If the headlines in this newsletter aren't clickable for you,
please use the online, clickable version at:
https://benefitslink.com/2003/2003_12_19_welfare.html
(click or copy-and-paste the above address into your web browser)


BenefitsLink
Welfare Plans
Newsletter
To BenefitsLink home page Fill your job openings fast by advertising on BenefitsLink

December 19, 2003 - 8,783 subscribers
Today's sponsor: BenefitsLink Yellow Pages

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

Outsource benefits tasks by selecting a vendor from our online directory

Your employee benefits service or product can be advertised
in an online directory sponsored by the nation's leading employee
benefits web site-- BenefitsLink.  Your listing can take readers
directly to your web site, or to a full-page advertisement we'll
create.  Just $200 per year (or $400 per year for a premium
listing)!

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Impact on FAS 106 Accounting of the New Medicare Pr*scription Drug Benefit (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "[E]mployers that are required to disclose liability and expense information for their plans under Financial Accounting Standard No. 106 (FAS 106) face an immediate question: Will the Medicare changes have an impact on 2003 disclosures? A recent FASB Staff Position states that it would be premature for any plan sponsor to reflect enactment of the Act in its disclosures." (The Segal Company)

Health Savings Accounts: Medicare Reform Reshapes the Landscape for Active Employee Health Coverage
Excerpt: "Reviewing the statutory provisions for HSAs, it is clear that Congressional drafters began with the existing MSA provisions and made key improvements, improvements that should result in HSAs becoming a powerful force in the health coverage marketplace (an outcome MSAs never approached)." (BNA Tax Management)

How Does Medicare Entitlement Affect the COBRA Rights of Qualified Beneficiaries?
Excerpt: "Here is a summary of how Medicare entitlement can affect the COBRA rights of qualified beneficiaries. However, this summary does not cover all the details of these sometimes complex rules. Note that the date when Medicare entitlement occurs is critical in answering COBRA/Medicare questions." (Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA))

Federal District Judge Set To Approve Settlement Between CIGNA, Doctors
Excerpt: "A proposed settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed by several hundred thousand physicians against health insurer Cigna on Thursday cleared a final hearing in U.S. District Court in Miami, and U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno indicated that he will approve the deal, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reports ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Refusal To Rehire Worker Fired For Drug Use Did Not Violate the ADA, Supreme Court Rules
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that an employer's policy of refusing to rehire workers who were terminated for workplace misconduct did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ruling came in Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez (Docket No. 02-749). (Spencer Benefits Reports)

New York City, Unionized Workers Reach Agreement on Health Benefits
Excerpt: "The New York City government and unionized municipal employees on Thursday signed a two-year agreement on health care benefits that will increase workers' copayments and introduce an annual administrative health fee to counter rising health care costs ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Employers Grow More Aggressive in Using Pharmacy Design Changes to Control Costs
Excerpt: "Techniques like mandatory mail-order fulfillment requirements and four-tier pharmacy designs have been around for a few years but used by a minority of payers. Continued increases in health premiums have led more employers to embrace those techniques to lower drug spending, PBM executives said." (Managed Care Week via AISHealth.com)

Payers See Savings in Eliminating Risk Clauses in Disease Management Contracts
Excerpt: "As health insurers and employers grow more confident in the ability of disease management vendors to achieve savings goals, the contracting process between payers and vendors has settled into a more simple method of calculating payments." (Managed Care Week via AISHealth.com)

Latest Data on Health Coverage and Presidential Candidates' Proposals to Expand Coverage
Excerpt: "With policy discussions about covering America's uninsured continuing, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured is releasing its latest analysis of federal government data and a side-by-side summary of the Presidential candidates' proposals to expand health coverage." (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Unknown Prices Hamper Health Care Reform Efforts
Excerpt: "Almost nobody, from the doctor to the patient, knows what a given procedure really costs. And that's a real problem for would-be reformers who favor a system that counts on consumers to hold down health care costs, by putting them in charge of their own spending." (AP via Washington Post)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Split Dollar Policies Get Hammered: How To Decide What To Do By December 31, 2003
Excerpt: "The regulations virtually eliminate the highly favorable tax treatment historically accorded the life insurance policies underlying SDAs. While the final rules technically do not apply to pre-existing SDAs, the IRS has left open the strong possibility that these pre-existing SDAs will be subjected to some of the same tax rules, unless the parties take advantage of an IRS 'safe harbor' by December 31, 2003." (BNA Tax Management)

CCA 200344008 -- Claiming Aircraft Related Deductions on More Than Just a Wing and a Prayer
Excerpt: "In Chief Counsel Advice 200344008, the Internal Revenue Service ruled that an S corporation's deduction of depreciation and operating expenses in connection with a corporate-owned aircraft was not limited to amounts imputed into income as compensation to the shareholders or employees for use of the aircraft. The Service allowed the full deduction of expenses and depreciation ..." (BNA Tax Management)


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Retirement Plan Specialist
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in CA


Handy Links:

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: