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June 26, 2003 - 8,342 subscribers
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Medicare Bills Move Toward Finish Line
Excerpt: "By sunrise Friday, both the House and Senate were each expected to approve the full measures. Senate leaders predicted easy passage with as many as 70 or 80 votes. It was tighter in the House, where Democrats were not part of negotiations and most planned to vote no." (AP via Washington Post)
Medicare Drug Plan Far From Cure-All, Irate Retirees Find
Excerpt: "They are confused by the complex structure of the plans, and upset that the coverage will not begin until 2006 ... They do not understand why the proposals have a 'doughnut hole,' a gap in coverage." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Army of Lobbyists for Pharmaceutical Industry Is Winning the Medicare War
Press release. Excerpt: "The pharmaceutical industry's most significant victory came in derailing efforts to include a prescription drug benefit in the traditional Medicare program. Instead, the industry pushed to have Medicare drug coverage provided by private insurers and HMOs – fracturing the bargaining power of the 41 million Medicare beneficiaries in negotiating for lower prices." (Public Citizen)
Opinion: We Have the Wrong Prescription for Setting Drug Prices
Excerpt: "The common thread here is drug pricing, a highly secretive and cynical game being played with increasing sophistication by doctors, hospitals, drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers. Unless the rules of the game are fixed, over time it is likely to either bankrupt the health care system or turn out such perverse results that we finally opt for a regime of innovation-stifling government price controls." (Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post)
White House Won't Release Memo on Cost of Medicare Changes
Excerpt: "The Bush administration's top Medicare accountant has calculated how millions of senior citizens would be affected by bringing private managed care into the program, but the administration won't release the information. An earlier analysis suggested that a Republican plan to inject market forces into Medicare could increase premiums for those who stay in traditional programs by as much as 25 percent. If that's still the case, it could help Democrats ..." (AP via Yahoo! News)
HMO Executive Salary Levels Stir Medicare Debate
Excerpt: "Liberal Democrats in the U.S. House attacked Republicans over pending Medicare legislation Wednesday, citing a new report that details the high salaries and stock options enjoyed by insurance executives." (Reuters Health via Yahoo! News)
10 Keys to a Compliant Debit Card Reimbursement System
Excerpt: "The IRS did flex plan administrators and participants a favor by approving the use of debit cards for reimbursing qualified medical expenses, but before instituting a debit card reimbursement system, the administrator or sponsor should consider 10 questions to help spot critical compliance-related issues, a leading benefits attorney told a June 24 meeting of the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Opinion: Fixing Health Care with an Online Information System (PDF)
Excerpt: "A ... 12-year-old study by Kaiser Permanente ... asked 135 doctors to evaluate the same patient who had a urinary tract infection, and these doctors recommended 82 different strategies for treatment. Not terribly efficient. But I believe there's a way to make a quicker, more accurate diagnosis in any doctor's office ... [A] much improved medical information system that makes maximum use of modern computer technology and the information superhighway." (Alan Thaler in Contingencies magazine, published by the American Academy of Actuaries)
Unum Accused of Violating Injunction
Excerpt: "Unum routinely cuts off benefits to victims of heart disease, Meniere's disease, Crohn's disease, AIDS and other conditions who bought insurance through their employers, according to several insurance lawyers from across California who filed affidavits with the contempt request." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
Employer Did Not Violate ADEA By Terminating Employee Who Made Numerous Violent Threats
An employer did not violate the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by terminating an employee who made numerous threats of violence to his subordinates and to management. This was the decision of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Carilli v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company (No. 02-3533). (Spencer Benefits Reports)
Comp Time: a More Flexible Workplace?
Excerpt: "Legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives would amend 1938's Fair Labor Standards Act to permit employers to offer comp time in lieu of overtime pay. Supporters say the shift adds needed flexibility to a changing American workplace while opponents argue it would lead to the elimination of overtime." (UPI via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Study: U.S. Residents Receive Optimal Care Only 50% of the Time
Excerpt: "Americans have a slightly better than 50-50 chance their medical problems will be addressed in an optimal way when they visit a doctor's office or enter a hospital, according to a new survey. The failure to do the right thing -- or, more precisely, all the right things -- extends across the spectrum of activities physicians are expected to perform." (Washington Post)
Outcome Versus Service Based Payment in Health Care: Lessons from African Traditional Healers
Working paper. Excerpt: "We compare the more common physician compensation method of fee-for-service to the less common payment-for-outcomes method. This paper combines an investigation of the theoretical properties of both of these payment regimes with a unique data set from rural Cameroon in which patients can choose between outcome and service based payments." (Kenneth Leonard and Joshua Graff Zivin, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research)
Opinion: Health Savings Accounts Could Weaken Employer-Based Health Insurance System
Excerpt: "On June 19, the House Ways and Means Committee reported legislation that would establish Health Savings Accounts -- new tax-advantaged personal savings accounts that could be used to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses. Such legislation constitutes an expensive and unaffordable tax cut ..." (Center on Budget Policies and Priorities)
GAO Examines Military Retirees' Participation In FEHBP Retiree Health Benefits Program
In a recent report to Congress, the General Accounting Office (GAO) examined the participation of military retirees in a recent demonstration project involving the provision of retiree health benefits under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). The report is entitled Military Retiree Health Benefits: Enrollment Low In Federal Employee Health Plans Under DOD Demonstration. (Spencer Benefits Reports)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Working Paper: the Trouble with Stock Options
Excerpt: "The trouble with options is that too many options are granted to too many people. Most options are granted below the top-executive level, and options are often an inefficient way to attract, retain and motivate executives and (especially) lower-level employees. Why, then, are options so prevalent? We discuss several explanations ..." (Brian J. Hall and Kevin J. Murphy, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Actuarial Assistant
for New York Life Investment Management, LLC
in MA
Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Retirement Funding Corporation
in MI
Benefit Plan Administrator
for Benmark, Inc.
in GA
Pension Plan Administrator
for GEBCorp
in GA
Pension Benefits Assistant
for BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust)
in NC
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