| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
February 24, 2003 - 8,036 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's HIPAA Portability & Privacy
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
HIPAA Privacy! Are Your Health Plans in Compliance? New laws and regulations impose far-reaching requirements on group health plans, employers, plan administrators, and insurers-- and EBIA is here to help! EBIA's HIPAA Portability & Privacy manual is the best resource available. Written and edited by top employee benefits attorneys, HIPAA Portability & Privacy has over 950 pages packed with information and sample documents to help bring your group health plans into compliance with HIPAA's rules. Click above for details.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Parental Leave Laws Have Only Slight Impact on New Parents' Leave Taking
Press release. Excerpt: "Federal and state parental leave laws, enacted in the 1990s, have led to only slight increases in the frequency and length of new mothers' unpaid leave and have had no impact on fathers' leave taking, according to a study published in the February issue of the journal Demography." (Population Reference Bureau)
Employees Often Shun Voluntary Benefits
Excerpt: "American companies are making a growing list of 'voluntary' benefits available to their employees, but most workers aren't taking advantage of the offerings." (AP via Chicago Tribune; one-time registration required)
Employers Reluctant to Cover Abortion Pill
Excerpt: "Although dispensing rates and utilization of mifepristone, the so-called 'abortion pill,' have increased steadily since it received regulatory approval in September 2000, employer coverage remains sparse." (BenefitNews.com)
Large Pittsburgh-Area Managed Healthcare Firm to Stop Requiring Referrals
Excerpt: "In perhaps its first clear indication that managed care might have added to surging health insurance costs, Highmark Inc. plans to stop requiring patients to obtain referrals for medical tests and treatments by 2005." (The [Pittsburgh] Post-Gazette)
Sacramento-Area HMOs' Profit Up 74% But Rate Hikes Ahead
Excerpt: "Double-digit percentage premium increases continue to pay off for the three big for-profit HMOs in Greater Sacramento-- their combined net profits for 2002 are up 74 percent from 2001. Revenue more than doubled too. Yet all three health plans say they will demand double-digit price hikes again this year because healthcare costs continue to climb." (Sacramento Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Retirees Often Face Health Care Crunch
Excerpt: "Tired of worrying about whether you'll have enough money to live on in retirement? Okay, maybe you'd rather worry about how you'll pay your medical costs during those, um, golden years." (Washington Post)
Phosphate Firm to End Retiree Health Benefits
Excerpt: "As of Jan 1, 2004, retiree medical benefits will end at age 65. Retirees already 65 or older will not receive retiree medical benefits through IMC after 2003." (The [Lakeland, Fla.] Ledger NewsAlert.com)
Opinion: the Coming Crash in Health Care
Excerpt: "The big reason for the health insurers' robustness is pricing power-- an extraordinary five-year run of it, the best in a generation. Year after year the insurers have been able to muscle through accelerating premium increases in dealing with their corporate customers." (Fortune.com)
Small Employers in Florida Respond to Health Insurance Survey
Excerpt: "More than 40 percent of the employers that responded to the survey said they will be forced to consider getting rid of health insurance benefits if the costs continue to go up, leaving more Floridians without insurance." (The Naples [Fla.] News)
Data Provide Details on Characteristics of Health Insurance of U.S. Workers
Excerpt: "During the first half of 2000, more than 60 percent (71 million) of working Americans under 65 years of age had health insurance they obtained through their primary place of employment, according to data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality." (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)
Democrats Focus on Universal Healthcare
Excerpt: "Ten years after Bill Clinton's attempt to remake the health-care system nearly capsized his presidency, the cause of guaranteeing universal access to health coverage is emerging as a centerpiece of the Democratic strategy for recapturing the White House in 2004." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
Duke Transplant Case Shows Costly but Simple Mistakes Can Happen Even at Elite Hospitals
Excerpt: "Medical errors are thought to be responsible for as many as 98,000 deaths in the United States every year, and the nation's most august hospitals are far from immune. The errors have often resulted, as in Duke's case, not from a failure of cutting-edge medicine but from lapses in basic safety procedures." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Washington State Bill Would End Mandated Coverage of 'Alternative Healthcare' Providers
Excerpt: "The 1996 state law requiring health insurers to pay for the services of 'alternative providers' is costing carriers millions of dollars.... It's unclear, however, how much alternative services are contributing to premium increases. If they have that information, insurers aren't divulging it." (Puget Sound Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Meds from Manitoba: Manufacturers and Regulators Are Chafing
Excerpt: "Known online as RxNorth .com, Mediplan has carved out a rich niche by exploiting Canada's controls on prescription costs, taking advantage of the strong U.S. dollar, testing the legal limits of cross-border commerce and chipping at the profits of drug manufacturers." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Biggest Crisis In New Year Is Not Iraq-- It's How to Pay for Health Care
Excerpt: "For years, I've been observing, with a mixture of astonishment and bafflement, the widening disconnect between perception and reality in how the American body politic deals with two issues: war, and health care." (WorkingForChange.com)
For Many People Ages 50 to 64, Insurance Is a Worrisome Thing
Excerpt: "The cost of individual insurance ticks up steadily with age. According to a recent study conducted by the Health Insurance Association of America, the average annual premium for a family whose primary insurance holder is aged 25 to 29 is $2,628. By the time that person reaches the 60-64 range, that has nearly tripled, to $6,227." (The Miami Herald)
Savings Needed for Retirement Health Costs May Exceed $1 Million for Many
Press release. Excerpt: "The highest costs face the majority of future retirees-- more than two-thirds-- who receive no health insurance from their former employer to supplement Medicare. Such employer-provided health coverage for retirees is increasingly rare." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in Private Industry in the United States, 2000 (PDF)
95 pages; dated January 2003. Includes health and retirement benefit statistics. Excerpt: "Paid time off was the most prevalent benefit available to workers in private establishments in 2000. Paid vacations were available to 80 percent of employees and paid holidays to 77 percent ... In 2000, 52 percent of employees in private industry participated in medical care plans. Forty-eight percent were covered by retirement benefits of at least one type ..." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
DOL Publishes Drafts of EFAST Procedures for 2002 Plan Year-- Parts A, B and C
Of interest to software firms who write and sell programs that enable plan sponsors to submit Form 5500 electronically. (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Summary of Recommendations About Executive Compensation from JCT Enron Report (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "The report describes a number of Enron practices that the Joint Committee perceives as having given management excessive control over their deferred compensation funds. The report suggests that the precedents are unclear and that the following Enron practices could cause immediate taxation of executives under current law: ..." (Davis & Harman LLP for the American Benefits Council)
Troubled Companies Lure New CEOs with Platinum Pay
Excerpt: "The golden world is quickly turning platinum. As scandals and poor financial performance accelerate turnover in the corner office, a boom market for turnaround specialists is leading to huge CEO hiring contracts, or golden worlds." (USA Today)
Revolt of the Shareholders
Excerpt: "State pension funds, unions and other investors, big and small, are clamoring for their say on executive compensation packages, board elections, even choosing where companies are incorporated. They want General Electric to trim severance packages, Citigroup to eliminate golden parachutes, Sprint to stop repricing the stock options granted to management and Delta Air Lines to charge stock options against earnings." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Plan Consultant
for Invesmart
in OH
Actuarial Analyst
for Northern Trust Retirement Consulting, L.L.C.
in WA
Retirement Plan Sales Representative
for Stanton Group
in ALL STATES
Plan Administrator/Manager
for Pension Services Corporation
in MO
Employee Benefit Senior
for Deloitte & Touche
in IL
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Ice Miller and Barada Associates Help Employers With Background Checks
(Ice Miller)
The President's Savings Proposals: Beyond the Hype and Hysteria
(Retirement Solutions Foundation)
Webulant Completes IHC Human Resources Web Site
(Webulant)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
Copyright 2003 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.
Published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
Housekeeping: