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March 16, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
Today's sponsor: ProAct Technologies

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Moving HR Communication Online at Lee Enterprises
03/25/2004 11:00 am - 12:00 pm PST
Lee Enterprises, the 12th largest newspaper company in the U.S., was
the first in the world to produce a newspaper entirely by computer. So
when the company acquired 17 more newspapers in 2002, it realized it
was time to automate HR and benefits communication and enrollment as well.
Join us for a Web seminar with Kim Mann, director of HR for Lee. She will
describe the areas where Lee is improving service to its 6700 employees
in 19 states and achieving rapid ROI. Register to find out how ProAct
software helped Lee Enterprises deliver up-to-date, accurate, personalized
HR and benefits information to employees over the Web - efficiently,
painlessly and inexpensively.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
How Retiree Benefits Cuts Fatten Companies' Bottom Lines
Excerpt: "[N]o matter how high health-care costs go, well over half of large American corporations face only limited impact from the increases when it comes to their retirees.... Yet numerous companies are cutting retirees' health benefits anyway. One possible factor: When companies cut these benefits, they create instant income." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)

Actuary Says He Was Told To Withhold Medicare Data
Excerpt: "The government's longtime chief analyst of Medicare costs said yesterday that Bush administration officials threatened to fire him last year if he disclosed to Congress that he believed the pres.cription drug legislation favored by the White House would prove far more expensive than lawmakers had been told." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Opinion: the Actuary and the Actor
Excerpt: "An Orwellian taint is emerging in the Bush administration's big victory last year in wringing the Medicare pres.cription drug subsidy from a balky Congress. The plan is being sold to the public through propagandistic ads disguised as TV news reports, and it turns out the government's top Medicare actuary was muzzled by superiors during the debate about the program's price tag." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

The HIPAA Hook: Medical Flexible Spending Accounts and Employee Assistance Programs
Excerpt: "Most medical flexible spending accounts ('FSA') and most employee assistance program ('EAP') are subject to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, even though these plans typically do not result in the employer's creating or receiving a significant amount of health information about plan participants. Put another way, employers offering a medical FSA or an EAP as a complement to a fully-insured group health plan most likely will be required to comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule by April 14, 2004 ..." (Littler Mendelson via FindLaw.com)

Texas Suits Could Drag HMOs Into State Court
Excerpt: "[Ruby] Calad's treatment is at the center of a complex legal dispute that the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear next week. The outcome is expected to have nationwide implications for consumers, determining whether they have the right to sue for monetary damages when their managed health plans refuse to pay for doctors' recommended medical care." (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Blue Cross Organization Denied Loss Deduction for Terminated Health Insurance Group Contracts
Excerpt: "A Blue Cross Blue Shield organization, which was the common parent of a consolidated group, was not entitled to claim a $4 million deduction for cumulative total losses relating to terminated health insurance group contracts." (CCH Tax News)

Treatment Guidelines Save Money, Grief
Excerpt: "Following medical treatment guidelines saves employers money and helps injured workers avoid unnecessary surgeries and prolonged disabilities, according to an Integrated Benefits Institute study." (Business Insurance)

Cigna Cuts Price For Integrated Health-Disability Coverage
Excerpt: "CIGNA HealthCare is lowering its prices on disability benefits purchased in conjunction with CIGNA medical coverage after it determined that integrating disability with health care programs can lower employers' total benefit costs and shorten disability duration, the health insurer says." (Business Insurance)

Employers, Employees Look To Bring Down Disability Insurance Costs
Excerpt: "[W]ith health care costs skyrocketing and life in general becoming more expensive, people need to marshal their funds. Moreover, the cost of long-term disability insurance, at least individually, is high. So, employers and employees are resorting to several different tactics to keep costs down." (BenefitNews.com)

Opinion: Our New Obesity Obsession
Excerpt: "Is it really plausible that the death rate from overweight and obesity has increased 33 percent in the last 10 years? ... [Dwight D. Eisenhower today] might warn us of the looming 'public health-industrial complex.'" (Steven Milloy in the Washington Times)

From Market-Driven to Consumer-Driven Healthcare
Excerpt: "A few years ago, Harvard Business professor Regina Herzlinger's book on market-driven healthcare took aim at the core of the delivery system. In a Q&A with HealthLeaders member Richard L. Reece, M.D., Herzlinger talks about her follow-up work and what new forces are driving the healthcare system." (HealthLeaders)

Opinion: Fat People Beware-- Government Wants to Help
Excerpt: "The biggest of the big news was that the U.S. federal government, motivated as always by the deepest humanitarian impulses, is going to redouble efforts to help the country's fat people. This can mean only one thing: They should run for their lives -- assuming they can." (Andrew Ferguson on Bloomberg.com)

Consumer-Directed Choice Gets Lukewarm Reception From D.C.-Area Businesses
Excerpt: "Advocates are touting consumer-directed health care plans as the next big thing in employee benefits and as a strong alternative to traditional managed-care products. They argue employers may save 20 to 30 percent on premiums. But business owners appear slow to catch on ..." (Washington Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)

Newspapers Examine Fraudulent Discount Cards, Health Insurers
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined the increase in sales of fraudulent discount health cards as 'employer health coverage shrinks and the nation's uninsured population expands.'" (KaiserNetwork.org)

Scores of Bogus Health Insurers Collect Premiums, Ignore Claims
Excerpt: "Sham health insurers are racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid medical bills -- leaving patients across the country with the tab and doctors with little chance of getting paid, according to a new government report. Health insurance fraud comes in waves, and the recession has caused the latest upsurge." (American Medical News)

Spencer Begins Collecting Data For Its 2004 COBRA Survey
Spencer Benefits Reports, a division of Aspen Publishers, is now collecting information for its 2004 survey of COBRA continuation of health care coverage. Survey forms are available online and by mail. This biennial survey requests information concerning the costs, administrative procedures, and problems associated with COBRA. The information provided will be collated and published by Spencer Benefits Reports. All survey participants receive a copy of the published survey at no charge. (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Domestic Partner Mandates Complicate Decisionmaking
Excerpt: "[A]s state and local mandates regarding domestic partners and civil unions proliferate, the decisions facing employers are becoming more pressing and complex. How does an organization with employees in locales with and without such mandates respond?" (BenefitNews.com)

The Executive Compensation Year in Review: 2003 (PDF)
11 pages. Excerpt: "Following on the dramatic regulatory changes of 2002, 2003 saw many significant developments in the field of executive compensation. The following is a review of key accounting, regulatory and legislative developments of 2003 that impact the field of executive compensation. The purpose of this memo is not to provide a comprehensive analysis of these changes, but to highlight 2003's developments and their implications for executive compensation programs." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)

Certain Compensation Treated as Automatic Excess Benefit For Purposes of "Intermediate Sanctions"
Excerpt: "The amount of executive compensation that can be paid to executives and other employees of exempt organizations is a very difficult problem.... The IRS has recently added more fuel to the fire by stating that unless certain written requirements are followed, an economic benefit provided to executives of exempt organizations will be treated as an automatic excess benefit and thus subject to monetary sanctions under ยง4958." (Buchanan Ingersoll PC)

Hybrid Retiree Health Savings Plan Unveiled
Excerpt: "Fidelity Investments is promoting a new savings plan - the retiree medical benefits account (RMBA) - that it says combines the best features of existing plans and will be more successful in spurring employees to save for their golden years. Aided by Deere & Company, Fidelity is trying to convince federal lawmakers to make its vision law." (BenefitNews.com)

Newly Posted Events

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans Seminar
in Kansas on May 13, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans Seminar
in Minnesota on May 20, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans Seminar
in Arizona on May 26, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plan Seminar
in California on May 6, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

HIPAA Update: Security Compliance Implications for Employers
Nationwide on March 12, 2004
presented by Mercer Human Resource Consulting

Options for Safe and Effective Prescription Drug Importation
Nationwide on March 11, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation

A Vision for Tomorrow's Treasurer -- Managing the Financial and Fiduciary Risks of Retirement
in New York on March 23, 2004
presented by Hewitt Associates LLC

National Health Benefits Conference & Expo: Managing Cost & Productivity - Best Employer Practices
in Florida on June 3, 2004
presented by Employers Health Conferences

412i Nationwide Teleconference
Nationwide on March 26, 2004
presented by The 412(i) Company

Electronic Claims Processing with Debit Cards
in New York on March 24, 2004
presented by New York Metropolitan Area Chapter - ISCEBS

Can Market Competition Cure an Ailing Health System?
Nationwide on March 12, 2004
presented by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

4th Annual ERISA Fiduciary Conference: Advising and Running Employee Benefit Plans
in New York on May 11, 2004
presented by Glasser LegalWorks
Newly Posted Press Releases

Newkirk Adds Vice President of Sales
(MasteryPOINT Financial Technologies)

Invesmart Introduces Investment Fiduciary Standards Scale as Guide
(Invesmart, Inc.)

SEC Votes To Adopt Additional 8-K Requirements and To Propose Amendments to Form 20-F and Fund Manager Disclosure Requirements
(U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)

Be A Part Of The 2004 Spencer COBRA Survey
(Aspen Publishers)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Health Management Design Consultant
for Hewitt Associates
in IL

Actuary, Health Management - Entry Level
for Hewitt Associates
in IL

Health Management Design Consultant
for Hewitt Associates
in GA

Senior Retirement Plan Administration Manager
for Steinhorn Consulting
in CA

Vice President - Marketing & Product Development
for Merrill Lynch (Retirement Group)
in NJ

Manager of Benefits
for Diversified Entertainment Company In New York City
in NY

Senior Account Executive
for Transamerica
in PA

Actuarial Consultant
for Hewitt Associates
in IL

401(k) Account Manager
for Pen-Cal
in CA

Benefits Product/HRIS Manager
for ProAct Technologies Corp
in NY

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Baltimore Based Pension and Profit Sharing Consulting Firm
in ANY STATE

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