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September 12, 2003 - 8,548 subscribers
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“More 12B-1 Fees Come to Market” An Interactive Audio Conference Thursday, September 18, 2003 * 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET Learn how to add leverage in negotiating for 401(k) plan services! Discover how recent rulings have opened the way for more 12B-1 fees to be used this process! Join us on September 18 for this interactive audio conference and learn the details of and how to adjust to the DOL’s new ruling.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Healthcare Costs of Old Age Might Be Less Than Feared
Excerpt: "Medical costs of people who are healthy at age 70 and live independently for many more years are about the same as for those who face illness and die sooner, according to a study in today's New England Journal of Medicine." (Modern Healthcare)
Justice Department Sues Feisty Drug Importer
Excerpt: "The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday to shut down two affiliated companies that operate storefronts that help senior citizens purchase cheaper prescription drugs from Canada." (AP via Houston Chronicle)
Union Fund Had No COBRA Duty When Employer Funding Ended
Excerpt: "A multi-employer benefits fund was not obligated to offer COBRA coverage when the employer stopped its contributions and the period for maintaining coverage under such circumstances had expired, a federal district court in New Jersey ruled. The case is Martinez v. District 1199J National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO ..." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Lucent Retirees Lambaste Benefit Cuts
Excerpt: "The president of the Lucent Retirees Organization charged today that Lucent executives have created a 'moral chasm' by drawing multi-million dollar salaries while eliminating health care benefits promised to retirees and their dependents." (Light Reading)
Opinion: California Pay or Play Bill is Wrong Bill, Wrong Time
Excerpt: "More than one million working Californians have no health coverage. Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco, is sympathetic to their plight. He has a solution. Make their employers buy it for them. If only the solution were that simple." (The [San Jose] Mercury News)
HIPAA Compliance Deadline May Delay Health Provider Payments
Excerpt: "Health care providers could face delays in payments next month because many are not prepared to meet the Oct. 16 deadline for the new national electronic billing requirement under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, officials at CMS said Sept. 11, the Wall Street Journal reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Employers Offering Workers Financial Incentives to Get Healthier
Excerpt: "Employers have built weight rooms, paid for smoking-cessation classes and stocked apples in vending machines. Health-conscious workers exercised and gave thanks. But workers hard on the path to physical ruin - the chronically stressed, the obese, the exercise-averse - ignored the corporate call to wellness. Now, spurred by health-care hyperinflation, some companies are speaking a language that gets everyone's attention: money." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
For Patients' Rights, a Quiet Fadeaway
Excerpt: "[T]he government provides no federal safeguards for Americans in managed-care plans. Yet the crusade for patients' rights has faded from view -- both at the White House and in Congress." (Washington Post)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Text of Final Split-Dollar Regulations (PDF)
58 pages. Not yet published in the Federal Register (as of September 12, 2003). (Internal Revenue Service)
Text of Revenue Ruling Making Old Rulings Obsolete for Split-Dollar Arrangements After 9/17/2003 (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "In the case of any split-dollar life insurance arrangement entered into on or before September 17, 2003, taxpayers may continue to rely on [the foregoing-listed] revenue rulings to the extent described in Notice 2002-8, but only if the arrangement is not materially modified after September 17, 2003." (Internal Revenue Service)
Treasury and IRS Release Split-Dollar Regs in Final Form; Most Public Comments Rejected
Press release; includes link to text of the final regs. Excerpt: "[On September 11, 2003,] the Treasury Department and the IRS issued final regulations on the tax treatment of split-dollar life insurance arrangements. The regulations provide comprehensive tax rules for split-dollar life insurance arrangements that are entered into or materially modified after September 17, 2003." (U.S. Treasury Department)
Bill for Enhanced Pensions for Disabled Federal Employees Nears Approval
Excerpt: "The legislation is designed to make up for the retirement-fund contributions a federal employee who is injured on the job can't make while being paid under workers' compensation. Funds for the Federal Employee Retirement System come from three sources ... Under the legislation just approved by Congress, the FERS direct benefit would be increased from 1 percent to 2 percent to make up for the shortfall during the disability." (Fredericksburg.com)
Disability Benefits Received Under a Pension Plan Were Includible In Gross Income
Disability retirement benefits that a taxpayer received under a pension plan were includible in the taxpayer's gross income because the benefits did not meet the requirements for exclusion under IRC Sec. 105(c). This was the ruling of the U.S. Tax Court in Enloe v. Commissioner (Docket No. 14031-01S. T.C. Summary Opinion 2003-81). (Spencer Benefits Reports)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
FSA Manager
for Suburban Philadelphia employee benefits firm
in DE, NJ, PA
Junior Administrator
for Daily Valuation Firm
in FL
Employee Benefits Consulting Practice Leader
for Clifton Gunderson LLP
in IL, WI
Financial and HR Executive
for CFG
in CT
Retirement Services Specialist
for Trust Company
in ME
Pension Administrator
for Third Party Administration Firm
in MO
Distribution Processor
for Third Party Administrator Firm
in TX
Entry Level DC Administrator
for Third Party Administrator Firm
in TX
Retirement Defined Contribution Administrator/Compliance Officer
for West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board
in WV
Regional Sales Director
for Hartford Life
in ALL STATES
Plan Manager
for Hartford Life
in CT
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
Retiree Medical Care: Easing the Pain, Developing a Cure
on September 18, 2003
presented by Hewitt Associates
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
401(k) Risk Management Platform Partners With Walker MacRae To Serve TPAs
(Normandie Institutional Advisors)
New 401(k) Investment Education Program Released
(ICC Plan Solutions)
Labor Department Releases Advisory Opinion on Profile Information Provided by Retirement Plan Fiduciaries
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Towers Perrin Calls for Legislative Clarity for Cash Balance Plans
(Towers Perrin)
John Bremer CPA MBA EA joins The412iCompany
(The412iCompany)
Assistant Secretary Ann L. Combs Calls For Reforms to Strengthen Workers’ Retirement Security
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Pension Coverage among Small Firms Grows, But Continues to Lag Averages Due to Revenue, Cost Concerns, Says EBRI
(Employee Benefit Research Institute)
ERISA Advisory Council to Hold September Teleconferences
(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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