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September 17, 2003 - 8,548 subscribers
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Many California Employers Face Health Care Mandate
Excerpt: "With the ranks of the uninsured rising rapidly across the country, California -- where the problem is especially acute -- is on the verge of requiring thousands of employers to provide health benefits for their workers." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
California Bill for Employer-Paid Health Coverage to be Expensive, and Might Be Preempted by ERISA
Excerpt: "Hawaii, the only state that currently requires employers to provide health insurance, approved its health mandate before the passage of ERISA. Hawaii got around ERISA by obtaining a waiver that allowed the state to grandfather in its health mandate. 'We've watched other states try it and nobody else has been successful,' said Pat Schoeni, executive director of the National Coalition on Health Care, a non-partisan alliance of businesses, unions, and others ..." (San Francisco Chronicle via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Humana, Aetna Bring Consumer-Directed Health Plans to School Districts in Texas, Florida for '04
Excerpt: "Under the CDH plan, HISD will provide single employees with a $750 HRA to cover health care expenses. (The HRA amount for family coverage has not yet been finalized.) ... Once the HRA is depleted, the employee is responsible for the next $1,000 in costs. Unused HRA balances roll over at the end of the year, and there is no cap on the maximum balance amount. The plan also provides 100% coverage for preventive care up to $1,500." (Inside Consumer-Directed Care via AISHealth.com)
Health Plan Costs Up 10.6% for Federal Employees
Excerpt: "Health insurance premiums for federal employees and retirees will rise an average of 10.6 percent next year, the fourth consecutive year of double-digit increases, the Bush administration said yesterday." (Washington Post)
Opinion: Detroit's Healthcare Crisis-- and Ours
Excerpt: "Wonder why Chrysler is no longer part of the Big Three? Look no further than retiree costs." (Geoffrey Colvin on Fortune.com)
Drug Industry Does Battle With An Image Problem
Excerpt: "Limousines would pull up at 15th and L Street, one after the other. While some on the street wondered what the occasion was, Washington insiders knew it was nothing unusual. The limos were filled with the CEOs of multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies and if they were in town, it meant the drug industry trade group was having its monthly board meeting." (The Hill)
Proposed Subsidies to Private Health Plans, Medicare Beneficiaries May Cause Regional Disparities
Excerpt: "Subsidies to private health plans and rebates to seniors, as proposed in the House and Senate Medicare bills (HR 1 and S 1), could result in beneficiaries paying 'substantially different' premiums in different regions, according to an internal Bush administration assessment of the plan, the Wall Street Journal reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Individual Health Insurance Policies Growing In Popularity
Excerpt: "Large-scale unemployment, early retirees and recent college graduates are growing segments for individual health plans, and insurers have increased their efforts to market these plans to gain more business, according to a recent report by Nashville, Tenn.-based HealthLeaders Research, which covers the managed care industry." (Dayton [Oh.] Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Report of the Working Group on Challenges to the Employment-Based Healthcare System
November 14, 2001. Includes recommendations and summaries of testimony received. Excerpt: "There are a number of structural problems within the current employer provided health care system that need to be addressed if the employment-based system is to survive.... It is time to begin making transitional changes that would both encourage and make feasible, an evolution from the employment-based systems.... A joint public/private system for the delivery of health care may best address these needs." (ERISA Advisory Council)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
In Germany, Young Are Balking at Paying Benefits for Increasing Numbers of Retirees
Excerpt: "'It's about time 85-year-olds started paying for their own hip replacements and false teeth,' [Philipp Missfelder, chairman of the youth wing of the center-right Christian Democrats] declared in an August interview with the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel that was widely quoted by other news media. 'In the old days, people got around on crutches,' he said." (Business Week)
Overview: New Proposed Financial Disclosures for Pensions and Other Benefits (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Although the new proposed disclosure rules would not directly modify the underlying accounting rules for how pensions and other benefits are recognized in a company's income statement and balance sheet, new calculations may need to be performed to make the required disclosures." (Milliman USA)
Microsoft To Retire Options Worth $19 Billion
Excerpt: "Microsoft on Tuesday disclosed that employee stock options covering $18.8bn worth of its shares stood to be retired under the ground-breaking plan that will involve it abandoning the use of options for good." (Financial Times via Yahoo! News)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Plan Administrator
for WESPAC Plan Services, Inc.
in CA
Customer Service Representative
for Flexsoft, Inc.
in CA
Director/Fund Administrator
for Taft-Hartley Benefit Plans - Philadelphia metro area
in PA
Newly Posted Webcasts
(Post Yours!)
Health Care Cost Containment: Fraud Red Flags
on September 23, 2003
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
2003 CCA Annual Meeting
in AZ
November 2, 2003
Conference of Consulting Actuaries
2004 Enrolled Actuaries Meeting
in DC
March 21, 2004
Conference of Consulting Actuaries/American Academy of Actuaries
An Overview of the Legal Application for Pension Actuaries
in AZ
November 5, 2003
Conference of Consulting Actuaries/American Academy of Actuaries
An Overview of Health & Welfare Laws & Regulations
in AZ
November 5, 2003
Conference of Consulting Actuaries/American Academy of Actuaries
Introduction To Defined Benefit Plans
in ALL STATES
October 2, 2003
McKay Hochman / HRTrainingCenter.com
Coverage Requirements For Qualified Plans
in ALL STATES
September 30, 2003
McKay Hochman / HRTrainingCenter.com
Introduction To Cross-Testing
in ALL STATES
October 8, 2003
McKay Hochman / HRTrainingCenter.com
Compensation In Qualified Plans
in ALL STATES
December 4, 2003
McKay Hochman / HRTrainingCenter.com
Women Leading Change
in ALL STATES
September 22, 2003
WorkWorlds / HRTrainingCenter.com
Leadership Savvy - Difficult Conversations
in ALL STATES
October 13, 2003
WorkWorlds / HRTrainingCenter.com
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Latest Canadian Benefits Book Examines Effects of Monsanto Case
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Alliance Benefit Group Holds Strong In Recordkeeping Business
(Alliance Benefit Group)
Benefit Software Inc. Provides Online TotalComp and Printed Benefit Statements for OshKosh B’Gosh
(Benefit Software Inc.)
Movers and Shakers: Newly Posted Announcements of Promotions and New Personnel
(Post Yours!)
Mark P. Carey (Carey & Associates, P.C.)
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