| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
November 19, 2003 - 8,712 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)
Some House Conservatives Question Medicare Deal
Excerpt: "A few conservative House members announced their opposition to a $400 billion bill to revamp Medicare yesterday, blurring the prospects for congressional leaders and White House officials who hope to enact the measure in the next few days." (Washington Post)
Medicare Deal Includes HSAs, Tax Incentives for Retiree Coverage
Excerpt: "A core group of mostly Republican Medicare conferees announced a tentative deal on November 16 that includes a provision to allow taxpayers to set aside tax-free funds for health care expenses.... Conferees dropped the much broader Health Savings Security Accounts several weeks before reaching the agreement.... In addition, the agreement would provide a 28% excludable subsidy for employers that maintain retiree prescription drug coverage once the new drug benefit starts in 2006." (CCH Tax News - http://tax.cchgroup.com/news/default)
Summary of Medicare Conference Agreement from Perspective of Governmental Health Plans (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "If you provide your participants with information about Medicare's Part B premium, the premium will become income-based. The change in the premium relates to the level of subsidy. Under current law, everyone receives the 75% subsidy and everyone pays the same monthly amount. The change is phased in over five years." (National Council on Teacher Retirement - www.nctr.org)
Does Medicare Subsidy for Retiree Health Care Plans Applies to State and Local Governments? (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "I just received confirmation from Senate staff that the subsidy payment will apply to any such plans offered by state and local governments." (National Council on Teacher Retirement - www.nctr.org)
NCPERS Opposes Medicare Prescription Drug Bill
Press release. Excerpt: "The tentative agreement on the Medicare prescription drug bill is a bad deal for public employees and most Americans." (National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems)
Opinion: AARP Sells Out Public Employees: Tell Congress No on the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill
Excerpt: "AARP sold out public employees by insisting that employers cannot offer higher health benefits to pre-Medicare eligible retirees than Medicare-eligible retirees. If this provision becomes law, public employees - especially public safety officers and teachers - will lose their health benefits." (National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems)
Opinion: the Troubling Medicare Drug Agreement
Excerpt: "The legislation contains a number of features that do not represent sound policy, either because they would change Medicare in troubling ways or because they fail to incorporate measures to curtail spiraling drug costs that ought to be an essential part of any legislation to establish a Medicare drug benefit." (Center for Budget and Policy Priorities)
Opinion: Medicare Bill is Prescription for Disaster
Excerpt: "The stated reason for the plan is to provide Americans with medicines they could not otherwise afford. The Republicans don't ask why drugs are out of the reach of so many customers. Nor do they ask how those who cannot afford their own drugs will now be able to pay through new premiums for everyone else's drugs." (Americans for Free Choice in Medicine)
Latest HIPAA 'Simplification' Focuses on Safeguarding Electronic PHI (PDF)
Excerpt: "Employers that cut their teeth on the so-called 'mini-security rule' as part of their HIPAA privacy compliance efforts soon will be testing their mettle against the real thing: the HIPAA Security Rule. The ... Security Rule, will require employer-sponsored health plans to develop and implement administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect participants' health information when it is maintained or transmitted electronically." (Gardner Carton & Douglas)
Rev. Proc. 2003-85 Provides Inflation-Adjusted Figures for 2004 for Various Code Sections (PDF)
13 pages; includes adjustments to the adoption credit, the child tax credit, the qualified transportation fringe benefit exclusion amounts, the adoption assistance exclusion amount, limits applicable to medical savings accounts, eligible long-term care premium exclusion amounts, more. (Internal Revenue Service)
The Role of Retiree Health Insurance in the Employment Behavior of Older Men
Working paper. Excerpt: "[C]hanges in health insurance, including access and restrictions to retiree health insurance and Medicare have a modest impact on employment behavior among older males." (David M. Blau, Donna B. Gilleskie; description of working paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research)
Remaining HIPAA Rules Expected by 2004
Excerpt: "The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) currently are drafting the remaining HIPAA rules and expect to publish them by next year. The rules will help entities complete their HIPAA compliance process as well as prepare for potential enforcement." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Canada Limits Imported Drug-Fight Role
Excerpt: "Top health regulators from the United States and Canada agreed yesterday to share information in investigations of Canada's Internet pharmacies, but there was no sign that Canadian officials planned to take any quick action against Web drugstores on their side of the border." (Boston Globe)
Group Pushes Tax Credit for Healthcare
Excerpt: "An influential group of health care business leaders is pushing a refundable tax credit as a way to help the more than 41 million uninsured Americans get health coverage." (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Text of Massachusetts Gay Marriage Decision
Complete text of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's November 18, 2003 decision in Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health, SJC-08860 (the case striking down state law prohibitions on same-sex marriage) is now available online. (Calhoun Law Group, P.C.)
Overview: Mass. High Court Strikes Down Gay Marriage Ban
Excerpt: "The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that a law banning same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. The four-to-three opinion says gay couples are legally entitled to marry under the state constitution. But the ruling stops short of allowing marriage licenses to be issued to the seven gay couples who had challenged the law." (National Public Radio)
Public Divided On Many Issues Regarding Homosexuality, Survey Finds
Excerpt: "The poll ... found that opposition to gay marriage has grown since midsummer, with 32% favoring it and 59% opposing it. In July, 53% said they opposed gay marriage.... Roughly half those polled said they have unfavorable opinions of gays and lesbians. But the survey found widespread opposition to discrimination against homosexuals." (USA Today)
Attorney General Says Alabama Won't Recognize Gay Marriages
Excerpt: "'Under the federal Defense of Marriage Act and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act, the State of Alabama is not required to and will not recognize same-sex marriages or civil unions from other states,' the Republican attorney general said." (TimesDaily.com)
Lesbian Couple Wins Landmark Ruling by Massachusetts Highest Court
Excerpt: "On Tuesday, Massachusetts' highest court ruled that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution." (Boston Globe)
Group Starts $1M Gay Marriage Campaign
Excerpt: "On Monday the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) revealed its $1 million ad campaign aimed at educating the public about why same-sex couples deserve civil marriage licenses." (Gay.com)
Massachusetts Ruling Should Have Little Effect on Businesses Sponsoring ERISA-Covered Plans
Excerpt: "While many companies already extend employee benefits to same- and opposite-sex spouses, ERISA exempts the private sector from yesterday's Supreme Court decision, [Rob Webb, an attorney and partner at the law firm of Nutter, McClennen & Fish in Boston] said. 'Compared to [Massachusetts] public employees, this won't have nearly the same effect on the business community,' he said." (Daily News Tribune)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Actuarial Associate-Retirement
for Towers Perrin
in GA, MA, NY
Recordkeeping Supervisor
for TPA Firm in Southeast Michigan
in MI
Manager of Group Benefits
for Publix Super Markets
in FL
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Ben Stein Kicks Off National Retirement Planning Week 2003
(National Retirement Planning Coalition (NRPC))
VPA, Inc., Teams Up With BenefitPoint, Inc. To Offer Brokers And Consultants Access To Absence And Disability Benefits Outsourcing Services To Self-Funded Employers
(VPA, INC.)
Principal Financial Group Adds 412i Defined Benefit to Complete Solutions Portfolio
(Principal Financial Group)
Perquest Brings Payroll Industry Into 21st Century
(Perquest, Inc.)
Perquest Introduces Online Payroll Service For Small Businesses
(Perquest, Inc.)
National Retirement Planning Coalition Report Reveals Risks to Retirement Income
(National Retirement Planning Coalition)
Great-West Retirement Services Completes Transaction With Federated Insurance For Group Retirement Business
(Great-West Retirement Services)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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: