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November 20, 2003 - 8,712 subscribers
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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Pelosi: Democrats Will Defeat Medicare Bill
Excerpt: "House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that Democratic opposition to a Republican-backed Medicare prescription drug bill is 'a party position,' signaling an aggressive effort to unite the rank-and-file, scuttle the bill and claim credit with voters." (AP via Yahoo! News)

Gingrich Joins Call for Swift Passage of Medicare Plan
Excerpt: "As Gingrich extolled conservative features of the bill to House Republicans, key Senate supporters from both parties urged rural lawmakers to back it, calling the bill an unprecedented chance to get more Medicare money for rural doctors and hospitals." (Washington Post)

Online Calculator: How Would the Proposed Medicare Drug Benefit Affect You?
Excerpt: "This calculator allows users to enter their prescription drug costs to determine what they would pay under the Medicare reform proposal currently being considered in Congress. Enter annual drug costs below and click on the 'Calculate' button." (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Analysis: Bill Is Major Shift In Medicare 'Principles'
Excerpt: "If it becomes law as written-- and that remains a big 'if'-- private insurance firms and managed health plans could become much more involved in providing drug coverage and medical care for participants in the huge program. Opponents of the bill object vehemently to this philosophical change ..." (Christian Science Monitor)

Opinion: Republicans Make a Bad Deal on Medicare
Excerpt: "The GOP's free-market Medicare reformers are wondering what to make of their leadership's deal on a prescription drug benefit. Let us suggest one way of looking at it: as an awfully high price to pay for expanded Health Savings Accounts. Try as we might, we just don't see much else besides HSAs to be enthusiastic about in the 10-year '$400 billion' (yeah, right) package ..." (Wall Street Journal Editors on OpinionJournal.com)

Computer-Based Patient Records: Short-Term Progress Made, but Much Remains to Be Done
Excerpt: "For the past 5 years, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense have been working to exchange health care data and create electronic records for veterans and active duty personnel. Such exchange is seen as a means of reducing the billions of dollars that the departments spend annually on health care services and making such data more readily accessible to those treating our country's approximately 13 million veterans, military personnel, and dependents." (U.S. General Accounting Office)

IRS Officials Offer Informal Tips on OTC Drug Ruling
Excerpt: "Although the comments are not binding on the IRS, they nonetheless offer some useful insights into the agency's tilt on the issues and may be of particular help to employers with flexible spending accounts (FSAs) or health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). Here's a collection of typical questions and responses that we've put together based on what we've heard." (Towers Perrin)

Overview: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear ERISA Preemption Case on State Negligence Claims Against HMOs
Excerpt: "The judge ruled that the participant plaintiffs can go forward with ERISA fiduciary and co-fiduciary breach claims with respect to various alleged actions or failures to act, including: ..." (Watson Wyatt)

Supreme Court Upholds SSA's Interpretation of "Disabled" In Determining Benefits Eligibility
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Social Security Administration (SSA) properly denied Social Security disability benefits to a claimant who did not meet the definition of 'disabled' under the SSA's regulations. The case is Barnhart v. Thomas (No. 02-763). (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Health Insurance Problems of Disabled Individuals
Excerpt: "These findings suggest the need for additional research, along with policies to provide health insurance to people with disabilities who lack coverage, to fill gaps in coverage among those with Medicare and private insurance, and to maintain coverage for Medicaid enrollees amid rising costs and state budget shortfalls." (Health Affairs)

Large Employers Show Growing Interest in Captive Insurers
Excerpt: "Interest among large employers in setting up captive insurance companies to finance employee benefit programs is growing. While it's certainly too soon to say there's a rush under way, it's also true that some big companies with global brands are moving forward with plans to set up new benefit financing arrangements with captives -- and counting on substantial cost savings." (Towers Perrin)

CalPERS Steps Up Drive To Curb Prescription Drug Prices
Press release. Excerpt: "Continuing an effort to get more value for its prescription drug dollars, [CalPERS] today explored such options as over-the counter medicine, generic prescription drugs, and more effective treatment of costly chronic conditions. At an interactive forum in San Diego, the CalPERS Board heard from pharmacy experts about potential opportunities to restrain soaring costs." (California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CALPERS))

Medical Cost Reference Guide
Excerpt: "A key step to maintaining access to affordable healthcare is understanding the drivers of healthcare costs. To foster this understanding, BCBSA recently published the Medical Cost Reference Guide, a compendium of the best secondary research available focusing on the key drivers of healthcare costs." (BlueCross BlueShield Association)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Compromise Offered for Expensing Options
Excerpt: "Lawmakers opposed to requiring stock options to count against a company's bottom line introduced legislation Wednesday that would require only those options given to a company's top five executives to be counted as an expense." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)

FASB Ready to Level Playing Field for Stock Options
Excerpt: "The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) plans to complete its deliberations on the equity-based compensation project this quarter and to issue an Exposure Draft in early 2004 and a final statement later in the year.... So far, the FASB's major tentative decisions include the following: ..." (Watson Wyatt)

G*y Marriage Ruling Seems Airtight, Experts Say
Excerpt: "Some experts believed lawmakers would use that time to craft a civil union law similar to the one in Vermont, the only other state that legally recognizes same-sex couples. In Vermont, civil unions provide couples with many of the benefits of marriage under a different name. The statute's influence effectively ends at Vermont's borders, however, as it is not recognized by the federal government and many states." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Massachusetts Governor to Challenge G*y Marriage Ruling
Excerpt: "Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney says he'll push for a constitutional amendment to block g*y couples from getting married ... [L]egal experts and some opponents said the decision-- while emphatically supporting a g*y right to marriage-- is ambiguous and leaves open the possibility of civil unions, similar to those practiced in Vermont, rather than marriage. It also is based on the state Constitution, which could be amended by the voters." (AP via Yahoo! News)

Opinion: the Massachusetts Example
Excerpt: "What if a h*mosexu*l couple from Massachusetts or Vermont tried to force one of the 37 states which have defense of marriage laws to recognize their marriage anyway? These states would also face serious legal hurdles to sustain their laws." (Washington Times)

Communication Is Key to Improving Bottom Line
Excerpt: "Watson Wyatt's new study found that companies with the most effective communication experienced a 26 percent total return to shareholders from 1998 to 2002, compared to a –15 percent return for companies that communicate least effectively." (Watson Wyatt)


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Newly Posted Press Releases
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The Newport Group Receives Top Ratings in PLANSPONSOR Magazine Annual Survey
(The Newport Group)

NCPERS Opposes the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill
(National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems)

Agency on Pension & Health Plans Has Record $1.4 Billion Enforcement Results
(U.S. Department of Labor)


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