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May 8, 2003 - 8,191 subscribers
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Overview: IRS Addresses Use of Credit Cards For FSA and HRA Expenses
Excerpt: "In Revenue Ruling 2003-43, the IRS addresses the use of employer issued debit or credit cards to pay for expenses under a health FSA or Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA). This practice is becoming increasingly popular as a way to streamline the administration of medical expense reimbursements and as more and more participants use debit or credit cards for almost every transaction." (SunGard Corbel)
Bill Would Extend Tax Credits To Help Trade-Displaced Steelworkers Purchase Health Insurance
Excerpt: "Members of the Congressional Steel Caucus on May 7 introduced a bill (HR 1999) that would expand a program created in last year's 'fast track' trade negotiating bill that helps American retirees displaced by international trade, CongressDaily/AM reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
New York Times Examines Effect of Claritin's OTC Status
Excerpt: "WellPoint Health Networks, which lobbied for the switch of Claritin to OTC status, said that the move would benefit consumers, but 'insurers-- and the employers that pay for health insurance themselves-- have so far been the biggest beneficiaries,' the Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Canada Agrees To Guarantee Safety, Quality of Medicines Crossing Border Into U.S.
Excerpt: "Canadian health ministry officials late last week posted an official document clarifying that they will take responsibility to ensure the safety and quality of prescription drugs exported to the United States, the Washington Post reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Insurers Resist As Patients Choose 'Alternatives'
Excerpt: "Advocates of so-called 'alternative' and complementary medicine say the practices reduce the overall cost of health care, but some in the insurance industry are not entirely buying it." (The Business Journal of Milwaukee via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Reference Pricing for Drugs: Is It Compatible with U.S. Health Care? (PDF)
1 page summary of study. Excerpt: "Reference pricing-- in which insurers cover only the low-cost, benchmark drugs in a therapeutic class and patients pay the difference in price if they want higher-cost alternatives-- is being used in Canada, Germany, and elsewhere in an attempt to control spending on prescription drugs." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Dilemmas In Regulation of the Market For Pharmaceuticals (PDF)
1 page summary of study. Excerpt: "[T]here is an emerging consensus that pharmaceutical regulation is incomplete if it does not take into account the costs of competing drugs. Moreover, the article suggests, drug utilization should be controlled by better education, incentives, and enforcement." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Physicians Give Direct-to-Consumer Ads Mixed Reviews
Excerpt: "Forty percent of physicians said that such advertising has had a somewhat or very positive impact on their practices and patients. Nearly a third described the impact as somewhat or very negative." (Medscape; one-time registration required)
CNN Anchor Aaron Brown Backs Out of Drug Infomercials
Excerpt: "CNN said yesterday that Aaron Brown, its nighttime news anchor, would not go forward with plans to become host of a series of corporate-sponsored videos that look like news and are broadcast on public television stations." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
IRS Issues More Proposed Regs on Equity Split-Dollar Life Insurance Arrangements
Excerpt: "These proposed regulations, which supplement the 2002 proposed regulations, provide guidance on the valuation of economic benefits (including the valuation of an interest in policy cash value) under an equity split-dollar life insurance arrangement governed by the economic benefit regime. These proposed regulations apply for purposes of Federal income, employment, and gift taxes." (Internal Revenue Service)
FASB Moves Toward Rule on Stock Options
Excerpt: "U.S. accounting rulemakers yesterday agreed that companies can reverse stock option expense on their books that relates to options later forfeited by employees, marking an initial step in their search for an acceptable method to value options." (The Boston Globe)
FASB Says Firms Can Expense Cost of Options When They Vest
Excerpt: "Companies that award stock options would be allowed to deduct their cost from profit based on when employees receive them rather than when they are granted, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ruled Wednesday." (Bloomberg News via Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
California Retirement Fund Releases Blueprint for the 'Perfect Stock Option Plan'
Excerpt: "The California State Teachers' Retirement System [on May 7, 2003] released recommendations by Graef Crystal for reform of executive stock option plans. The paper, commissioned by CalSTRS, details what Crystal calls 'the perfect stock option plan.' Crystal's recommendations will aid CalSTRS in future executive compensation proxy votes and discussions with companies regarding corporate governance best practices." (California State Teachers' Retirement System)
Full Text of 'The Perfect Stock Option Plan' by Graef Crystal (PDF)
13 pages. Excerpt: "The purpose of this paper is to present the author's recommendations for 'the perfect stock option plan', one that will eliminate totally, or at least substantially, the many abuses found in so many executive stock option plans in use today." (Graef Crystal, Commissioned by California State Teachers' Retirement System)
The Eleventh Hour SERP (PDF)
At pages 3-4 of 8 page document. Excerpt: "A syndrome we encounter fairly often is the realization that, when an executive's retirement becomes imminent, his or her retirement income may be insufficient. While Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERPs) are quite prevalent ... a significant number of organizations do not provide these plans, even where there are employment contracts." (Hay Group)
Proxy Voting Services and the Stock Plan Approval Process (PDF)
At pages 1-3 of 8 page document. Excerpt: "[An increasing] number of compensation plans [is being] submitted to shareholders for their approval. Proxy voting services-- of which Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) is the most prominent-- are playing an increasingly important role in this process. Accordingly, many of our clients are interested in better understanding the steps they could take to secure a favorable recommendation from ISS (or other similar enterprise) on these programs." (Hay Group)
Canada-- It's a Different Place (PDF)
At pages 5-7 of 8 page document. Excerpt: "[I]t could be an expensive mistake to assume that 'what we do in the U.S.' is appropriate, or will work equally well, in Canada. There are material differences between the two countries in tax and employment law and, less obviously, in philosophy, culture, and practice to trip the unwary. This article highlights some of the more important differences of interest to human resources and compensation professionals ..." (Hay Group)
Likely Accounting Changes Imperil Employee Stock Purchase Plans (PDF)
At pages 4-5 of 8 page document. Excerpt: "With a March 12, 2003 announcement from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) that it has opened a new project on this question, the expectation is that the expensing of stock options will be required sometime in 2004. During the ongoing accounting squabble, the impact of the anticipated changes on broad-based employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs) has not received appropriate attention." (Hay Group)
Kodak Shareholders Vote to Expense Stock Options
Excerpt: "Eastman Kodak Co. ... on Wednesday passed a non-binding shareholder proposal to account for employee stock options as an expense for financial reporting purposes. But Chief Executive Dan Carp called the decision a 'moot point' as the company will eventually do so, once accounting standards are in place." (Reuters)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Benefits Associate
for Black Mountain Management, Inc., Human Resources Consulting Firm
in NY
Senior Sales Analyst
for ICMA Retirement Corporation, a mutual fund organization serving the public
in DC
Benefits Analyst
for Integrated Electrical Services
in TX
Health And Welfare Sales Representative
for Stable Benefits Consulting Firm
in PA
Pension Administrator
for CBIZ
in MD
Account Executive - Client Relationship Management
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in TX
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
SPARK National Conference
in FL
June 1, 2003
Society of Professional Administrators and Record Keepers
Qualified Retirement Plans - Full Day Seminar by Sal Tripodi, J.D., LL.M.
in IN
June 17, 2003
Central Indiana Chapter of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists
Advanced Trustee Management Standards (ATMS®)-- Part Two: Pension Fund Management
in
July 19, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Canadian Investment Institute
in
July 21, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Essentials of Multiemployer Trust Fund Administration
in WI
June 2, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Trustees and Administrators Institute
in NV
June 8, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Health Care Management Conference
in MA
July 21, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Fraud Prevention Institute
in MA
July 23, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Health Plan Basics
in WI
June 19, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Retirement Plan Basics
in WI
July 15, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Choice-Based Benefits
in WI
June 23, 2003
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
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