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October 17, 2003 - 8,548 subscribers
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Accord Nearer On Medicare Drug Bill
Excerpt: "Although those trying to craft a final Medicare prescription-drug bill by today fell short and still face many unresolved issues, there was general agreement this week to make wealthy seniors pay more for some Medicare services." (Washington Times)
Defense Health Care: TRICARE Claims Processing Has Improved but Inefficiencies Remain
39 pages. Excerpt: "DOD eliminated preauthorization requirements for certain procedures and gave the [Managed Care Support, or 'MCS'] contractors more latitude for determining when preauthorizations are appropriate.... MCS contractors have worked with their claims processors to implement new technologies for data input, claims routing, customer service, and claims submission." (U.S. General Accounting Office)
A Holistic Approach to Health and Productivity Management
Excerpt: "A holistic approach to health and productivity management examines paid and unpaid leave, presenteeism, health care, pharmacy, wellness, disease management, occupational and environmental health, workers compensation, and employee assistance programs. It looks at the effect these programs have on employee health and the net effect on productivity. In this article, we briefly describe these programs and present return-on-investment (ROI) statistics." (Aon Consulting)
Minnesota Governor Announces Plan to Import Drugs
Excerpt: "In a move designed to pressure national leaders to tackle high prescription drug prices, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday announced a landmark plan to help Minnesotans import U.S.-manufactured drugs from Canadian pharmacies." ([St. Paul] Pioneer Press)
Lean Healthcare? It Works!
Excerpt: "Some analysts raise the specter that rising health-care costs could spell doom for U.S. manufacturing, just as it contributed to the gutting of the nation's steel, railroad and textile industries." (IndustryWeek.com)
Opinion: the Days of Good Health Benefits for Blue-Collar Workers Are Over
Excerpt: "All you've got to do is look at the two Southern California strikes now underway -- by supermarket employees and MTA mechanics -- to see what we're in for.... Employers get hit with rising health-care costs, which cuts into profits. So they pass some of the damage on to employees, which is the equivalent of docking their pay." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
The Hidden Snags in Healthcare Pools
Excerpt: " In theory, by allowing small outfits to buy insurance together, the pools bestow some of the negotiating power that large companies enjoy.... In reality, the pools often fail, usually thanks to a combination of factors." (BusinessWeek Online via Yahoo! News)
Position Paper: the Causes of the Uninsured (PDF)
2 pages. (HR Policy Association)
Sole Breadwinners Face Special Work-Life Angst
Excerpt: "Imagine volunteering for a lifestyle that forces you to give up nearly half your household income, sell your toys, forgo vacations of the kind your friends enjoy, and work as if three or four lives depended on your next paycheck." (CareerJournal.com)
ERISA Preemption: a "Serbonian Bog"
Excerpt: "The opinion [in DiFelice v. Aetna] is artfully written and a must-read for anyone interested in ERISA preemption. Continue reading for the facts of the case as well as key portions from the opinion, including the answer to this question: 'What is a Serbonian blog?' Judge Becker used the term in his opinion." (B. Janell Grenier on Benefitsblog.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Former Baseball Players Seek Class Action Over Benefits
Excerpt: "Three former major league baseball players filed a class-action lawsuit against the league, it's 30 teams and commissioner Bud Selig on Thursday, claiming they were wrongfully denied pension and medical benefits and discriminated against because they were white." (AP via New York Times; one-time registration required)
GOP Agrees to Widen Veteran Benefits
10/16/2003. Excerpt: "Congressional Republicans agree Thursday to spend $22 billion over the next decade to allow more veterans to receive both disability benefits and full military retirement. The dispensation is currently available only to combat veterans. Hear NPR's Andrea Seabrook." (National Public Radio)
After Normal Retirement Age, Disabled Vets Could Collect Disability Benefit Plus Retirement Benefit
Excerpt: "Under pressure from veterans groups, the GOP leadership announced yesterday that it will allow more veterans to collect both full retirement and disability benefits, something they have been blocked from doing in the past." (Washington Post)
Opinion: Veterans Deserve Pension Equity
Excerpt: "Under a century-old law, pension payments to retired disabled veterans are reduced to offset the disability payments they receive from the government. As a result, a disabled combat veteran might be drawing no more pension than a clerk-typist who never saw a lick of combat." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
WorldCom Battles Founder on Pension
Excerpt: "WorldCom Inc. has reached settlements with over 100 creditors that control more than $40 billion in debt as part of its bankruptcy case, but it is still locked in a dispute with company founder and former chief executive Bernard J. Ebbers over his $1.5 million annual pension." (Washington Post)
More High-Tech Firms Might Drop Stock Options
Excerpt: "After surveying 175 high-tech companies, accounting giant Deloitte concluded that many firms will phase out stock options, even as industry leaders fight to preserve the current rules that make the awards a cheap form of incentive compensation. The report was released Thursday." (AP via Washington Post)
2003 and 2004 Compensation Trends
Excerpt: "Lessons learned from the last recession and the rash of corporate accounting abuses that began to surface in 2001 are still evolving. However, in addition to developments that primarily affect the compensation of executives and boards of directors, the slowly recovering economy has caused noticeable changes in general compensation trends. This article examines these trends as well as changes in corporate governance processes." (Aon Consulting)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Trust Administrator
for CNA Trust
in CA
Vice President, Bids and Proposals
for AIG VALIC
in TX
Vice President, Retirement Services
for Invesmart
in KY
401(k) Technical Systems Consultant
for Wells Fargo Retirement Plan Services
in MN
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Consumer-Directed Health 2003 Winter Symposium
in FL
December 3, 2003
Global Business Research
Mountain States Benefits Conference
in CO
September 13, 2004
ASPA
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Changes in Expenses Covered by Healthcare Plans
(Culpepper and Associates, Inc.)
Employease Selected for Forbes Best of the Web
(Employease)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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