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March 4, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
Today's sponsor: Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Are Your Health Plans in Compliance? HIPAA imposes far-reaching privacy requirements on health plans, plan administrators, and insurers-- and EBIA is here to help! Our HIPAA Portability & Privacy manual is the best and most reasonably-priced resource for HIPAA privacy compliance. The manual is also the best resource on HIPAA portability (special enrollments, PCEs, certificates of creditable coverage, and nondiscrimination)! For more information, visit http://www.ebia.com
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
EEOC To Finalize Retiree Health Benefit Rules
Excerpt: "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission expects to finalize by late September proposed rules that would clarify employers can offer richer health care benefits to younger retirees than to Medicare-eligible retirees without fear of being sued by the EEOC." (Business Insurance)
AARP to Push Industry on Canada Drugs
Excerpt: "AARP, the lobbying powerhouse of 36 million U.S. senior citizens, will 'ratchet up' pressure on the pharmaceutical industry to convince them not to block importation of cheaper pres.criptions from Canada, the group's chief executive said on Wednesday." (Reuters via Medscape; one-time registration required)
Standardized Healthcare Information Exchange Would Save $87 Billion Annually, Group Says (PDF)
4 pages; press release. (Center for Information Technology Leadership)
Minnesota Pension Fund Presses Pfizer, Aiding State's Efforts on Medicaid Front
Excerpt: "Minnesota's state pension fund approved a shareholder resolution on Wednesday opposing efforts by Pfizer Inc. to cut off supplies to Canadian pharmacies that sell to Americans." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)
State Employer Health Insurance Mandates: a Brief History
Excerpt: "Employer mandates have been incorporated into major health reform efforts in a number of states, but only one state (Hawaii) currently requires employers to offer health insurance to their workers. This report compares California's current SB 2 law with key mandate provisions in Hawaii and other states that have attempted to mandate employer-based coverage but encountered political and economic obstacles, including Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, and California." (California HealthCare Foundation)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Organization Chart for the Employee Benefits Security Administration
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Opinion: Grocery Strike Ended in Defeat
Excerpt: "On health care-- the key issue in the strike-- the contract gives the companies a 50 percent share in administering the health-care fund, which had previously been union-run. The deal caps employers' contributions to the fund, which means that employees will pay all future increases in health care costs beyond a specified amount." (Socialist Worker)
Opinion: Union Sacrifices Grocery Workers While Declaring Victory
Excerpt: "After more than four months on the picket lines, the workers ended up with a deal that is certainly inferior to their previous contract, and in some respects inferior to the contract proposal they rejected just before the strike.... Union officials defend this outcome by accepting, in effect, the supermarkets' position that they needed to cut labor costs to compete with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other cut-price grocers." (Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
The Medicare and Social Security Challenge
Excerpt: "When Alan Greenspan urged Congress last week to cut future benefits in Social Security and Medicare, sending elected officials to the barricades, he was if anything understating the magnitude of the problems ahead." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Greenspan Helps Us Navigate Through Benefits Fog
Excerpt: "The trouble is demographic. Social Security was established at a time when average life expectancy at birth was 62 and benefits began at 65. Now, life expectancy is 77, and you can begin drawing checks at 62. It's a double whammy because, as the population ages, there are fewer workers to provide them with benefits." (James K. Glassman in the Washington Times)
Newly Posted Events
SPARK National Conference
in Florida on May 12, 2004
presented by RG Wuelfing & Associates
Employee Benefits Conference
in New York on May 18, 2004
presented by Foundation for Accounting Education
Newly Posted Press Releases
Catalog of Resources Published by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
(International Foundation (of Employee Benefit Plans, or IFEBP))
Labor Department Official Testifies Before Senate Finance On Health Insurance Scams
(U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
401(k) Administrator
for GAP-Pension Inc.
in NJ
Retirement Plan Coordinator
for T Rowe Price
in MD
Manager, Benefits Plan Administration
for NRECA
in VA
Employee Benefits Paralegal
for Chang, Ruthenberg & Long, P.C.
in CA
Account Executive - Retirement Services
for Principal Financial Group
in LA
Human Resource Assistant
for A Prestigious International Law Firm
in DC
ERISA Consultant
for BISYS Retirement Services
in MN
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- View Today's Active Message Threads
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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