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May 22, 2003 - 8,255 subscribers
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Flexible Spending Accounts Gain in Popularity as Employers Increase Health Plan Deductibles
Excerpt: "If a recent study by Fidelity Investments is any indication, employees now have more faith in the concept of flexible spending accounts (FSAs). A report on medical plans and employee behavior found that participation in FSAs has increased 15% in the first quarter of this year compared with 2002. What is more, annual contributions overall increased 7%, from $967 to $1,031." (BenefitNews.com)
Expert Gives Tips on Pursuing Third-Party Recoveries
Excerpt: "[Jack B. Helitzer] noted that U.S. Supreme Court in Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance v. Knudson, 534 U.S. 204 (2002) limited group health plans' ability to enforce their subrogation and reimbursement rights under ERISA. However, he emphasized that the Court did not ban enforcing such rights. This is borne out, he explained, in subsequent state and federal court interpretations ..." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Aetna To Settle Suit By Doctors
Excerpt: "One of the nation's largest health insurers has agreed to settle a major class action brought by physicians and to overhaul business practices that doctors say have shortchanged patient care, according to sources close to the case." (Chicago Tribune; one-time registration required)
California Judge Says State Has Authority To Tell Health Plans Which Drugs to Cover
Excerpt: "A California judge on May 20 upheld a state law that allows regulators to tell health plans which drugs they must cover, the Los Angeles Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Many HMO Lawsuits Melting Away
Excerpt: "Several health insurers, including Aetna, have quietly settled-- for token amounts-- a barrage of consumer lawsuits aimed at getting billions of dollars from the industry and an overhaul of managed care practices." (The Hartford Courant)
'Cool to Be Stupid' Culture Hurting U.S. Businesses
Excerpt: "[M]en just haven't made any real progress. The dangerous thing about this is that we're in an economy that is rewarding the educated more and more. And men are just not responding to this new reality." (BusinessWeek Online)
Genetic Discrimination Protection Bill Passes Senate Committee
Excerpt: " A U.S. Senate committee has passed out a bill, which would protect individuals from discrimination in hiring, employment, and health insurance on the basis of genetic information." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
New Primary Care Journal Refuses Drug Ads
Excerpt: "Six family medical organizations will launch a new research journal this month that stands apart from many other peer-reviewed publications in a very visible way: it won't run pharmaceutical advertising." (Reuters via Medscape; one-time registration required)
Consumers Take Charge: Defined-Contribution Health Plans (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "The goal is to temper rising costs and improve service quality by giving consumers better information and greater control over how they spend their health-care dollars. Defined-contribution plans won't replace managed care plans, but they will be the next dominant form." (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
Study Finds Consumer-Directed Health Plan Design Appeals To Savvy, 35-and-Up Consumers
Excerpt: "[D]espite the conventional wisdom that says CDH plans appeal more to younger people, Dieringer's research shows 67% of consumers interested in the programs are 35 and older. Moreover, half of them are college graduates and half are men who are more likely to use the Internet to research health care cost information." (BenefitNews.com)
Federal Bill Would Encourage Long-Term Care Insurance
Excerpt: "As 77 million 'baby boomers' march inexorably towards their high health spending years, two U.S. House members on Wednesday introduced legislation that would encourage them to purchase insurance to cover the costs of long-term health care-- something most private insurance plans and the federal Medicare program do not cover." (Reuters via Medscape; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Full Text of IRS Group on Abusive Tax Shelters; Includes Notes re 401(k) Accelerators, Abusive MEWAs (PDF)
Excerpt: "The Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT) created the TE/GE Abusive Tax Shelters Involving Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Project Group to study how the Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) Division could better respond to abusive tax shelters and other abusive tax schemes. The goal of this project has been to identify various strategies that can be used by TE/GE ..." (Internal Revenue Service)
Analysis: Senate-Passed Tax Bill Includes Executive Compensation 'Reforms' (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "The following portions of this memorandum describe in greater detail the purported rationale for the new rules proposed in the [Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003], the proposed changes themselves (including some of the many questions created by the statutory language), and some of the effects on common executive compensation arrangements." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)
Exec's Severance Provides Peek Behind Corporate Veil
Excerpt: "[I]n a rare peek into the corporate boardroom, [uniform maker Cintas Corp.] recently published the text of [former executive Robert Buck's] severance agreement as part of a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission." (The Cincinnati Post)
Do Shareholders Have the Clout to Rein in Executive Pay?
Excerpt: "Warren Buffett's latest attack on excessive executive compensation is another chapter in the long-running saga about how much to pay top business leaders, and how to limit the compensation of those who are deemed to be making too much." (The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
AP Corrects Stock Options Expensing Story
Excerpt: "In a May 19 story about Silicon Valley's resistance to expensing stock options, The Associated Press reported erroneously the financial impact that the accounting change would have on the results of the area's 35 largest tech companies." (AP via Las Vegas Sun)
Intel Shareholders Vote Against Expensing of Stock Options, Though Not By Large Margin
Excerpt: "Accepting the arguments of management, Intel Corp. shareholders on Wednesday voted down a proposal that called on the chip maker's board of directors to expense employee stock options.... The measure, submitted by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America Pension Fund, received 47.55 percent of the vote." (AP via the Nando Times)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Group Health Insurance Sales/Account Management
for Great West Life & Annuity
in PA, TX, WA
Participant Recordkeeper
for Marshall & Ilsley Corporation
in WI
Pension Administrator/Analyst
for Abacus Benefit Consultants Inc.
in RI
Benefits / ERISA Compliance Sr. Consultant - Boston, MA
for PricewaterhouseCoopers
in MA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--offered throughout the country, various dates and locations beginning 7/9 through 7/25
in CA, CO, DC, GA, IL, IN, KS, MA, MN, NC, NY, TX
July 9, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Charlotte
in NC
July 9, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--San Francisco
in CA
July 9, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Washington,
in DC
July 18, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--offered throughout the country, various dates and locations beginning 7/9 through 7/25
in CA, CO, DC, GA, IL, IN, MA, MN, MO, NC, NY, TX
July 9, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Charlotte
in NC
July 9, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--San Francisco
in CA
July 9, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Washington,
in DC
July 18, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Kansas City, MO
in MO
July 24, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Dallas
in TX
July 25, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Houston
in TX
July 24, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Denver
in CO
July 23, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Minneapolis
in MN
July 18, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Indianapolis
in IN
July 18, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Chicago
in IL
July 16, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Boston
in MA
July 16, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Orange County (LA area)
in CA
July 10, 2003
SunGard Corbel
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Atlanta
in GA
July 10, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Dallas
in TX
July 25, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Kansas City
in MO
July 24, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Houston
in TX
July 24, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Denver
in CO
July 23, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Minneapolis
in MN
July 18, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Indianapolis
in IN
July 18, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Chicago
in IL
July 16, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Boston
in MA
July 16, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Orange County (LA area)
in CA
July 10, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Atlanta
in GA
July 10, 2003
SunGard Corbel
Proposed FLSA Exemption Regulations Changes
in ALL STATES
June 25, 2003
Thompson Publishing Group
Proposed FLSA Exemption Regulations Changes
in ALL STATES
June 25, 2003
Thompson Publishing Group
457 Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Syracuse
in NY
July 18, 2003
SunGard Corbel
403(b) Plan Specialty Workshop (Half-Day Seminar)--Syracuse
in NY
July 18, 2003
SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Evolution Benefits Secures $5.5 Million in Financing
(Evolution Benefits)
Labor Department Obtains Final Settlement of Lawsuit Against U.S. Alliance Fiduciaries
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
TIAA-CREF Temporarily Suspends Sale of After-Tax Deferred Annuities
(TIAA-CREF)
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