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February 26, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
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U.S. Steel Reduces Future Obligations for Retiree Health Benefits Under Medicare Law
Excerpt: "Officials for Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel have announced that the company has reduced future obligations for retiree health benefits by $450 million for 2003 as a result of the new Medicare law (HR 1), the Wall Street Journal reports ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Wisconsin Joins Minnesota in Providing Residents Information on Canadian Drug Reimportation
Excerpt: "Wisconsin will begin providing its residents with access to Canadian Internet pharmacies today, Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday, even as federal regulators issued new warnings to another state that has already done it.... Wisconsin will follow the model of Minnesota, which last month launched a website that links to information on two Canadian Internet pharmacies the state has certified as safe and reputable." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
U.S. to Study Importing Canada Drugs but Choice of Leader Prompts Criticism
Excerpt: "Hoping to mollify its critics, the Bush administration said Wednesday that it would conduct a yearlong study of how pre.scription drugs might be safely imported from Canada. But it then infuriated the critics by selecting Dr. Mark B. McClellan, the commissioner of food and drugs, to lead the study." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Illinois Couple Sues Over U.S. Drug Import Ban
Excerpt: "An elderly Illinois couple, saying they are unable to pay as much as $1,000 each month for pre.scriptions, plans to venture into the war over drug imports today by filing a lawsuit against the government, arguing it is unconstitutional to prevent them from purchasing life-saving drugs at a lower price in Canada, their lawyer said yesterday." (Washington Post)
Washington State Legislature Considers Mental Health Parity Bill
Excerpt: "The Washington state Legislature is considering a bill (HB 1828) that would require health insurers to provide coverage for mental health as they do for other medical services, the Seattle Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Report Ties Health Care Struggles To Immigration
Excerpt: "Immigration policy is a key factor in a growing increase in the uninsured and the fiscal crises burdening public health care systems nationwide, officials at the Federation for American Immigration Reform said in a report yesterday." (Washington Times)
The Cost of Tax-Exempt Health Benefits In 2004
Excerpt: "The tax expenditure for health benefits is the amount of revenues that the federal government forgoes by exempting health benefits and spending from the federal income and Social Security taxes, including (1) employer health benefit contributions for workers and retirees, (2) health benefit deductions for the self-employed, (3) health spending under flexible spending plans, and (4) the tax deduction for health expenses." (Health Affairs)
The Effect of Tax Credits for Nongroup Insurance on Health Spending by the Uninsured
Excerpt: "This paper compares out-of-pocket spending for health care by lower-income uninsured people with their net spending on insurance and health care if they took up each of three hypothetical tax credits." (Center for Studying Health System Change)
Testimony of Consumers Union on Consumer-Driven Health Care
Excerpt: "So-called 'consumer driven' health care plans, which have defining features of high-deductible coverage and (possibly) tax-advantaged employer contributions to health reimbursement or savings accounts, may create serious problems for the U.S. health care system. Consumers Union believes that this coverage is misnamed, misguided from a policy perspective, and a dangerous distraction from the need to solve the health insurance crisis that faces 43.6 million uninsured consumers ..." (Consumers Union)
Parents Share Tricks for Switching from Work to Home
Excerpt: "That grinding sound you hear is the sound of millions of working parents struggling to shift mental gears." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
IRS Lets Company Deduct Personal Use of Corporate Aircraft
Excerpt: "The IRS has issued a nonprecedential, nonbinding ruling on the tax treatment of personal use of corporate aircraft. Chief Counsel Advice (CCA) memorandum 200344008 permits an S corporation to fully deduct the costs of operating its aircraft for personal purposes when the appropriate value of that use was included in the recipients' income." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Revised U.S. Disclosure Rules for Pensions and Postretirement Benefits: What Canadians Need to Know (PDF)
Excerpt: "Following U.S. accounting standards can help Canadian companies raise capital in the U.S. Canadian entities that want to comply with the new requirements, in addition to Canadian GAAP, can do so by including certain additional disclosures in their Canadian financial statements. This Bulletin summarizes the key provisions of the revised FASB Statement, which, as with the original version, only addresses disclosure requirements (not the calculation or recognition of expense)." (The Segal Company)
Bush to Support Constitutional Amendment Prohibiting Marriages Between Same-Sex Partners
Excerpt: "President Bush backed a constitutional amendment banning g.ay marriage Tuesday, saying he wants to stop activist judges from changing the definition of the 'most enduring human institution.' Marriage cannot be severed from its cultural and moral roots, Bush said, urging Congress to approve such an amendment." (AP via SFGate.com)
The Cost of Marriage Inequality to G.ay, L.esbian and Bisexu.al Seniors
Excerpt: "When a g.ay, l.esbian or bisexu.al senior dies, his or her surviving partner faces a financial loss that can amount to tens of thousands of dollars because the couple cannot be recognized as legally married in the United States." (The Urban Institute)
Opinion: Federal Constitution Not the Place to Fight Marriage Battle
Excerpt: "Setting aside the religious ceremony, marriage is a legal contract between two people. States have the responsibility to establish the parameters for such legal contracts, to enforce them and to dissolve them. The federal government has no business usurping that right, regardless of the cause." (The Detroit News)
Opinion: Constitutional Amendment on Definition of Marriage Is Prudent Path
Excerpt: "Like it or not, we're now engaged in a critical debate of the nature, purpose and legal status of marriage.... [J]udges disregard thousands of years of custom and experience, flout the laws of every society, and thumb their noses at the beliefs of every major religious tradition. They say that a legal preference for traditional marriage is 'irrational.'" (Matthew Spalding in the Washington Times)
IRS Shuts Down Aggressive Executive Stock Transaction
Excerpt: "On Wednesday, the Treasury Department and the IRS issued a revenue ruling that would shut down an aggressive transaction involving the exercise of stock options by corporate insiders using debt financing provided by the corporation." (AccountingWEB)
Rev. Rul. 2004-37: Employee Has Income When Debt to Employer Reduced (PDF)
9 pages. Excerpt: "If an employee issued a recourse note to his or her employer in satisfaction of the exercise price of an option to acquire the employer's stock and the employer and employee subsequently agree to reduce the stated principal amount of the note, does the employee recognize compensation income under § 83 of the Internal Revenue Code?" (Internal Revenue Service)
Cry For Cost Cuts at US Airways Grows Louder; Union Leaders to Meet with Alabama Pension Trustee
Excerpt: "Today, flight attendants union leaders are scheduled to meet with [US Airways Board of Directors Chair David] Bronner in Montgomery, Ala. There, he heads the Retirement Systems of Alabama, the public pension fund that financed US Airways through bankruptcy last year and now owns 37 percent of the airline." (PittsburghLIVE.com)
Newly Posted Events
The Performance and Potential of Consumer-Driven Health Care
Nationwide on February 25, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation
HIPAA Security and Privacy Regulations: What Self-Funded Health Plans Should Be Doing Now
Nationwide on March 18, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Consumer Driven Health Plans
in Maryland on March 18, 2004
presented by Baltimore Chapter of ISCEBS
Preparing for Health Insurance Change -- What Employers Need to Know and Do
in California on February 24, 2004
presented by ArlenGroup
Preparing for Health Insurance Change -- What Employers Need to Know and Do
in California on March 24, 2004
presented by ArlenGroup
California Senator Debra Bowen to Speak
in California on March 9, 2004
presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference Los Angeles
Are Workers Prepared for a Safe and Secure Retirement?
Nationwide on February 26, 2004
presented by U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce
Newly Posted Press Releases
Watson Wyatt's Benefits Outsourcing Survey
(Watson Wyatt)
SEC Proposes Mandatory Redemption Fees for Mutual Fund Securities
(U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
New Authoria Choice™ Extends HR Communications Solution with Application Outsourcing and Business Services
(Authoria, Inc.)
Witnesses Cite Importance of Retirement Planning, Praise Committee Initiative to Reform and Strengthen Defined Benefit Pension System
(U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
401(k) Client Relationship Manager
for Great West Retirement Services
in CA, IN, KS, NJ, TN, TX
Senior Employee Benefits Attorney
for Citistreet
in FL
New Business Technical Consultant
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NY
NBI Project Manager
for Transamerica
in CA
Investment Operations
for The National Advisory Group, Inc.
in PA
Vice President, Benefits Law – Cablevision
for Cablevision Systems Corp.
in NY
Pension/Sales
for Fort Washington Area Pension/Investment Firm
in PA
Benefits Manager
for Hunton & Williams LLP
in VA
VP - Institutional Plan Service Manager
for Merrill Lynch
in NJ
DB Products and Services Specialist
for Merrill Lynch
in NJ
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