If the headlines in this newsletter aren't clickable for you,
please use the online, clickable version at:
https://benefitslink.com/2003/2003_09_25_welfare.html
(click or copy-and-paste the above address into your web browser)


BenefitsLink
Welfare Plans
Newsletter
To BenefitsLink home page Fill your job openings fast by advertising on BenefitsLink

September 25, 2003 - 8,548 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's COBRA: The Developing Law

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

COBRA's New Notice Requirements! Are You Ready?

The DOL's proposed COBRA regulations, expected to be finalized early
next year, impose new notice requirements--and EBIA is here to help!
Our COBRA: The Developing Law manual is the best resource available.

Written and edited by top employee benefits attorneys, our COBRA manual
(updated quarterly) has over 1,000 pages packed with information and
sample documents to help keep your group health plans in compliance
with COBRA's requirements.

Click above for details.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Minnesota to Explore Use of Drugs Imported from Canada
Excerpt: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty jumped into the ongoing debate over prescription drugs Wednesday by asking top state officials to explore giving all Minnesotans access to cheaper Canadian drugs.... Pawlenty is the first Republican governor to entertain imports, though the Democratic governors of Iowa and Illinois also made similar moves recently." (The [St. Paul] Pioneer Press)

Iowa Plans to Procure Drugs From Canada
Excerpt: "Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said he intends to seek lower-priced medicines from Canada for state employees, a move that puts added pressure on Congress and the Food and Drug Administration to find a way to control the soaring cost of prescription drugs in this country." (Washington Post)

Congress Pressured To Complete Drug Bill
Excerpt: "Negotiators on the Medicare prescription drug bill, who are facing pressure to speed up their work, now have an Oct. 17 deadline to complete action on the legislation, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said Wednesday." (The Des Moines Register)

Obesity Is on the Rise and Costing Employers Billions (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "For employers, the obesity epidemic is costing billions of dollars in health care and disability insurance costs, lowered productivity and increased absenteeism, according to Medstat, a health care information company. And a RAND study notes that obesity is a greater trigger for chronic health conditions and increased health care spending than either smoking or drinking. The good news is that employers can help reduce the risk of obesity, a largely preventable condition ..." (Towers Perrin)

Shift Against Drug Benefits Under Medicare
Excerpt: "The push to add a prescription-drug benefit to Medicare could be running into trouble. New obstacles-- including the exploding federal deficit and a revolt on the issue by conservatives in the House-- may be making it less likely that omnibus Medicare reform will clear Congress this year." (The Christian Science Monitor)

Opinion: Them Wacky Californians Are At It Again
Excerpt: "[T]he recently enacted mandate that all employers with more than 20 employees provide health insurance coverage (SB 2).... doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of surviving an ERISA (Employee Retirement Security Act [sic]) challenge even if it is signed by the embattled governor ..." (Greg Scandlen published by the Galen Institute)

Trial Attorneys Received $40B from Lawsuits, Including Those for Medical Malpractice, in 2002
Excerpt: "Trial attorneys in 2002 received $40 billion from lawsuits filed over issues such as asbestos and medical malpractice, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Manhattan Institute, the Washington Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Overview: OTC Drugs Can Be Reimbursed Through Flexible Spending Accounts (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "If it is decided to permit reimbursement of OTC drugs under a health FSA, administration of the FSA will become somewhat more complicated. The first hurdle is determining whether an item is a 'medicine or drug' under applicable law." (Morgan Lewis)

Certain Large Employers More Apt to Offer Varied Benefits
Excerpt: "Employers with 100 or more employees, in white-collar industries and that pay an average wage of at least $15 per hour are more likely to offer a wide variety of benefits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These results are in the recently released BLS report, 'Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2003.'" (Thompson Publishing Group)

Companies Offering On-the-Job Chaplains
Excerpt: "While many employers continue to draw uncrossable boundary lines between personal and work lives, other companies see workers as people whose home lives are inherently important and which can greatly affect their capacity to work. Many of the chaplains are employees of Marketplace Ministries, a national organization that provides corporate chaplains on a contract basis to corporations nationwide." (The [Lancaster, Penn.] Intelligencer Journal via International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Grasso to Get $57.7 Million in Severance Pay
Excerpt: "Former New York Stock Exchange head Richard Grasso structured his departure as a 'termination,' entitling him to $57.7 million for deferred pay and severance payments, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday." (USA Today)


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Health & Welfare Associate
for Towers Perrin
in GA, MA, TX

Actuarial Associate-Retirement
for Towers Perrin
in GA, MA, NY

Senior Benefits Administrator
for Access Retirement Services, LLC
in TN

Extraordinary & Fun Defined Benefit Consulting Opportunities in So. Calif.
for Louis Kravitz & Associates, Inc.
in CA

Employee Benefits Consultant
for Plante & Moran, PLLC
in MI

Retirement Plan Specialist
for CORBCO, Inc.
in MA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)

National LTCi Producers Summit
in LA
November 16, 2003
LTCi Sales Strategies magazine

Cash Balance Plans and Age Discrimination
in CA
October 16, 2003
Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Orange County Chapter

October BeneFEST
in MA
October 22, 2003
Massachusetts Association of Health Underwriters
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)

412iCompany offers new "guaranteed" Pension Plans.
(The412iCompany)

CD's and Handouts Available for Distance Learning Seminars
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)

Deferral.com online services selected by Retirement Capital Group for new ISOP® Plan Program
(Deferral.com, Inc.)


Handy Links:

Copyright 2003 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.

Published by:

BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151

Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.

Housekeeping: