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June 10, 2003 - 8,276 subscribers
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Administration Says It Will Accept Identical Benefits on Medicare Drugs, Compared to Private Plans
Excerpt: "In a tactical retreat, the Bush administration told Congress [on June 9, 2003] that it would accept equal prescription drug benefits for people in the traditional Medicare program and those who join private health plans." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Funding Employee Benefits Through Captive Insurers (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "[M]any employers will find the burden of compliance well worth the significant cost savings as compared to ... a traditional commercial insurer.... [U]nderwriting profits and investment income retained by the captive can benefit the employer; the captive insurer can access the reinsurance markets which generally have a lower cost structure than direct insurers; and the employer pays premiums based on its unique claims experience rather than an industry-wide standard." (Morgan Lewis)

Eli Lilly To Offer Benefits To Domestic Partners
Excerpt: "Eli Lilly and Co. plans to offer health insurance and other benefits to unmarried domestic partners of its U.S. employees and retirees. The move comes about a year after the nation's largest homosexual political group targeted pharmaceutical companies for not offering the benefits." (AP via The Miami Herald)

Genetic Discrimination Bill Moving Ahead in Senate
Excerpt: "Passage of a bill to bar genetic discrimination would help remove the fear that patients who undergo genetic testing could lose their health insurance or their jobs, experts predicted." (American Medical News)

HIPAA Spending Is Boon for Info Tech Companies
Excerpt: "Health care organizations will spend between 0.1% and 0.5% of their total annual revenue on HIPAA compliance technology, according to estimates from Gartner. This spending will likely continue for several more years ..." (iHealthBeat; one-time registration required)

Plaintiff Who Was Limited Only In Certain Work-Related Tasks Was Not Protected By the ADA
A federal district court properly dismissed a plaintiff's claim of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because the plaintiff submitted evidence showing only that he was limited in certain work-related activities, not in major life activities. This was the decision of the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philip v. Ford Motor Company (No. 02-1941). (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Aetna Settlement Seeks To Repair Rift With Physicians
Excerpt: "A federal judge has given initial approval to the agreement while other insurers vowed to keep fighting lawsuits brought by physicians." (American Medical News)

Employees Taking Fewer Vacation Days
Excerpt: "More employees are forgoing the traditional summer getaway and scaling back vacation plans because of job pressure. Nearly 50% of executives expect to make fewer vacation plans in 2003, according to a survey by Cleveland-based search firm Management Recruiters International. The primary reason? Demands of the job." (USA TODAY)

ConsumerReports Publishes Brief Report on Health Insurance Scams
Excerpt: "Typically promoted as 'union plans' or 'association plans,' these fake programs generally promise very low rates and say they do not need a state license because they are regulated by the U.S. Department of Labor under the pension law known as ERISA. Not so." (Consumers Union of U.S., Inc.)

Consumerism in Health Care: the Quest to Create New Partnerships for Responsibility and Accountability (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "This Executive Letter-- the third in a series on health care cost management issues-- discusses this new approach to health benefits, which some experts believe has the potential to alter the way employers provide coverage and employees purchase health care services." (The Segal Company)

Health Insurance Brokers Find HIPAA Compliance an Ongoing Task
Excerpt: "With controversial privacy regulations now in effect, some believe it's a good idea for brokers to consider themselves 'covered entities.' ... Officially, all they really need to do is sign business associate agreements with the covered entities they work with, be they employers or health insurers. But some experts advise brokers to go a step further and actually put in place similar policies to those that their covered associates may have established." (BenefitNews.com)

'Any Willing Provider' Decision by Supreme Court Might Be More Than Meets the Eye
Excerpt: "The managed care industry says that the ramifications of the Supreme Court decision will be slight. But could that be just wishful thinking?" (Managed Care Magazine)

SEIU Calls for New York State Law Mandating All Employers To Offer Health Coverage
Excerpt: "The Service Employees International Union has announced a proposal that would require employers in New York that do not offer health insurance to employees to put money into a state fund that would provide charitable medical coverage to the more than 3 million uninsured state residents, the Albany Times Union reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Efforts To Reduce Health Costs Could Hamper New Drug Development, FDA Commissioner Says
Excerpt: "The combination of high prescription drug development costs and efforts by lawmakers to reduce health care costs could 'stifle innovation in the biomedical industry' and reduce the number of new medications that reach the market, FDA Commissioner Dr. Mark McClellan said on June 9, the Contra Costa Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Employers Scrutinize Ties to Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Excerpt: "Some long-simmering issues are coming to a boil amid lawsuits that have charged PBMs with breaching fiduciary obligations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by accepting rebates and other payments to promote certain brand-name prescription drugs over less expensive alternatives." (BenefitNews.com)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Options Reform Debate About to Get Real
Excerpt: "Accounting regulators have fired what they say is the last salvo in a decades-long war to require companies to expense their stock option grants, setting the stage for the next battle-- exactly how to do so. The Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, an independent regulatory body that sets financial accounting rules, has said that by the end of this year, it will pass a new rule forcing companies to count their option grants as a cost, and expense them as such." (TheStreet.com)

New Rules for Nonqualified Plans on the Horizon
Excerpt: "Efforts to impose new restrictions on nonqualified deferred compensation plans and certain stock compensation arrangements are gaining momentum in Congress." (Watson Wyatt)

Overview of Watson Wyatt Study on Disclosure of Stock Option Expense
Excerpt: "Requiring companies to recognize stock-based compensation (SBC) as an expense may not exert the downward effect on stock prices that many have feared, according to a recent analysis by Watson Wyatt Worldwide. The analysis found that the stock market has already factored stock option costs into today's stock prices ..." (Watson Wyatt)


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Retirement Plan Services Representative
for American Funds
in IN

Project Manager - New Business Installation
for Transamerica
in CA

Pension Benefits Advisor -- Los Angeles Region
for Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
in CA

ERISA Corporate Counsel
for ADP
in NJ
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)

McKay Hochman Senior Consultant Offers Online Davis-Bacon Insight
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

McKay Hochman Introduces Participant Loans eSeminar
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

PBGC to Protect Benefits of 2,000 Workers Covered by Goldman Group Inc. Pension Plans
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)


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