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May 10, 2004 - 8791 subscribers
Today's sponsor: The Center for Business Intelligence (CBI)

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

Learn Strategies to Stem the Rising Cost of Healthcare
CBI’s 3rd Employer Summit on Managing Healthcare Costs and Quality,
May 17-18, 2004 in New York, NY.
With healthcare costs rising at an alarming rate, employers are under
pressure to come up with a solution while still offering employees
quality healthcare coverage. Employers have tried consumer-driven
healthcare and cost-shifting with mixed success. The time has come to
discuss alternatives and evaluate healthcare benefit plan design to
promote cost savings and quality of care.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Taking Advantage of DOL Guidance to Identify and Correct Gaps in Health Plan Compliance (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "All of the laws discussed in this Executive Letter apply to group health plans and health insurers. In general, there are no distinctions in compliance obligations [under the federal laws discussed in this Executive Letter] for a self-insured plan versus a fully insured plan." (The Segal Company)

House To Vote On FSA Carryovers
Excerpt: "The House [this] week is expected to vote on newly introduced legislation that would allow employees to carry forward up to $500 a year in unused health care flexible spending account balances." (Business Insurance)

Divergent Views Mean Lots of Talk, Little Action On Insurance Regulation Reform
Excerpt: "Everyone agrees on the need for some sort of insurance regulation reform that would standardize insurance approvals and sales, thereby saving insurance agents time and employers money in lower premiums. The problem is, nobody agrees on how to do it." (BenefitNews.com)

'Total Compensation' Concept Still Popular
Excerpt: "Total compensation - the concept of creating synergies when benefits, pay and work life are presented as a single entity - was the talk of the industry in the late 1990s. Has the sluggish economy of recent years dampened its spirit? Not at all." (BenefitNews.com)

Wall Street Journal Examines Efforts by Companies To Lower Health Costs by Using Tiered Health Plans
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined some companies' recent approaches to controlling health care costs, profiling a plan at Connecticut-based Pitney Bowes that resulted in 'dramatic savings' by lowering costs to employees through a tiered system based on co-insurance rates instead of fixed copayments." (KaiserNetwork.org)

What Would Association Health Plans Mean for California?
Excerpt: "According to two reports sponsored by CHCF, AHPs would leave less of the market under state supervision. The greatest impact would be on California's currently heavily regulated small-group market where AHPs would likely attract small businesses with healthy employees, lowering their rates. However, costs for small groups with sicker employees would likely increase. Additionally, AHPs would not result in a net reduction in the number of California's uninsured." (California HealthCare Foundation)

Cal. Chamber of Commerce Reiterates Support for Repeal of Healthcare Coverage Mandate
Excerpt: "The California Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday reiterated its opposition to a law (SB 2) that will require some employers to provide health insurance to workers or pay into a state fund to provide such coverage, the Sacramento Bee reports." (California HealthCare Foundation)

Mellon, Lumenos to Offer Integrated HSA
Excerpt: "Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions, a unit of Pittsburgh-based Mellon Financial Corp., has entered into an alliance with Alexandria, Va.-based Lumenos, a major player in the growing consumer-driven health care market, to offer an integrated health savings account product that will combine administration of both the health coverage and financial components of an HSA program." (Business Insurance)

House To Consider Malpractice, Association Health Plan Legislation This Week
Excerpt: "House Republican leaders this week plan to hold debate on three bills that would help address increased health care costs to 'demonstrate their concern' about the issue, CQ Today reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Kerry Bashes Bush on Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Monday that President Bush has not even tried to control health care costs even as families faced record premiums and insurance companies earned record profits." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Opinion: the Effects of Global Graying
Excerpt: "[T]he most rapidly aging areas of the world, according to the United Nations, the U.S. Census and virtually all other demographic forecasters, are the very places we today associate with destabilizing youth bulges - with the Middle East being among the most rapidly aging of all." (Phillip Longman in the Baltimore Sun)

Opinion: Executive Pay-- An Incentive To Cheat?
Excerpt: "Executive compensation, largely in stock options, has skyrocketed during the past two decades. Why? Has the supply of or demand for executives changed radically in recent years? Were executives so much less valuable 20 years ago?" (Minneapolis Star Tribune; one-time registration required)

Benefits vs. Salary Debate Hard to Settle for Government Employees
Excerpt: "Private sector jobs pay more but public jobs offer better benefits. Human resources professionals say that long-held theory still holds up. But a 200-page employee salary and benefit survey commissioned by the city of Long Beach appears to offer less conclusive proof." (Long Beach Press-Telegram)

Newly Posted Events

Administering COBRA Coverage Based on New IRS Ruling Audio Conference
Nationwide on May 18, 2004
presented by Thompson Interactive, A Division of Thompson Publishing Group

Employee Agreements: Wise or Unwise? Enforceable or Unenforceable? Audio Conference
Nationwide on May 20, 2004
presented by Thompson Interactive, A Division of Thompson Publishing Group

Have it Your Way: The Evolution of Participant Advice
Nationwide on May 18, 2004
presented by PLANSPONSOR

HIPAA and Other Health Laws: Maryland Compliance Assistance Seminar
in Maryland on May 19, 2004
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Mutual Fund Scandals: What Plan Administrators Should Do Audio Conference
Nationwide on May 27, 2004
presented by Thompson Interactive, A Division of Thompson Publishing Group

The New FLSA Rules: How Should Employers Respond?
Nationwide on May 7, 2004
presented by Hewitt Associates LLC
Newly Posted Press Releases

Authoria to Acquire Advanced Information Management (AIM)
(Authoria, Inc.)

Press Conference Announcing Large U.S. Employer Action on Health Coverage for Uninsured Workers Scheduled for May 10
(HR Policy Association)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Defined Benefit Implementation Specialists
for Constantin Control Associates
in NC, NJ

Account Manager / Business Developer
for Aon Consulting
in NC

Employee Benefits Trust Officer
for BancorpSouth Trust And Asset Management
in AR

Retirement Plan Coordinator
for The American Funds Group, a part of The Capital Group Companies, Inc.
in IN, TX

Sr. Benefits Administrator
for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
in CA

401(k) / Pension Administrator
for Benetech, Inc.
in CA

Employee Benefits (EB) Field Wholesaler
for Wachovia Corporation
in FL

Client Services Specialist
for ExpertPlan. Inc.
in NJ

Retirement Services/ERISA Compliance Manager
for SunTrust Banks, Inc.
in GA

Retirement Plan Services Consultant
for American United Life Insurance Company
in IN

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