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March 10, 2003 - 8,066 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's Group Health Plans:
Federal Mandates Other Than COBRA & HIPAA
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Easy-to-use compliance guides written by experienced benefits attorneys Group Health Plans: Federal Mandates Other Than COBRA & HIPAA, covers QMCSOs, health coverage for adopted children, the Mental Health Parity Act, minimum hospital stays for newborns and mothers, the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act, federal employment laws affecting group health plans (ADA, ADEA, USERRA, etc.), Medicare Secondary Payer, HMO nondiscrimination requirements, etc. Click above to order this or other EBIA publications!
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Prepared Statement of Independent Actuary for Medical Malpractice Liability Hearing (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "The American Academy of Actuaries appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on issues related to patient access to health care and, in particular, the availability and pricing of medical malpractice insurance.... This testimony discusses what has happened to medical malpractice financial results and its likely effect on rates, tort reform, and some discussion of frequent misconceptions." (James Hurley of the American Academy of Actuaries)
Long-Term Disability Coverage Lacking in the Workplace
Excerpt: "[L]ong-term disability (LTD) insurance coverage for employees is largely inadequate, according to various insurance industry spokespersons." (BenefitNews.com)
List of Witnesses and Links to Prepared Testimony: Small Business Access to Healthcare
Hearing held on March 5, 2003. (U.S. House of Representatives, Small Business Committee)
Rising Medical Costs: Pass 'Em On
Excerpt: "What do companies plan to do about the recent huge increases in health-care costs? No surprise here: 83 percent of the surveyed companies indicated they would increase employee premium contributions. Another 80 percent plan to increase employee co-pays/cost-sharing." (CFO.com)
When Are Prescription Drug Claims Treated As 'Urgent Care' Claims Under New Procedures?
Excerpt: "It is important to determine whether a claim involves urgent care because, under the DOL regulations, urgent care claims and appeals are subject to much faster processing timelines and other procedural requirements. As we discuss in more detail below, for a request for prescription drug benefits to be an 'urgent care claim,' it must (1) qualify as a claim for benefits under the regulations; (2) be a pre-service claim; and (3) involve urgent care." (EBIA Weekly (Question of the Week))
Protecting the Privacy of Employee Medical Information: Six Steps Toward Compliance
Excerpt: " This Alert is intended to assist our clients in complying with the so-called 'Privacy Rule' under [HIPAA].... A special provision of the Privacy Rule permits a health plan, health insurance carrier or HMO to disclose PHI to the employer, as plan sponsor, if certain conditions are met. First, the health plan documents must be amended to ..." (Cooley Godward LLP)
Battle Brews In Colorado Over Health Coverage Mandates
Excerpt: "Consumer groups and business interests are once again squaring off over a proposal that would reduce the health benefits small employers must offer to workers." (The Denver Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Retirees Losing Health Care as Companies Trim Rising Costs
Excerpt: "Unlike with pension benefits, which are protected by a federal law passed in 1974, employers in most cases are free to change or eliminate health-care benefits promised to retirees. And in 2001, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted not to pursue discrimination cases against employers who offer different health plans based on age." (The Boston Globe)
Cutting Corners on Health Insurance
Excerpt: "Many small business owners are offering insurance benefits only to full-time workers. Some companies are raising their insurance deductibles, forcing employees to pay more. Faced with few choices in Colorado, families and singles are clinging to COBRA insurance, which often isn't the most cost-effective." (The [Fort Collins] Coloradoan)
Large Employers Weigh in on Medicare Reform Proposals (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "ERIC members believe the following principles are essential to the modernization of Medicare as soon as possible. While comprehensive reform of Medicare is essential, ERIC also supports an immediate introduction of a prescription drug program under the principles indicated below ..." (ERISA Industry Committee)
Decision Points and Trade-Offs in Developing Comprehensive Health Coverage Reforms (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "It is useful to make explicit the decision points and the kinds of tradeoffs reformers must make in designing policies to cover the uninsured. That is the purpose of this paper, which is the first in a series that will deal with issues that need to be addressed in designing comprehensive coverage expansion." (Economic and Social Research Institute)
Healthcare Industry Growing Dramatically
Excerpt: "[W]hile many businesses are tightening budgets and slashing jobs in a slow and worried economy, hospitals and other health-related businesses are hiring by the thousands and offering perks that include sign-on bonuses of $5,000 or more." (The Houston Chronicle)
California Lawmakers Weigh Health Insurance Reform Proposals
Excerpt: "The most modest of the half-dozen proposals before the Legislature would use incentives to nudge more employers to cover their workers, while the most far-reaching would put the state in charge of administering health insurance for everyone. In the middle is a plan to require every working Californian to have health insurance, just as motorists need car insurance now to drive." (The [San Jose, Calif.] Mercury News)
Regulation of Private Long-Term Care Insurance: Implementation Experience and Key Issues
Excerpt: "While private long-term care insurance (LTCI) has been available since the mid-1970s, its popularity has grown rapidly in recent years, and Congress is considering proposals that would further encourage LTCI purchase through expanded tax subsidies. Yet there has been little research on how well LTCI works and how much security it really provides. This report focuses on consumer protections for individuals buying LTCI in the current market." (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)
Private Long-Term Care Insurance: Who Should Buy It and What Should They Buy?
Excerpt: "Despite the growing interest in private long-term care insurance (LTCI), there has been little independent examination of how much protection LTCI policies provide consumers or whether LTCI policies are a worthwhile purchase for people of average means. [This] report looks at how many working-age families can afford LTCI, whether it is a sensible investment ... and how LTCI policies can be made more flexible, to keep pace with changes in long-term care delivery and financing." (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)
Opinion: Some Misgivings About Nudging the Elderly Into Managed Care
Excerpt: "If the folks in the White House think that forcing older people to join H.M.O.'s and perhaps give up their family doctors is a popular move, they clearly need to get out more." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Sprint to Begin Expensing Stock Options
Excerpt: "Sprint Corp. will begin counting stock options for employees as a normal business expense, an accounting practice that will trim the company's profits this year." (The Kansas City [Mo.] Star via NewsAlert.com)
GAO Report: Policies of Other Nations to Increase Participation of Older Persons in the Workforce (PDF)
59 pages. Excerpt: "GAO identified three nations-- Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom-- that had displayed high levels of older worker labor force participation in the past and were now implementing policy reforms that continued to emphasize the importance of older workers." (U.S. General Accounting Office)
It Will Be a Smaller World After All, Actuarially
Excerpt: "In the United Nations' most recent population report, the fertility rate is assumed to be 1.85, not 2.1. This will lead, later in this century, to global population decline. In a world brought up on the idea of a 'population explosion,' this is a radical notion." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Median Job Tenure Hovers Around 5 Years
Press release. Excerpt: "[T]he median tenure for workers over 25 is now 4.4 years for women and 4.9 years for men. For all workers in this age group, median job tenure declined from 5 years to 4.7 between 1983 and 2002." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Director, Compensation and Benefits
for Infirmary Health System
in AL
Pension Administrators
for Alliance Benefit Group of Illinois, Inc.
in IL
Data Processing Manager
for A well-established Dallas-based ERISA Third Party Administration Firm
in TX
Regional Sales Director
for HFI
in IL
Pension Administrator
for Central Jersey Pension Consulting Firm
in NJ
401(k) Client Relationship Manager
for Great West Life & Annuity
in MN, PA, TN, WA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Annual Legal and Regulatory Update
in OH
March 20, 2003
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