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June 2, 2003 - 8,264 subscribers
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Aetna Agreement Could Affect Health Plan Administrators
Excerpt: "Aetna has agreed to improve the accuracy of information about whether patients actually have health coverage by persuading more employers to transmit eligibility information to Aetna in an electronic format and transmit eligibility information to Aetna more often. Aetna also has agreed to persuade large benefits administrators to give it more accurate eligibility information." (The National Underwriter Company via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Ford CEO Says Rising Healthcare Costs Are Company's Biggest Unsolved Problem
Excerpt: "Last year the Dearborn-based automaker spent $2.7 billion on health care and drug charges for 93,000 white-collar workers, retires and dependents." (AP via SFGate.com)
The Next Generation Health Plan: Not If, But When and How
Excerpt: "We are ushering in the era of consumer-driven products that transfer more financial responsibility to consumers. As often happens in the health care industry, however, the prognoses are far too simplistic - and the role of information technology (IT), a critical enabler of health plan success, can become lost in the shuffle." (Healthplan via Medscape; one-time registration required)
Overview: New COBRA Notice Rules Proposed By Labor Department
Excerpt: "The proposed rules, which include two new notices, are presented in four parts and affect employers, plan administrators, workers and their family members: The General Notice, Employer's Notice of Qualifying Event, Qualified Beneficiary's Notice Obligations and Plan Administrator's Notice Obligations." (OnQue Technologies)
Can the Cost of COBRA Premiums Be Recovered In ERISA Lawsuit?
Excerpt: "In most lawsuits that involve COBRA violations, injured parties allege that they incurred medical expenses because COBRA coverage was improperly denied, and they seek reimbursement under ERISA for those lost benefits. But in this unusual federal district court case from Pennsylvania, the employee claimed that he was entitled to recoup the premiums he was forced to pay for COBRA continuation coverage after being denied health insurance coverage." (OnQue Technologies)
The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Program Design, Recent Performance
Excerpt: "This report provides a basic description of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program's (FEHBP) structure, benefits, financing, and operations. The report also assesses FEHBP's recent performance in a variety of areas, including cost increases, benefit changes, access to providers, and risk selection. It concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of the FEHBP experience for Medicare reform proposals." (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)
Opinion: Why We Need Greater Access to Association Health Plans
Excerpt: "State governments regulate health insurance excessively. In addition to taxes, price controls and regulations governing access to insurance, states require buyers of health insurance to pay for extra benefits they may not want. For example: ..." (by Donald L. Westerfield, Ph.D., published by the National Center for Policy Analysis)
Healthcare Reform Specifics Might Backfire on Democratic Presidential Candidates
Excerpt: "The Democratic presidential contenders are detailing ambitious health care plans to cover the uninsured, the most substantive debate ever at this stage in a presidential campaign. Admirably specific? Sure. Politically smart? Maybe not." (USA Today)
HIPAA Privacy: Separating Myths from Facts
Excerpt: "Although health care organizations had more than 24 months to implement the HIPAA privacy rule, much confusion and misunderstanding persists. Without doubt, there may be some real barriers and glitches in the law, but at this stage it is important to clear up the glaring misconceptions. Following are ten commonly repeated myths regarding the rule, and the facts about what the law actually says." (California Health Care Foundation)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Are CEOs Hiding Behind Long-Term Awards?
Excerpt: "Like their counterparts in the Standard & Poor's 500, the 50 highest-paid [Dallas-Fort Worth area] chief executives saw the value of their stock-option grants fall about 20 percent as stock prices plunged. A few CEOs even stopped receiving options.... But the number of CEOs receiving restricted stock grants nearly doubled. And one category of executive compensation-- so-called long-term incentives-- grew so much that it now nearly equals the average executive's salary and bonus ..." (The Dallas Morning News; one-time registration required)
Executive Compensation: Recent Trends, Changes, and Highlights
Excerpt: "The compensation plan information represents a random sampling of Proxy Statements filed with the SEC from the period Feb. 1, 2003 to March 15, 2003." (Sibson Consulting via Workforce.com)
Who Should Get Options? What Research, Not Theory, Tells Us
In the face of the now seeming certainty that stock options will have to be expensed, many companies and their advisors are thinking of cutting back the number of people eligible for options. Arguments for this approach are based mostly on theories of behavior and assumptions about outcomes. Fortunately, we have actual data on many of these issues--and the data shows that the theories are wrong. (National Center for Employee Ownership)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
ERISA Attorney
for Vaccaro & Prisco
in NY
External Wholesaler
for MassMutual Financial Group
in TX
Enrolled Actuary
for LIEBG
in NY
Conversion Manager
for CNA Trust
in CA
401(k) / DC Compliance Analyst
for CNA Trust
in CA
Senior Employee Benefit Trust Administrator
for The Bank of New York
in CA
Third Party Administrator
for Fred S. Shapiro & Associates, Inc.
in MD
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
401(k) Fiduciary Issues and Opportunities for Financial Consultants
on June 18, 2003
presented by ASPA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Qualified Plan Seminar
in FL
June 25, 2003
Global Benefit Advisors/GrayHarris
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Labor Department Proposes Class Exemption For Trust REITS
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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