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December 2, 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)
Employees' Share of Healthcare Costs Key Issue in Kroger Workers' Strike
Excerpt: "Around 3,300 employees of Kroger supermarkets in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky have been on strike for seven weeks. The major issue remains health care benefits, and the strike shows no sign of ending. Greg Collard of West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports." (National Public Radio)

Panel Recommends That Doctors Screen for Obesity
Excerpt: "To help stem the epidemic of obesity in the United States, a government advisory group yesterday urged for the first time that doctors weigh and measure all adults and recommend intensive counseling and behavior treatment for those found to be obese." (Washington Post)

What Obligations to a Former Employee on COBRA Who Has Been Called to Active Duty?
Excerpt: "[W]e think that the better course is not to terminate COBRA for individuals who become covered under a plan providing health benefits in connection with service in the uniformed services. However, plan administrators facing this issue may wish to consult with their insurers and stop-loss carriers to make sure that differing interpretations of the law do not result in uninsured liability for COBRA coverage." (Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA))

Flextime Facing Resistance from NYC-Area Employers
Excerpt: "[R]esearch shows 37 percent of respondents on Long Island and 35 percent in New York City saying their employers offer flexible working hours. Compare that with the 67 percent of workers nationwide who said in a 2000 poll for the National Parenting Association that flextime was offered in their workplaces." (Newsday)

Everyday Errand Service Fosters Work-life Balance
Excerpt: "[E]ven as the high-tech driven labor market was peaking, an 'everyday errands' service dubbed dock3 was founded in San Diego on the premise that employees could maintain higher productivity and a better work-life balance if their employer would take care of the laundry, car maintenance and similar chores for them." (BenefitNews.com)

Opinion: HSAs Pose Threats to Long-Term Fiscal Policy and Employer-Based Health Insurance System
Originally published 10/27/03; revised 12/1/03. Excerpt: "Studies by three highly respected institutions have found that if use of Medical Savings Accounts becomes widespread, this could cause premiums for comprehensive employer-based health insurance to more than double." (Center for Budget and Policy Priorities)

Opinion: Stop the HSA Tsunami!
Excerpt: "For those of us who are healthy, HSAs with catastrophic coverage would serve our purposes well. But those of us who later develop significant disorders will discover why we should all have comprehensive coverage using a common risk pool.... A major flaw in our health care system is the profound administrative waste that diverts funds from patient care. HSAs add a very significant administrative layer and interject more middlemen into the process." (Physicians for a National Health Program)

Financial Review of pr*scription Drug Component of the Medicare Bill (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "This document focuses on a description of the design and an analysis of the costs associated with the proposed new pr*scription drug benefit as it relates to Medicare beneficiaries who are not dually eligible for Medicaid." (Milliman USA)

Opinion: Pass the Bills Forward
Excerpt: "The House and Senate passed a bill called 'a $400 billion pr*scription drug bill for seniors.' ... In reality, the bill will cost 4 or 5 times that much in the next decade alone." (Alan Reynolds in the Washington Times)

California's Health Insurance Act of 2003—Just What Is Mandated?
Excerpt: "The Governor has signed SB 2, the Health Insurance Act of 2003, which is the most ambitious and far reaching attempt to provide health care coverage in any state but Hawaii. Politicians, business owners, unions, and ordinary citizens have praised and vilified this new legislation. But what does it really mean and what will be its likely practical effects?" (Hanson Bridgett Marcus Vlahos & Rudy, LLP)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Ninth Circuit: Deemed Denial of Plaintiff's Claim for Benefits Yields De Novo Standard of Review (PDF)
31 pages. Excerpt: "[W]here, according to plan and regulatory language, a claim is 'deemed . . . denied' on review after the expiration of a given time period, there is no opportunity for the exercise of discretion and the denial is usually to be reviewed de novo. While deference may be due to a plan administrator that is engaged in a good faith attempt to comply with its deadlines when they lapse, this is not such a case." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit via FindLaw.com)

Text of ERIC Amicus Brief in Petition for Certiorari on Kodak SPD Case (PDF)
15 pages. Excerpt: "[The issue in this case is] whether an employee who seeks benefits based not on the terms of the plan itself, but on the basis of a statement or omission in a document summarizing and describing the plan (the 'Summary Plan Description' or SPD), must show that he or she detrimentally relied on the SPD's statement or omission in order to obtain the additional, extra-plan benefit." (ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC))


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Junior Pension Plan Administrator
for Valley Pension Services
in CA

Principal Administrative Analyst
for UC Office of the President
in CA

Plan Administrator, All States
for Primary Consulting, Inc.
in ALL STATES

Institutional Trust Consultant III
for BB&T
in VA

Pension Administrator
for The National Advisory Group, Inc./Pension Consulting Services, Inc.
in PA
Newly Posted Events

The Canadian Privacy Challenge-Are You Ready?
Nationwide on December 9, 2003
presented by IFEBP (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)

Impact of the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill: What Employers Need to Know
Nationwide on December 17, 2003
presented by IFEBP (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)

Impact of the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill: What Employers Need to Know
Nationwide on December 17, 2003
presented by !Trak-It Solutions
Newly Posted Press Releases

Watson Wyatt Expands Retirement Practices in Philadelphia, Cleveland and Boston With Hiring of Nine Consultants
(Watson Wyatt)

ICC Plan Solutions Launches Participant Education Product for Addressing Mutual Fund Industry Issues
(ICC Plan Solutions)

Employers urge SEC to consider alternatives to 4:00 p.m. hard close trade time and 2 percent redemption fee for market timers
(American Benefits Council)

ACCREDITED INVESTMENT FIDUCIARY -- AIF -- Program Now Available on Acadient Academy
(Acadient)


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