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November 14, 2003 - 8,649 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's Tax Savings Calculator
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Announcing EBIA's Tax Savings Calculator! EBIA's new Tax Savings Calculator is a "must have" tool for every employer that sponsors a cafeteria plan or transportation plan and for anyone else that designs or administers plans. This powerful, easy-to-use tool allows employees to estimate their federal tax savings that arise from making a wide variety of pre-tax salary reductions, and it also compares DCAP vs. DCTC savings. For details, please click above!
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Republicans Ready to Sell Medicare Plan, Democrats Blast It
Excerpt: "Republicans were gearing up Thursday to begin selling a complex Medicare plan while congressional Democrats assailed it ... 'There is absolutely no way that I would, or would encourage others to, support a bill that undermines Medicare, that gives a windfall to the pharmaceutical industry, a slush fund to the HMOs (health maintenance organizations) and does not give seniors what they deserve,' said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi ..." (Reuters via Washington Post)
Congressional Negotiators Hustle to Try to Save Medicare Compromise
Excerpt: "President Bush on Thursday tried to increase public pressure on a divided Congress to complete negotiations over a Medicare prescription drug program, but lawmakers failed to overcome an impasse that has hobbled the $400 billion, 10-year plan." (Washington Post)
Opinion: Medicare Bill is Trojan Horse for Conservatives
Excerpt: "[B]eware of politicians bearing gifts -- the bill will contain measures that have nothing to do with prescription drugs, and a lot to do with hostility to Medicare as we know it. Indeed, it may turn out to be a Trojan horse that finally allows conservative ideologues, who have unsuccessfully laid siege to Medicare since the days of Barry Goldwater, to breach its political defenses." (Paul Krugman in the New York Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Hidden Snares in Healthcare
Excerpt: "A handful of Republican conservative crusaders in the House, led by Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin are working to guarantee that free-market reforms like Health Care Savings Accounts (HSAs) are included in any prescription drug bill. They are facing tough, but not impossible odds." (Washington Times)
Opinion: Health Savings Accounts Not Necessary Part of Medicare Bill
Excerpt: "Given that it's usually referred to as the 'Medicare prescription drug bill,' most people assume the main purpose of the large health care bill-- now the focus of acrimonious House and Senate negotiations-- is to add prescription drugs to the services provided by Medicare. Why, then, has House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) been quoted as saying that 'one of the most important pieces' of this bill is a measure that has nothing to do with Medicare?" (Washington Post)
2003 Segal State Health Benefits Survey: Medical Benefits for Employees and Retirees (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "For more than 30 years, The Segal Company has periodically gathered data from state health plans into a comparative analysis of benefits, costs, premiums, plan designs and related employee benefits issues. This survey is intended to serve as an informational resource for government leaders." (The Segal Company)
Retiree Health Care Requires Planning by Employees and Retirees
Excerpt: "Those most fortunate retirees who have the most generous benefits often are still required to meet co-payments, deductibles, and possibly prescription drug costs, one of the most rapidly increasing components of medical care.... For many employees, prefunding of retiree health benefits will become critical in the future. Planning for retirement will need to consider seriously the level of assets required to cover your health care costs in retirement." (ICMA Retirement Corporation)
What Nondiscrimination Tests Apply to Cafeteria Plans, Health FSAs and DCAPs?
Excerpt: "I've just learned that cafeteria plans (and benefits offered under them) must pass some nondiscrimination tests. Do these tests apply to all employers, even small ones like our company?" (EBIA Weekly (Question of the Week))
Overview: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear ERISA Preemption Case on State Negligence Claims Against HMOs
Excerpt: "The only question the Supreme Court has to answer, at least for now, is whether these claims-- which arise out of mixed treatment and eligibility decisions by HMOs-- are state law claims that belong in state court, or ERISA claims that belong in federal court. But if the Supreme Court allows these cases to proceed as state law claims, the stage could be set for the Court to revisit the conflict preemption question in the near future." (Deloitte's Human Capital Advisory Services)
Chart of 2004 Federal Holidays
Excerpt: "Dec. 25, 2004, (the legal public holiday for Christmas Day) falls on a Saturday. For most Federal employees, Friday, December 24, will be treated as a holiday for pay and leave purposes.... Friday, Dec. 31, 2004 will be treated as a holiday for most Federal employees since January 1, 2005 falls on a Saturday." (GovExec.com)
Hewitt Moving Some Call-Center Ops To India
Excerpt: "Hewitt Associates LLC, the human-resource outsourcing company, plans next year to open a call center outside New Delhi to handle inquiries from employees at Hewitt's client companies. Bryan Doyle, outsourcing business leader at Hewitt, says the center will handle calls related to workers' flexible-spending health-care accounts and other general inquiries." (Information Week)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Common-Law Loyalty Rule Pops Up in Stock Option Dispute
Excerpt: "Legal and business experts said they believed it was the first time the court had applied the principle-- which requires employees to deal honestly with their employers-- to the disclosure of stock options.... The faithless-servant doctrine, also known as the loyalty law, establishes the idea that there is a trust implicit in the master-servant relationship." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
New: Organization Chart, List of Regional and District Offices of EBSA
Scroll down to mid-page for list of offices. (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Fiduciary Liability: Expensive But Threadbare
Excerpt: "Have you negotiated your fiduciary liability coverage yet? If not, take two aspirin immediately, because it's not going to be easy or cheap." (Treasury & Risk Management)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Conversion Consultant
for CNA Trust
in CA
Senior Health & Welfare Consultant/Disease Management or Clinical Effectiveness
for Mellon Human Resources & Investor Solutions
in IL
Benefits Director
for University of Chicago
in IL
Manager, Reconciliation
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
Institutional Trust Administrator
for First National Bank
in KS
Newly Posted Events
Health Care Cost Surveys for 2004
Nationwide on December 11, 2003
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP)
Federal Securities Law Issues for Qualified Plan Lawyers
Nationwide on December 16, 2003
presented by American Bar Association (ABA)
Churn, Churn, Churn: How Instability of Health Insurance Shapes America's Uninsured Problem
Nationwide on November 12, 2003
presented by Commonwealth Fund
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Intuit Simplifies Employee Retirement, Benefits, Workers' Comp
(Intuit Inc.)
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