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March 17, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
Today's sponsor: HIPAA Solutions Rx

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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
California Employer-Provided Healthcare Benefits Survey, 2003
Excerpt: "A survey of California employers released by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) shows that premiums for employer sponsored health insurance increased 15.8% in 2003, higher than the national average increase of 13.9% and nearly seven times the rate of inflation. Over the past three years, total premiums for family coverage in California increased by almost 42%. Workers contributions for family coverage increased by nearly 70%." (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Workers' Perspectives On Mandated Employer Health Insurance: We Like It
Excerpt: "California recently passed the Health Insurance Act of 2003, the first state-based 'play-or-pay' legislation in nearly a decade. To better understand workers' perceptions, the California HealthCare Foundation commissioned NORC at the University of Chicago to conduct a survey to assess workers' views on mandated employer coverage. We found that the vast majority of workers support such a mandate ..." (Health Affairs)

Bush Urges Approval of Association Health Plans
Excerpt: "President Bush once again is urging Congress to pass legislation to make it easier for small employers to band together through their trade associations to provide health care coverage to employees free of state mandates and regulations." (Business Insurance)

The 'Business Case' For Investing in Employee Health
Excerpt: "This Issue Brief reports on the findings from interviews with six large employers to learn more about what these employers actually do to promote employee health beyond offering health plans, why they do what they do, how they financially justify what they do to their peers and superiors, and what the prospects are for their more expansive and longer-term approach to health benefits costs in the current general economic climate and in the face of sustained health care inflation." (Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))

Kerry Proposal Should End Subsidies to Employers for Providing Health Coverage, Columnist Says
Excerpt: "Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) should include in his health care proposal a provision that would eliminate the 'nutty system' of tax subsidies for employer-sponsored health insurance that fuels 'an unnatural urge to channel every ache, pain and pres.cription through a third-party payment bureaucracy,' Holman Jenkins, editor of the Wall Street Journal daily e-mail newsletter, writes in an opinion piece." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Opinion: Bogus Medical Privacy Claims
Excerpt: "If Planned Parenthood's doctors are going to testify as experts that the [partial-birth abortion] procedure is medically necessary, they ought to provide the medical records to substantiate their case.... [R]efusing to provide redacted medical records to the court is chutzpah on stilts." (Washington Times)

California Medical Association Continues to Back Mandatory Health Coverage Under New State Law
Excerpt: "An organization of doctors yesterday urged that Californians be required to have catastrophic health insurance, while maintaining its support for a requirement that businesses provide health insurance for employees." (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Health Insurance Premiums Crash Down On Middle Class
Excerpt: "Rising health care costs are increasingly pressuring the middle class, adding a large and politically influential group to the category of those who fear they may soon have to do without." (USA Today)

Court Orders Plan To Pay $5,885 COBRA Penalty
Excerpt: "A former member of a union welfare benefits plan and his wife were awarded $5,885 for violation of their COBRA rights. Specifically, the court ruled that the plan unlawfully refused to provide a COBRA election notice. Although the maximum penalty for failure to provide a COBRA notice under ERISA is $110 per day, the court awarded $55 per day for a total period of 107 days." (OnQue Technologies, Inc.)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Overview: EBSA Requests Comments on Proposed Changes to EFAST
3/15/04. Excerpt: "The redesigned system--EFAST2--is intended to encourage filers to submit electronic returns and thereby simplify the processing of returns." (RIA Pension & Benefits Week)

A Double Blow to Split-Dollar Life Insurance
Excerpt: "Split-dollar life insurance may have been the last thing on Jeffrey Skilling's mind when he was led away in handcuffs on February 19, but his split-dollar policy was one of many that spurred regulators to rethink these arrangements in the wake of the Enron disaster." (Workforce.com)

Management, Labor Prepare for D.C.-Area Grocery Strike
Excerpt: "The union historically has had a peaceful relationship with the grocers. But with the chains vowing to trim wage, pension and health care costs, and with Safeway workers in California coming off a five-month strike, union members said officials are telling them they must be ready for a breakdown in labor talks." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

National Employee Benefits Day Comes on April 2; President Bush Congratulates IFEBP
Excerpt: "In honor of the 50th anniversary, the White House has issued a Presidential Message sending greetings to the International Foundation members as we celebrate the first ever National Employee Benefits Day. On this day 50 years ago, the very first meeting of 11 construction industry health and welfare funds commenced." (International Foundation)

Newly Posted Events

Health Care Reform
Nationwide on March 16, 2004
presented by Hewitt Associates LLC

Employee Benefits Survey Results for 2003
in New Jersey on March 23, 2004
presented by International Society of CEBS - Central New Jersey Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases

Retirement Company Opposes SEC 4 PM Proposal
(ICMA Retirement Corporation)

Prudential Introduces Income Bridge Approach to Retirement Planning
(Prudential Financial, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Marketing Consultant
for Polycomp Administrative Services, Inc.
in CA

Consulting Pension Actuary
for InDemand Staffing of St. Louis, Inc.
in MI, MN

Plan Administrator
for Alliance Pension Consultants
in IL

Pension Administrators for St. Petersburg TPA firm
for HCH Companies, Inc.
in FL

401K Plan Benefits Analyst
for Global Professional Services Firm
in CA

401(k) Investment Analyst/Consultant
for 401(k) Advisors
in CA

Retirement Plan Specialist
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in FL

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