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July 7, 2003 - 8,367 subscribers
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Health Insurance Companies Want Changes to Medicare Bill
Excerpt: "Health insurers say for them to turn a reasonable profit, the government must pay them more to administer health maintenance organizations for Medicare beneficiaries. In addition, they want an easing of the requirements set out for the creation of a new type of plan for Medicare enrollees." (Washington Post)

Private Health Insurers Again Seen as Aid to Medicare
Excerpt: "The last time Congress tried to promote private health plans as a panacea for Medicare's high costs, the effort proved a bitter disappointment. Now six years later, President Bush and Congress are trying again." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Medicare Reform Bills in a Nutshell (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The information below provides the essential information about the bills." (National Council on Teacher Retirement)

Overview: IRS Addresses Impact of Stock and Assets Sales on COBRA's Small Employer Exception
Excerpt: "The tricky part of the small employer exception, especially for business reorganizations, is that it exempts a plan for one calendar year based on the number of employees during the preceding calendar year; and, of course, the business entity that emerges after a stock or asset sale is not the one that existed in the prior calendar year." (EBIA Weekly)

Overview: DOL Issues Proposed Rules for Six COBRA Notices (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Although the proposed rules themselves do not create many new requirements, when finalized, they will provide one consistent approach to COBRA notice issues that will, more than likely, be followed by courts and enforced by the DOL.... Plan sponsors should check with their legal counsel to determine what actions should be taken now. At a minimum, plans should do the following: ..." (The Segal Company)

8th Cir.: Failure of Plan to Act on Claimant's Appeal of Disability Denial Produces De Novo Review (PDF)
Excerpt: "We have previously held that a review panel's failure to act on an appeal does not raise the standard of review from abuse of discretion to de novo unless its failure raises serious doubts about the result reached by the plan administrator.... [But] the instant case differs from [that precedent because this claimant] submitted much more medical evidence in connection with his appeal ... than he attached to his initial application for disability retirement benefits ..." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, via FindLaw.com)

3d Circuit: Employee Who Resigned Lost Standing to Bring ERISA Suit Over Severance Plan (PDF)
15 pages; Miller v. Rite Aid Corporation, No. 02-2464 (3d Cir. 2003). Excerpt: "Miller contends that because he was a 'participant,' he necessarily is a 'participant' and, therefore, has standing to pursue his claim. The statutory language of ERISA does not support Miller's argument." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, via FindLaw.com)

Court: Individual Disability Policies Constituted ERISA Plan
Halprin v. Equitable Life Assurance Soc'y of the United States (D. Colo. 2003). Excerpt: "In this benefit dispute under an individual disability policy, the court considers both the ERISA definition of 'plan' and the DOL safe harbor for voluntary employee-pay-all arrangements. Not surprisingly, the ultimate question was whether state-law claims against the insurer were preempted by ERISA." (EBIA Weekly)

Atlanta's Fulton County to Implement Domestic Partner Health Insurance Coverage for Employees
Excerpt: "Fulton County has become the fourth local government in Georgia to provide domestic partner benefits for gay and lesbian employees. The board of commissioners voted 4-2 Wednesday to give healthcare coverage to employees who fill out a form declaring they are in a 'committed relationship' with the person they seek to insure." (AP via Columbus [Oh.] Ledger-Enquirer)

What's on the Regulatory Agenda for HIPAA?
Excerpt: "Following is a list of the regulations that HHS, DOL, and the Treasury Department are working on that fall within the scope of our HIPAA Portability & Privacy manual." (EBIA Weekly)

California to Require HMOs to Post Patients' Rights
Excerpt: "California regulators are developing new rules requiring HMOs to post basic patients' rights information in doctors' offices and hospital waiting areas. The Department of Managed Health Care said the rules are aimed at boosting protections under the state's patients' rights law." (Reuters Health)

Controlling Healthcare Cost: Components of a New Paradigm (PDF)
Excerpt: "The purpose of this discussion is to review the cost trends in employer health care, based on a review of benefits industry research as well as legislation over the past 5-10 years, offer some insight into potential future cost, and outline cost-control techniques that can serve as components of an evolving new paradigm that may ultimately be shaped by financial service professionals." (Journal of Financial Service Professionals, reprinted by Grant Thornton)

Maine's Health Care Compromise Could Be Model for the Nation
Excerpt: "Maine has just become the first state in the union to approve a plan to provide universal access to affordable health insurance. In lean times, when other states with budget woes are cutting health care, Maine legislators voted to expand it. They did it in an older, sicker, poorer, rural state that won the dubious achievement award for the fastest growing health care spending per capita in the nation." (Ellen Goodman in the Sarasota [Fla.] Herald-Tribune)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

IRS Takes Aim at Big Shelters and Hopes Message Filters Down
Excerpt: "Mark W. Everson, the new I.R.S. commissioner, said last month that 'the I.R.S. will enforce the law across all sectors, but with particular vigor in the corporate arena and for high-income individuals who enter into abusive shelters to game the system.'" (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Audio Report: Labor Department Seeks to Revamp Overtime-Pay Rules
Excerpt: "The Labor Department proposes changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act, which determines who receives time-and-a-half pay for working more than 40 hours per week. Labor unions say millions are in danger of losing their right to get overtime pay, while businesses say the changes give employees more flexibility. Hear Michael Eastman of the American Chamber of Commerce and Deborah Greenfield of the AFL-CIO.' (July 6, 2003) (National Public Radio)

In Silicon Valley, Stock Options Are Back
Excerpt: "For the first time in years, Silicon Valley is buzzing again about stock options." (The [San Jose, Calif.] Mercury News)


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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in ME

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for Nationwide Retirement Consulting Group
in OH
Newly Posted Webcasts
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Pan European Pension Plans
on July 18, 2003
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Newly Posted Conferences
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21st Annual Fall Conference
in CA
October 22, 2003
Western Pension & Benefits Conference, San Francisco Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases
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Fringe Facts® Communicator 6.20 Streamlines Benefit Communications
(Benefit Software Inc.)


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