November 24, 2003 - 8,712 subscribers Today's sponsor: American Lawyer Media (Click on company name or banner to learn more.) Complete Benefits Law Guidance from Law Journal Press The nation's workforce and health care system are constantly evolving and so are the legal issues. Law Journal Press helps you handle any benefits law question with up-to-date, authoritative books on all aspects of the field. Get legal and practical advice from leading experts on everything from COBRA to ERISA, "contingent" employees to family and medical leave, and more. Browse our product listings for detailed information and special offers. (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) House of Representatives Approves Medicare Bill Excerpt: "The Republican-controlled House approved a bitterly contested Medicare prescription drug bill early Saturday in an epic struggle settled near dawn. The vote was 220-215." (Washington Post) Medicare Bill Would Revive Public-Private Alliance Excerpt: "If the $400 billion Medicare overhaul bill becomes law, the government will try for a second time to forge a partnership with private health insurers to provide coverage to the program's 40 million elderly and disabled enrollees." (Washington Post) Medicare Bill Would Benefit Some Companies Excerpt: "The Medicare legislation that passed the House near dawn on Saturday and is moving toward a final vote in the Senate would steer at least $125 billion over the next decade in extra assistance to the health care industry and U.S. businesses, in addition to its widely heralded goal of helping older Americans pay for prescription drugs." (Washington Post) Medicare Debate Turns to Pricing of Drug Benefits Excerpt: "With Congress poised for final action on a major Medicare bill this week, some of the fiercest debate is focused on a section of the bill that prohibits the government from negotiating lower drug prices for the 40 million people on Medicare." (New York Times; one-time registration required) Conservatives Take Little Cheer In Drug Bill's House Win Excerpt: "Conservative policy advocates ... condemned the Medicare reform bill, calling it a big-government monstrosity whose entitlement costs will explode when baby boomers begin retiring after 2010." (Washington Times) Medicare Bill Has New Tax-Free Accounts Excerpt: "New health savings accounts included in the Medicare legislation would let individuals save, invest and then spend money tax-free. To avoid all taxes, the dollars must pay for medical expenses." (AP via New York Times; one-time registration required) Health Savings Accounts Drew Yeas From the Wary Excerpt: "For some conservative Republicans opposed to expanding a government entitlement program, the sweetener that allowed them to swallow the medicine and vote for the Medicare bill on Saturday morning was the inclusion of a new tax-free health savings account." (New York Times; one-time registration required) Opinion: the Latest Drug War Excerpt: "This latest war on drugs does not involve international drug kingpins, marquee drug busts and clandestine networks of drug dealers. This latest war is the battle to keep unregulated prescription drugs from being reimported en masse for purchase by American consumers." (Alvin Williams in the Washington Times) Opponents Short of Filibuster on Medicare Bill Excerpt: "The Senate Democratic leader says his party lacks the votes to sustain a filibuster against the Medicare prescription-drug bill, which passed the House after an unprecedented three-hour vote early Saturday morning." (Washington Times) Opinion: Medicare as Pork Barrel Excerpt: "Given all the excitement, you'd think that passing a Medicare drug benefit would solve one of the nation's pressing social problems. won't. But you wouldn't know that from politicians or the news media.... Who's going to pay? Well, tomorrow's workers -- the main taxpayers." (Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post) Health Benefits Game Yields Surprising Results Excerpt: "Traditionally, the process of calculating who gets what goes something like this: Businesses settle for the best deal they can afford, which is often much less than employees want or expect. Managers are then faced with the prospect of selling the new plan to skeptical unions and wary workers, many of whom have no idea what their health care benefits really cost. So what happens when employees are asked to design a benefit plan for themselves? Turns out, they do a pretty good job." (California HealthCare Foundation) Opinion: Health Care-- a Right or a Privilege? Excerpt: "[T]he striking grocery employees have declared, by a 97 percent vote, that they are born with a right to health care -- funded by the business that hired them." (Scott Holleran of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine in SFGate.com) Employers Form Lobby Group In Support of Working Families Excerpt: "Corporate Voices for Working Families (CVWF), created in 2001 by corporate heavyweights including Marriott International, IBM, JP Morgan Chase and Ceridian Corp., aims to be an influential government lobby and force to be reckoned with regarding issues that confront working families." (BenefitNews.com) Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General Web-Based HR Technology Increases Productivity Web-based self-service has reduced the administrative workload of human resources departments and improved data accuracy and timeliness, according to a survey recently released by Towers Perrin. The survey, 2003 HR Service Delivery Survey Report, found that 60% of employers' administrative workload has been reduced due to employee self-service, and 47% of companies have eased HR's administrative burden due to manager self-service. (Spencer Benefits Reports) Lawsuits by Pension Fund Trustees Up Ante in Supermarket Strike Over Health, Pension Costs Excerpt: "For the past six weeks, Safeway Inc. has been grappling with an employee strike at its nearly 300 grocery stores in Southern California. Now the supermarket giant is under attack from shareholders." (AP via Washington Post) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Employee Benefits Sales Representative for Great-West Healthcare in MI, NY, OH, WA Group Health Insurance Sales/Account Management for Great-West Healthcare in GA, NC, NJ, NY, OH Sr. Retirement Programs Specialist for Providence Health System in WA Administrative Assistant for ERISA Services, Inc. in TN Immediate Opening for a Defined Contribution Qualified Plan Administrator for Pension Works, Inc. in VT Newly Posted Events Pass or Fail? What Consumers Don't Know About Retirement Income and What the Media Has Been Telling Them Nationwide on December 1, 2003 presented by Employee Benefit News Regaining Control of Health Care Costs: A Hewitt Financial Executives Briefing in Texas on December 1, 2003 presented by Hewitt Associates LLC Regaining Control of Health Care Costs: A Hewitt Financial Executives Briefing in Texas on December 11, 2003 presented by Hewitt Associates LLC SouthWest Benefits Association/Internal Revenue Service 15th Annual Employee Benefits Conference in Texas on November 15, 2004 presented by SouthWest Benefits Association SouthWest Benefits Association/Internal Revenue Service Plan Administrator Skills Workshop in Texas on February 6, 2004 presented by SouthWest Benefits Association SouthWest Benefits Association 29th Annual Conference in Texas on May 19, 2004 presented by SouthWest Benefits Association Handy Links:
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