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April 7, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
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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)
HIPAA's Reach Extending To Most Small Businesses
Excerpt: "Businesses with less than 50 employees are generally exempt, and the good news for other small employers with fully insured health plans is that they need only take minimal steps to be in compliance." (Charlotte Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)

HIPAA Privacy Deadline Less Than Two Weeks Away For Small Employer Plans
Employer health plans with annual receipts of up to $5 million must comply with the HIPAA privacy rules by April 14, 2004. The compliance date for larger employer health plans was April 2003. A few health plans are not subject to the rules. A self-funded group health plan with fewer than 50 participants that is administered solely by the employer that maintains the plan is not a covered entity and thus does not have to comply with the HIPAA privacy rules. (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Health Insurers See New Role as Information Managers
Excerpt: "[Wellpoint Chairman and CEO Leonard] Schaeffer envisions health plans acting as 'infomediaries,' providing patients with information to make better and more informed choices about their health care, and giving providers feedback about what works and what does not." (Reuters via Medscape; one-time registration required)

HSAs, HRAs or FSAs: Which Consumer-Driven Health Care Option Should You Choose?
Excerpt: "With several very similar consumer-directed options now available, consumers, employers and even lawmakers are confused about which approach is best. CAHI has prepared this analysis in an effort to shed some light on the pros and cons about each." (Council for Affordable Health Insurance)

Health Savings Accounts Ready To Enter the Market
Excerpt: "Federal backing aligns with market pressure to create an irresistible force. However, health plans need to be aware of some troubling issues." (Managed Care Magazine)

A Primer on Health Savings Accounts and Recent IRS Guidance
4/6/04. (McDermott, Will & Emery)

Opinion: HSA Rules from IRS Are Good Guidance
Excerpt: "If anyone needed further evidence that the Bush administration really wants Health Savings Accounts to work, they found it in new regulations issued this week by the Treasury Department and IRS." (The Galen Institute)

As Perk, Company Helps Sell Used Fleet Vehicles to Workers
Excerpt: "In a world of rising benefit costs, here's a potentially refreshing twist: Companies that hawk their own corporate fleet cars to workers as part of an employee benefit program can improve the bottom line and boost employee morale, says Philadelphia-based Driveitaway.com." (BenefitNews.com)

Companies Re-examine Role of Telecommuting
Excerpt: "A vast majority of employees want to telecommute because they believe it would make working less stressful and improve their relationships at home, according to a new poll." (BenefitNews.com)

Baltimore Sun Examines Questions About PBMs' Price-Setting Tactics
Excerpt: "The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday examined increasing public scrutiny of pharmacy benefit managers' price-setting strategies and business practices in a '$180 billion marketplace where the secret wheeling and dealing is akin to that in a Turkish bazaar.'" (KaiserNetwork.org)

Drug Companies Tell Task Force Practice Unsafe
Excerpt: "Reimporting pres.cription drugs from other nations would be 'neither safe nor cost-effective,' pharmaceutical companies and distributors said on Monday at the second meeting of the Task Force on Drug Importation, the Los Angeles Times reports." (National Journal Group via BCBSHealthIssues.com)

Reimportation of Pharmaceuticals: Economic and Policy Implications (PDF)
48 pages. Based on a University of Michigan Center for Medication Use, Policy and Economics Internet presentation held Oct. 29–31, 2003. (Managed Care Magazine)

Overview: FASB Responds to Medicare Legislation (PDF)
3 pages. (Financial Accounting Standards Board)

Can the Government Force People to Buy Health Insurance?
Excerpt: "Proposals abound for how to solve the problem of America s uninsured. One such proposal, suggested by Senator John Breaux (D-LA) and supported by other lawmakers, is a federal law that would require every U.S. citizen to purchase health insurance. To make their case, lawmakers in support of this individual mandate point to state laws that require people to purchase auto insurance." (Council for Affordable Health Insurance)

Opinion: Proposed Tax Credit for Health Insurance Could Weaken Employer-Based System
Revised 4/6/04. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Opinion: Old Europe, Looking Older
Excerpt: "Last week's election results shows that France is at a dead end, with huge economic problems and no political solutions being offered. France is dying of socialism because all French politicians -- including the ones who claim otherwise -- are socialist. The welfare system and the state are heading toward bankrup.tcy, and all they can promise is still more public and social spending." (Tech Central Station)

Married Or Not, G.ays Gain Partner Coverage
Excerpt: "While g.ay marriage is a current hot-button issue for politicians, business leaders have been wrestling for years over whether to offer health coverage to their employees' domestic partners. As employers look into the benefits and costs of covering domestic partners, more and more of them are saying yes--not due to a court order or political pressure but because they think it makes good business sense." (Forbes.com)

Newly Posted Events

Mutual Funds: The Impact of the Scandals
in District of Columbia on May 4, 2004
presented by Gail Weiss & Associates, Inc.

Spring Meeting 2004: An Academy Forum
in District of Columbia on May 6, 2004
presented by American Academy of Actuaries
Newly Posted Press Releases

NASRA Refutes Latest Wilshire Report
(NASRA (National Association of State Retirement Administrators))

14th Annual Retirement Confidence Survey - Percentage of Americans Saving Stagnant Since 2001
(American Savings Education Council (ASEC))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Client Service Representative
for National Automobile Dealers Association
in VA

Account Executive
for Transamerica
in DC

Actuary – FAS 106
for USI Consulting Group
in CT

Associate Health Benefits Analyst, Boston
for leading employee benefits, compensation, & human resources consulting firm
in MA, NY

Group Insurance Account Executive
for Alliance Benefit Group / 401k Plus, Inc.
in TX

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Boyce & Associates, Inc.
in AZ

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