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May 7, 2003 - 8,191 subscribers
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Return of the Company Store-- Selling Employee Benefits This Time
Excerpt: "[S]oaring group health insurance premiums and shrinking profits have some employers questioning whether they should be the sole financers of their workers' benefits. And while the primary focus is on cutting benefit costs-- rather than lightening employee wallets-- a growing number of corporates are putting the old company-store idea to fresh uses." (CFO.com)
Is It News About Healthcare, Drugs? Or Is It an Advertisement?
Excerpt: "Drug makers pay for the Webcasts, which feature the journalists interviewing doctors and patients about their products. For years, local news stations, as part of their newscasts, have broadcast videos created by drug companies' public relations agencies-- a practice that critics equate to publishing unedited press releases. Now, production companies are expanding that marketing tactic to public television and the Web and using celebrity journalists to add to the videos' credibility." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Corporate-Owned Life Insurance Programs Can Offset Benefit Plan Liabilities
Excerpt: "Guidelines adapted last fall by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) recommend that employers provide notice to employees who are insured in COLI programs as well as the opportunity to decline participation. The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) supports the new guidelines on COLI, says spokesman Jack Dolan." (BenefitNews.com)
Survey Finds Corporate Policies Vary for Employees Called to Active Military Duty
Press release. Excerpt: " The survey found considerable variation in military leave and pay policies, beyond what is mandated by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).... The military call-ups have had virtually no effect on the executive ranks of the responding companies and minimal effect on management employees. The employee group most affected was professional/technical employees, followed by nonexempt clerical/technician and nonunion hourly employees." (Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
New York Times Examines Debate Over Cost Versus Care
Excerpt: "New York Times writer Sandeep Jauhar on May 6 looks at the debate over potentially life-saving devices and their sometimes 'enormous cost[s].' Jauhar, a physician, offers the example of the 'array' of heart devices, including biventricular pacemakers, which can have been known to relieve heart-failure symptoms and reduce the need for hospitalization but cost about $20,000." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Wall Street Journal Looks at FDA's Plans To Make More Allergy Medications Available OTC
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on May 6 examines a plan by the FDA to shift the prescription allergy medications Clarinex, manufactured by Schering-Plough; Zyrtec, manufactured by Pfizer; and Allegra, manufactured by Aventis, to over-the-counter status, part of an effort to reduce prescription drug costs that could 'produce friction' with the pharmaceutical industry." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Is Consumer-Directed Healthplan Popularity Boom a Bust for Brokers?
Excerpt: "As the CDH bandwagon picks up speed-- and passengers-- some insurance brokers say they are being left in the dust." (Inside Consumer-Directed Care via AISHealth.com)
Confusion Abounds on New Medical Privacy Rules
Audio report; May 6, 2003. Excerpt: "Alarm and confusion have grown in the three weeks since sweeping new federal rules took effect to protect the privacy of health information. The changes give patients many new rights, but rules that are meant to reassure patients in some cases are making them more worried than ever. NPR's Julie Rovner reports." (National Public Radio)
Analysis: Ninth Circuit Case Imposes ERISA Liability on Merger and Acquisition Practices
Excerpt: "Other courts have declined to impose section 510 liability in the past (e.g., Andes v. Ford Motor Company) when individuals have lost benefits due to a business transaction. In Lessard v. Applied Risk Management, the 9th Circuit took a new approach to analyzing a business transaction in a way that has installed new teeth into section 510." (BenefitNews.com)
Opinion: Changing Allergy Drugs' Status to OTC Is Promising Way To Reduce Drug Costs
Excerpt: "The allergy drug Claritin's switch from prescription to an over-the-counter is a 'mixed blessing' for consumers, and the conversion of other drugs currently available only with a prescription could be a 'promising way to restrain escalating drug costs,' according to a New York Times editorial." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Data Concerns in Out-of-Pocket Spending Comparisons between Medicare and Private Insurance (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Cost containment ... is a major feature of most Medicare reform discussions. When assessing private and public approaches, a careful comparison of spending growth between Medicare and private insurers can shed light on which sector is better able to control per enrollee spending in the long run. This research note discusses some recent relevant studies and the important data limitations of this type of analysis." (The Urban Institute)
Maine Governor Unveils Plan for Universal Healthcare
Excerpt: "Saying a healthy economy cannot exist without healthy people, [Gov. John] Baldacci said his plan would create universal health care in Maine within four years without raising taxes." (The [Lewiston, Maine] Sun Journal)
Maine Governor's Plan for Universal Healthcare Arouses Critics
Excerpt: "Gov. John Baldacci's administration, which has worked intensively during the past three months to craft the bill, is moving too fast without consulting its advisory body, the Health Action Team, according to several members who represent private insurers and employers." (MaineToday.com)
Former Employee Was Required To Arbitrate Claims Under PDA, FMLA, Third Circuit Rules
The terms of an arbitration agreement required a former hospital employee to arbitrate her claims of wrongful termination under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and failure to rehire under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This was the ruling of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Varallo v. Elkins Park Hospital, et al. (No. 02-1944). (SpencerNet)
Overview: Fourth Circuit Dismisses Constitutional Challenges To HIPAA's Privacy Rules
The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of constitutional challenges to several provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, including the law's privacy provisions. The case is South Carolina Medical Association, et al. v. Tommy G. Thompson (No. 02-2001). (SpencerNet)
Overview: HHS Issues Rules on HIPAA Privacy Enforcement Process
Excerpt: "The interim final rules take effect May 19 and expire Sept. 16, 2004, by which time HHS plans to complete a notice-and-comment rulemaking on the enforcement rules as a whole ..." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
A Bad Year for Benefits Costs
Excerpt: "From the point of view of private-sector employers, it's been a disastrous year for benefit costs. For the year ended March 2003, benefit expenses leaped 6.1 percent, greater than the 4.8 percent jump for the year ending March 2002, according to figures just released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. State and local government employers had similar boosts: 6.6 percent in benefits and 3.1 percent in wages and salaries." (CFO.com)
Opinion: CEOs Strap On Golden Parachutes While Companies Crash and Burn
Excerpt: "Even after the secret escape plan was revealed and all hell broke loose, the company held fast to its priorities. It canceled the cash bonuses. It tossed CEO Don Carty onto the tarmac. But it refused to relinquish the fund protecting its execs' nest eggs." (WorkingForChange.com)
Board of Director Compensation: a Changing Environment (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "[W]e see increases in committee meeting/retainer fees and chairpersonfees to reflect the additional time commitment required at the committee level. In addition, we see companies establishing a 'lead director' role on the board to reinforce board independence where the CEO also is Chairman. In terms of equity compensation, we are starting to see a shift away from options to full value shares." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Georgia-Pacific Shareholders Urge Management to Expense Stock Options
Excerpt: "Sixty-five percent of shareholders approved the proposal that was put forth by The Teamster Affiliates Pension Plan in the company's proxy statement." (The Atlanta Business Chronicle)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Operations Manager
for The Glass Freedman Company
in MI
Plan Administrator-Retirement Plan Services
for Strong Financial Corporation
in WI
401(k)/Retirement Plan Sales Consultant
for HA&W Benefit Advisors, LLC
in GA
Retirement Plan Administrator
for Union Central
in OH
Senior Retirement Plan Administrator
for American Pension Benefits, Inc.
in PA
401(k) Implementation Specialist:
for PFPC
in MN
Plan Management - Intermediate and Senior Positions
for PFPC
in MN
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
Providing Health Coverage for the Uninsured: Time for a Giant Step?"
on May 5, 2003
presented by KaiserNetwork.org
The 1.5 Million Question: How to Provide -- and Pay for-- Retiree Health Care?
on June 26, 2003
presented by Employee Benefit Research Institute and Medical Business Exchange
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Financing & Managing Executive Compensation Plans
in MA
June 25, 2003
Institute for International Research at the Swissotel in Boston, MA
Form 5500 Preparation Workshop
in NY
May 21, 2003
New York Metropolitan Area Chapter - ISCEBS
Navigating Change: Certainty in Uncertain Times
in TN
September 20, 2003
National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc. (NAGDCA)
2003 CCA Annual Meeting
in AZ
November 2, 2003
Conference of Consulting Actuaries
Washington Legislative Update
in DC
May 19, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Sal Tripodi Seminar
in IN
June 18, 2003
ASPA Benefits Council of Northern Indiana
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
PreTax Benefit Cred/Debit Card from ClaimsFusion offered via HR Consulting Group
(HR Consulting Group)
Franklin Templeton Investments Announces New Retirement Sales Campaign
(Franklin Templeton Investments)
USERRA, IRS Update to be Discussed at DC Annual Conference
(National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc. (NAGDCA))
Roy Romanow, Q.C., Named Recipient of Canadian Public Service Award
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
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