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March 19, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
Today's sponsor: ProAct Technologies

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

Moving HR Communication Online at Lee Enterprises
03/25/2004 11:00am - 12:00pm 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)
Rep. Oxley Presents Plan for National Insurance Regulation
Excerpt: "At a meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in New York, House Committee on Financial Services Chair Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) this week presented plans for legislation to create a council of federal and state officials to regulate the insurance industry at the national level, the New York Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

FDA Sends Wisconsin Governor Warning Letter About Pres.cription Drug Web Site
Excerpt: "FDA Associate Commissioner William Hubbard on Thursday sent a letter to Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D), saying a state-created Web site with links to Canadian pharmacies 'undermines one of our nation's key consumer protection statutes, and places [Wisconsin residents] at unnecessary risk of harm from unregulated pharmaceuticals,' the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Book Gives Advice on Lowering Disability Costs
Excerpt: "Disability costs have a substantial financial impact on U.S. companies, according to the book's author, Ronald Leopold, a vp of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and national medical director of MetLife Disability. 'Until recently, the impact of work disability has been underrecognized by employers,' Dr. Leopold said at a press conference ..." (Business Insurance)

Family Medical Leave: Ongoing Challenges for Today's Employers
5 pages. Excerpt: "[FMLA's] successes have not come without problems. Since its inception in 1993, employers have found FMLA certification, administration, tracking, and compliance confusing and problematic." (Aon Workforce Strategies)

Survey: Consumerism, Cost-Shifting Lower Health Costs
Excerpt: "Plan redesigns that increase employee cost-sharing and employee migration to lower-cost plans significantly reduced group health care premium increases for a group of employers, a survey reveals." (Business Insurance)

Survey: Healthcare Cost Shifting is Widespread
Excerpt: "Employers are no longer willing to absorb increases in the cost of health care and are forcing their employees to share more of the burden, a new study by the National Business Group on Health has found." (Business Insurance)

U.S. Employers, Insurers Target Pricey Tests
Excerpt: "U.S. employers and health insurers, strangled by double-digit medical care cost hikes, are increasingly putting controls on the big-ticket procedures and medications, according to a survey released on Wednesday." (Reuters via Medscape; one-time registration required)

Bush vs. Kerry on Healthcare Reform (PDF)
2 pages. (National Center for Policy Analysis)

Blue Cross-funded Foundation Finds Health Insurance Rate Regulation Lowers Premiums
Press release. Excerpt: "A Rand report commissioned by a charitable foundation funded by Blue Cross and controlled by HMO partisans found today in its analysis that state regulation of HMO premiums, as proposed in Senate Bill 26 modeled after California insurance reform Proposition 103, would 'limit premium growth in the short run' and confirms that 'it is possible health insurers have been increasing premiums to maintain high profit margins." (Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights)

Overview: California Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To State Law On Contraceptives
In Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc.,v. the Superior Court of Sacramento County (S099822), the California Supreme Court rejected an employer's constitutional challenge to the state's Women's Contraception Equity Act (WCEA), under which certain health and disability insurance contracts must cover pres.cription contraceptives. (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Entitlement Program Costs Expected to Soar
Excerpt: "Trustees for Medicare and Social Security will report next week that the two entitlement programs will eventually need more than twice as much money as previously estimated, experts who helped prepare the calculations say." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

The 'Perfect Storm' in Compensation
Excerpt: "The recent unprecedented convergence of significant strategic events in the compensation arena has created the need for ongoing and extensive compensation planning. This article reviews the events leading to this point, describes the implications of the results from a recent Aon study with WorldatWork, and suggests what employers can do to successfully navigate the 'perfect storm' in compensation." (Aon)

Newly Posted Events

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans Seminar
in Massachusetts on June 3, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans Seminar
in Texas on June 10, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plan Seminar
in North Carolina on June 17, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans Seminar
in New York on June 24, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Executive Compensation: Strategy, Design, and Implementation
in New York on June 17, 2004
presented by ALI-ABA (American Law Institute-American Bar Association)

How to Prepare for Changes to Retiree Drug Coverage Under the New Medicare Law -- 90-Minute Interactive Audio Conference
Nationwide on April 8, 2004
presented by Thompson Interactive

Health Savings Accounts: The New Future For Managed Care And Consumer Driven Health Plans
Nationwide on April 21, 2004
presented by Health Resources Online
Newly Posted Press Releases

Newkirk Unveils SEC-Compliant Fund Reporting Communications
(Newkirk)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Senior Benefits Analyst
for Nixon Peabody LLP
in NY

Client Relationship Manager
for Merrill Lynch (Retirement Group)
in NJ

Pension Advisor Product Associate
for Merrill Lynch (Retirement Group)
in NJ

National Sales Manager
for Merrill Lynch (Retirement Group)
in NJ

Vice President of Operations
for Convergys
in FL

Project/Client Manager
for Constellation Energy
in MD

Benefits Analyst
for Constellation Energy
in MD

Benefit Plan Representative
for Constellation Energy
in MD

Defined Contribution Administrator
for Full service retirement plan firm in business over 21 years
in IL

Pension Plan Coordinator
for Transamerica
in CA, GA

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