insurance Company (Docket No. 01-516). In Buce, the Eleventh Circuit held that an insurance company properly denied accidental death and dismemberment benefits to the beneficiaries of an insured who died as a result of driving while intoxicated because the insured's death was not caused by 'accidental means." (Spencernet)

Financial Planning as an Employee Benefit
Excerpt: "An overwhelming majority of ...respondents (96%) agree 'workers want and need financial planning education and advice.' ... The need for financial planning, the interest in financial planning, and the opportunities to institute and advance it are ripe." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)

Family-Friendly Benefits Snub Singles, They Say
Excerpt: "She's a mature woman, single, a physical therapist at a suburban Chicago hospital. She stopped me to tell me her difficulties in achieving work/life balance. The biggest problem, she says, isn't her age or profession. It's the fact she's single." (Chicago Tribune)

Rising Health Costs Prompt New Groups To Discuss Reform of U.S. Health System
Excerpt: "The Dec. 17 Wall Street Journal reports that amid escalating health costs, several new organizations are 'cropping up, intent on rekindling serious discussions over the future of the health care system and on coming up with workable solutions to its refractory problems.'" (KaiserNetwork.org)

Rep. Norwood Issues Press Release Urging Lawmakers To Resume Discussions on Patients' Rights
Excerpt: "The [Washington] Post reports that as [Rep. Charlie] Norwood went off to meet with President Bush, he told his colleagues, 'I promise, I give you my word, I will never make a deal without coming back to you.'" (KaiserNetwork.org)

(Following items are in both editions of the BenefitsLink Newsletter)


Labor Department Issues Guidance on Benefit Claims Regs Becoming Effective 1/1/2002 for Many Plans
Excerpt: "The claims procedure regulation changes the minimum procedural requirements for the processing of benefit claims for all employee benefit plans covered under ERISA, although the changes are minimal for pension and welfare benefits plans other than those that provide group health and disability benefits." (U.S. Department of Labor, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration)

Opinion: Professional Employer Organizations-- a History of Problems and a Future Without Benefits
Web site of advocacy organization opposed to employee leasing arrangements. Excerpt: "A new report provides evidence that the fastest-growing segment of the staffing industry-- so-called 'professional employer organizations' (PEOs)-- don't provide health and retirement benefits to hundreds of thousands of long-term 'leased' workers across the nation, despite published claims." (Center for a Changing Workforce)

Opinion: Assessing the Cost of Stock Options-- a Different View (PDF)
December 10, 2001. Excerpt: "Stock options undeniably have a cost to shareholders, but what is the best way to assess this cost? In the letter below, we seek an answer to this question.... Our goal is to assign a dollar value to this cost by identifying what portion of a company's market capitalization is represented by employee stock options." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)

when Options Are Repriced, Ask For Details
Excerpt: "A Mercury News study shows that one of every 10 public companies in Silicon Valley has offered workers this year a chance to trade in underwater options, then wait at least six months and a day to receive replacement options. The offers can renew a worker's hope for options wealth, but don't blindly accept a '6-and-1 exchange.'" (SiliconValley.com)

Silicon Valley Firms Try New Twist on Stock Options
Excerpt: "A Mercury News study shows that nearly 40 public companies in Silicon Valley -- one of every 10 -- have filed plans to let employees trade in older, worthless options for new ones that could pay off handsomely if their companies revive. Experts predict more companies will follow." (SiliconValley.com)




Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings - Post a Help Wanted Ad
Pension Consultants/Administrators; F/T & P/T for Northern NJ Mid-Size Pension Consulting Firm
in
NJ, NY
Account Management Consultant - 403(b)/401(k) Plans for Diversified Investment Advisors
in
NY
Benefits Administrator for Access Retirement Services, LLC
in
TN
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS Experienced Attorney for Laner, Muchin, Dombrow, Becker, Levin and Tominberg, Ltd.
in
IL



Newly Posted Press Releases ( Post Yours!)
Nationwide Financial study finds small business owners unsure about retirement plan options (Nationwide Financial)



Newly Posted Announcements of Promotions and New Personnel ( Post Yours!)
Deanna R. Jeffrey (Benefit Plan Audit Services, LLC)

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.