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January 12, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
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FASB Reversal: Immediate Accounting for Medicare Law Permitted (PDF)
Excerpt: "An employer that sponsors a retiree health plan may take the recently enacted Medicare law's provisions into account when preparing its current financial statements, under a major reversal of position [on Jan. 7] by [FASB]. An employer may also choose to defer accounting for the law ... Accounting immediately for the Medicare law could produce a significant decrease in the liability reported for the retiree health plan, resulting in a material income item." (Milliman USA)
Text of Actuaries' Comments on Effect of Medicare Law on FAS 106 Disclosures (PDF)
Excerpt: "On behalf of the American Academy of Actuaries'1 Joint Committee on Retiree Health, we would like to take this opportunity to indicate our support for the proposed FASB Staff Position (FSP) on ... FAS 106 ... deferring any accounting for the effects of the Medicare Pr*scription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. Members of this committee have already been asked by plan sponsors to provide actuarial insight into both the new law and its impact on compliance with FAS 106." (American Academy of Actuaries)
Washington Post Examines Health Plans' Increased Scrutiny of Healthcare Providers' Claims
Excerpt: "The Washington Post on Monday looked at the 'growing concern among private and government health insurers about the accuracy of physicians' claims and the system for calculating reimbursements.' Both federal health programs and private-sector insurers increasingly have conducted audits of providers' bills to determine if providers are sufficiently documenting care, billing for unnecessary services or using correct codes for billing." (KaiserNetwork.org)
The H.M.O. Approach to Choosing a Lawyer
Excerpt: "According to the American Bar Association, half of all consumers who need a lawyer do not seek legal help. The reasons include cost and uncertainty: many people say they do not know how to find a good attorney. This potential demand is fueling the growth of prepaid legal-services plans, also known as legal H.M.O.'s." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Elder Care Benefits Cry Out For Better Employer Communications
Excerpt: "Employer-provided elder care benefits are widely underutilized and poorly communicated by sponsors. As a result, employers are suffering from a little-noticed productivity killer that will soon roar." (BenefitNews.com)
FDA Might Take Action Against States, Localities That Establish Reimportation Programs
Excerpt: "FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan has said that the agency might take legal action against states or cities that implement programs to reimport lower-cost, U.S.-manufactured pr*scription drugs from Canada, the AP/Boston Herald reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Employer Retiree Medical/Medicare Checklist
Excerpt: "What should your company do about retiree health in response to US Medicare reform legislation? Consider the steps in Mercer's checklist to help make the best decisions for your situation." (Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
IBM Retiree Mounts Campaign Aimed To Lower Retirees' Share of Health Costs
Excerpt: "While IBM still pays medical costs for its retirees, it capped its contributions in the mid-1990s when accounting rules changed, as did about one-half of companies with more than 1,000 employees, according to a 2002 survey by Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates. Health-care costs have continued to rise and retirees end up covering the difference." (USA Today)
FedEx, UPS Say They're Blocking Canadian Drug Shipments
Excerpt: "FedEx and United Parcel Services, which together carry about 75% of U.S. air and ground packages, say they are taking action against illegal Web pharmacies that ship drugs on their trucks and planes, the Wall Street Journal reports." (iHealthBeat; one-time registration required)
Employers Redesign Office Sites To Get Employees To Walk More
Excerpt: "[A] handful of employers have gone back to the drawing board - an architect's drawing board, to be exact - to design worksites that will encourage employees to become more active, like it or not." (BenefitNews.com)
Patients Vow To Make Changes As Costs Surge
Excerpt: "Workers are indeed becoming better health care consumers as employers ask them to share more of the costs, new evidence suggests." (BenefitNews.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Opinion: Call It the Family-Risk Factor
Excerpt: "[B]y fixating on the day-to-day ups and downs, analysts have largely missed the more telling trend: an increasing shift of economic risk from government and corporations onto workers and their families.... The number of Americans without employment-based health benefits has been rising for decades. Employers are also restructuring workplace benefits to impose more risk on workers." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Court Strikes Down Wal-Mart Rank-and-File COLI Policy
Excerpt: "Specifically, the policy violates an 'insurable interest' doctrine in Texas. Under this provision, insurance policies that name a beneficiary that lacks an 'insurable interest' in the life of the policy owner are void, the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
New Jersey to Recognize G*y Couples
Excerpt: "The measure, passed by a 23-to-9 vote, goes to Gov. James E. McGreevey, who has said he is eager to sign it.... [The bill] requires insurance companies to offer health care coverage to domestic partners equivalent to that for spouses. The measure also extends health coverage and pension benefits to the domestic partners of state employees, but makes no requirements of private employers." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Same-Sex Couples See N.J. As a Haven
Excerpt: "Stephen Drayton and Steven Burch of Collingswood jointly own a house, two cars and, as of Friday, a condo as an investment property. If one of them dies - unlike for married couples - the survivor would have to pay an inheritance tax on those assets. But that will change after Monday, as Gov. McGreevey signs into law new financial benefits and legal rights for same-sex couples." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Business Cheers Bush's Plan to Hire Immigrants More Easily, but Labor Is Wary
Excerpt: "[M]any unions and immigrant advocacy groups have denounced the plan, saying it would create a permanent, exploitable second-tier of workers who would never have the opportunity for permanent residency and full citizenship." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Updated: a Primer On Employment and Reemployment Rights of Employees Entering the Armed Services
Excerpt: "It is time for employers and employees to reacquaint themselves with their obligations and rights regarding military duty." (Groom Law Group)
Gold In Educators' Unused Sick Days
Excerpt: "Chicago's sick-day benefit -- won by the Chicago Teachers Union but shared by principals -- amounts to a unique 'double-dip' not available in the Chicago suburbs, New York City or Los Angeles. As many as 12 unused sick days a year may now count in two ways -- for money and time served: When they retire, Chicago educators can cash in up to 315 sick days. And as many as 244 of those days can be simultaneously added to service time, which can help their pension." (Chicago Sun-Times)
California Supermarket Labor Talks Break Down
Excerpt: "Four days of secret talks between the union representing 70,000 striking southern California grocery workers and several big supermarket chains broke down on Sunday as the strike entered its fourth month, union officials said." (Reuters via New York Times; one-time registration required)
Restricting Transgendered Persons' Marriage Rights Is Illegal, European Court Rules
Excerpt: "Europe's top court has ruled that restricting marriage and pension rights for transsexu*ls violates European Union law.... [The particular plaintiff's] case may be moot. The British government last November began changing the law to allow transsexu*ls to change their birth certificates - and thus marry in their new gender." (ProudParenting.com)
Newly Posted Events
Mutual Funds in Crisis: Issues for Plan Sponsors and Future Developments
Nationwide on February 11, 2004
presented by NAGCDA (National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc.)
Enhancing Retirement Education Programs
in Arizona on January 25, 2004
presented by World Research Group
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Minnesota on January 20, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminars
in South Dakota on January 21, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRAs Basic and Advanced Seminar
in Minnesota on February 5, 2004
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
The Heat is Turning Up on ERISA Preemption for HMOs: Implications of the Supreme Court's Acceptance of Two Key Texas Cases
Nationwide on January 15, 2004
presented by American Health Lawyers Association
Congress and Health: Looking Ahead to 2004, Reflections on 2003.
Nationwide on January 14, 2004
presented by American Health Lawyers Association
Newly Posted Press Releases
Business Leaders Improve Growth Estimates for 2004
(eePulse, Inc.)
Gilsbar Appoints Vice President of Sales
(Gilsbar, Inc.)
Council welcomes Diann Howland as new vice president, retirement policy
(American Benefits Council)
deNovis Secures $22 Million in Venture Capital Funding
(deNovis Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Administrators
for Alliance Benefit Group of Illinois, Inc.
in IL
Defined Benefit Specialist
for Primary Consulting, Inc.
in ALL STATES
Employee Benefits Attorney
for Agilent Technologies, Inc.
in CA
Benefits Outsourcing Program Manager
for Fidelity Investments
in MA
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