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October 1, 2003 - 8,548 subscribers
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IRS Rulings Make Medical Flexible Spending Accounts More Attractive
Excerpt: "Faced with soaring health care insurance bills, companies are reducing benefits and shifting more of the costs to workers. One way to ease the burden is by signing up for a health care flexible spending account." (USA Today via Yahoo! News)
Springfield, Mass. to Protest Drug Costs
Excerpt: "The mayor proposed Tuesday that the city's employee pension fund sell its $6 million investment in pharmaceutical stocks, escalating Springfield's protest of high prescription drug costs." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Overview: California Legislature Approves Bill Mandating Employer-Provided Health Coverage
Excerpt: "The California legislature has approved a controversial pay-or-play bill that would require most California employers to provide health coverage directly to their employees (and, in the case of large employers, their dependents) or contribute to a state-operated fund that would purchase coverage for them." (Deloitte & Touche's Human Capital Advisory Services)
Opinion: Calif. Law Could Be National Model to Address Uninsured Rates If Cost Controls Are Adopted
Press release. Excerpt: "A new report released today by the US Census Bureau shows that uninsured rates are increasing fastest among the nation's middle class as a result of fall-offs in employer-sponsored health care. A bill on California Governor Davis' desk would increase access to care by requiring employers to provide health care benefits to employees and eligible dependents beginning in 2006, according to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR)." (The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
Making Wellness the Focus: One Employer's Story
Excerpt: "The rising cost of health care threatens the very fabric of American society. With Americans widely practicing unhealthy life habits, such as using tobacco, eating imprudently and leading a sedentary lifestyle, they are at risk for health conditions that threaten to make them long-term liabilities to their employer. This article tells how one U.S. employer chooses to focus its workforce on wellness." (Aon Consulting)
Lucent Technologies Changes Retiree Health-Care Program to Save Money
Excerpt: "The meeting, which was not open to the media, was the first of nine that Lucent has scheduled around the country to explain changes to its management-retiree health-care program and be a forum for retirees to share their views.... Lucent said that its retiree health-care costs rose 85 percent in the last six years as its retirees increased 22 percent and that without changes now, the company will have to pay about $1 billion in retiree-healthcare costs." (Winston-Salem [N.C.] Journal via NewsAlert.com)
Angry Retirees Confront Former Lucent CEO Over Planned Health Benefits Cut
Excerpt: "About 750 retired Lucent Technologies managers angry over pared health benefits met with former CEO Henry Schacht on Tuesday, who told them the struggling telecommunications gear maker can't afford to reconsider the cuts." (AP via SFGate.com)
Health Confidence Survey - 2003 Results
Target page includes link to 12-page Summary of Findings. (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Changing Insurance Plans Could Be Hazardous to Your Health
Excerpt: "In these difficult economic times, many people have to change their health insurance plans, either because they can no longer afford it or their employer changes their coverage. That change -- at least temporarily -- is linked to a decrease in the quality of health care and higher health-care costs, says a new study by researchers at the University of California in Davis." (HealthDay via Yahoo! News)
Opinion: the Great Pharmacy to the North
Excerpt: "The Bush administration and the pharmaceutical companies are up in arms. The Justice Department is seeking an injunction to block Canadian drug imports by an Oklahoma-based pharmacy depot. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent a warning letter to officials at CanaRx Services in Ontario that their cross-border operations are illegal. And suddenly another kind of drug war is on." (Abigail Trafford in the Washington Post)
Actuaries Offer to Assist Medicare Drug Bill Conferees (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "As Congress continues to reconcile the House and Senate Medicare prescription drug bills, the American Academy of Actuaries' Health Practice Council would like to offer assistance in assessing the financial implications of this and other proposed changes to the Medicare program." (American Academy of Actuaries)
Differences in CBO, CMS Cost Estimates for Competition Provisions in Medicare Drug Bill
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examines how different cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and CMS on a provision to introduce private competition into Medicare could affect negotiations on a final Medicare bill." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Opinion: When Are Health Costs Excessive If $15,000 Is Average?
Excerpt: "The per-household amount spent on health care this year will average about $15,000. Of that, government will pick up more than half through such programs as Medicare and Medicaid or through various tax subsidies.... Even without the Medicare drug benefit that Congress will try to hash out this fall, the typical couple retiring today will receive about $250,000 in Medicare benefits." (C. Eugene Steuerle published by the Urban Institute, courtesy of Tax Analysts)
Opinion: 'Free' Medicare Drugs Now Means Huge Tax Burden Later
Excerpt: "'If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free,' P.J. O'Rourke once said. He may as well have been describing the Medicare drug benefit being hatched by President Bush and Congress." (The [St. Paul] Pioneer Press)
43.6 Million People in the United States Lack Health Coverage, Census Bureau Figures Say
Excerpt: "The number of people in the United States without health insurance last year increased by 2.4 million, or 5.8%, to 43.6 million people since 2001, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Wall Street Journal reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Law Professor Looks at Criminal Prosecution for HMO Treatment Denial
Excerpt: "When people deliberately do things that are almost certain to cause death, and someone dies as a result, prosecutions for homicide are normally appropriate. However, the administrative conduct of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) seems to be an exception." (Prof. John A. Humbach published by the Health Administration Responsibility Project (harp.org))
Overview: Third Parties May Prepare HIPAA Privacy Authorizations
Excerpt: "Authorization forms for using or disclosing an individual's protected health information (PHI) under HIPAA's privacy rules may be prepared by an entity other than the covered entity seeking to use or disclose the PHI, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)." (Thompson Publishing Group)
A Day To Discuss How We Work
Excerpt: "John De Graaf thinks you work too much. He wants you to stop. If you're not willing to do that he'd like you to take just one day to talk with other overworked souls about how working less could improve your life." (MSNBC.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
U.S. Postal Service to Use Pension Overfunding to Set Up Retiree Healthcare Reserves
Excerpt: "The Postal Service intends to use $10 billion in retirement fund overpayments to set up a health benefit account for its more than 800,000 employees, the Postal Service's chief financial officer said Tuesday. Richard Strasser said the money would lay the foundation for a health benefit retirement program estimated to cost more than $40 billion." (AP via Newsday.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pensions/401(k) ERISA Compliance Specialist
for Graham Forbes, Inc.
in NY
Retirement Plan Administrator
for InWest Pension Management, Inc.
in TX
Client Services Consultant
for American United Life Insurance Company (AUL)
in TN
Client Service Representative
for National Automobile Dealers Assn
in VA
Plan Information Specialist
for National Automobile Dealers Assn
in VA
Benefits Administrator
for Mellon Financial
in GA
Conversions Specialist
for BenefitStreet, Inc.
in CA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
The INs and OUTs of Retirement Plans
in GA
October 23, 2003
SOAR - Seminar Opportunities Achieving Results
HIPAA: What Every Employer Should Know
in FL
November 5, 2003
Orlando Chapter of the International Society of CEBS
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
CBS MarketWatch to Launch Retirement Weekly, a New Online Publication for Baby Boomers
(CBS MarketWatch)
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