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May 13, 2004 - 8799 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)
House Approves FSA Unused Funds Carryover to Next Plan Year
Excerpt: "People who set aside salary in tax-free accounts for health bills could shift unused funds into the next year or long-term health savings accounts under legislation approved Wednesday by the House. The legislation, approved 273-153, is one of three measures that Republicans are pushing during a week of increased focus on health care and the uninsured." (AP via St. Petersburg Times)

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance and Employer-Sponsored Health Plans
Excerpt: "Among the many compliance perils created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, one of the least talked about could well be the act's effect on corporate health-benefit programs.... CFOs and CEOs must certify that their companies' quarterly and annual filings are true and that they omit no material facts. And facts about employee health care are becoming nothing if not more material: Employee benefits now typically represent a company's third-biggest expense ..." (CFO.com)

Companies Join to Offer Health Care to Part-Time Employees
Excerpt: "Some of the nation's largest employers, including General Electric, I.B.M., McDonald's and Sears, Roebuck, plan to pool their buying power to try extending health coverage to part-time employees and other workers without insurance." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Bookmark: Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
Excerpt: "Providing health insurance benefits to more than 8 million Federal enrollees and dependents.' Have a look at how the federal government provide employee communications online under the FEHBP. (U.S. Government, Office of Personnel Management)

Power Play on Healthcare in California Has Implications for Employers
Excerpt: "A battle is playing out between the state's largest purchaser of health care and the biggest hospital chain in Northern California.... Purchasers of employee health care look to the fund, which is the nation's third-largest buyer of health care, as an indicator of what will happen in the private sector." (San Francisco Chronicle)

Overview: EEOC Final Rule will Allow Coordination of Retiree Medical Plans with Medicare Eligibility
Excerpt: "To our knowledge, few employers actually changed their retiree medical plans in response to the Erie County decision. Most decided to wait and see how the courts and the EEOC would ultimately resolve the issue. Thus, the new regulations will not likely produce a need to amend most plans." (Faegre & Benson LLP)

Organization Hosts Web Page on California Health Insurance Act of 2003
Excerpt: "The California Health Insurance Act of 2003 opens a new chapter in the discussion about how to provide health coverage for the uninsured. In accordance with our standard policy, the California HealthCare Foundation does not take a position on this legislation nor the voter referendum. This resource area will grow as we track SB 2's progress and impact." (California HealthCare Foundation)

Oneida Executive Apologizes To Retirees Over Health Plan Termination
Excerpt: "An Oneida Ltd. executive apologized to 1,000 retirees Wednesday for the company's unexpected decision to eliminate their health insurance plan.... Last month, the company told retirees their health insurance plan ends May 31. The company paid a portion of the retirees' health insurance premium, deducting the rest from their pension checks." (The Post-Standard)

Louisiana Senate Approves Bill That Would Permit Scaled-Back Group Health Insurance
Excerpt: "The Louisiana Senate on Tuesday voted 34-0 to approve a bill (SB 334) allowing health insurers to sell individual and small-group plans that cost less than regular insurance but do not cover all state-mandated services, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Paying for Quality: Health Plans Try Carrots Instead of Sticks
Excerpt: "Growing national attention to improving quality and patient safety is spurring development of quality-based financial incentives for physicians and hospitals. Health plans in particular are driving these pay-for-performance initiatives ..." (Center for Studying Health System Change)

California Consumer Advocacy Group Criticizes Chamber of Commerce Over Issue of Uninsured
Press release. Excerpt: "In a letter sent today, a consumer group called on the Chamber of Commerce to divulge its 'plan to cover the uninsured' given that while the Chamber is listed as a sponsor of the 'Cover the Uninsured Week' it is leading efforts to overturn a 2003 California law, SB 2, designed to provide health insurance to 1 million uninsured patients." (Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)

Newspapers Examine Political Response to Issue of the Uninsured
Excerpt: "Two newspapers on Thursday examined various proposals to expand coverage to the uninsured and the potential political implications of such plans. Many legislators and policy experts have been discussing the issue of the uninsured this week as part of 'Cover the Uninsured Week,' a campaign led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

City of Boston Bars Out-of-State Same-Sex Marriages
Excerpt: "The City of Boston decided on Wednesday that it would not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples from other states when g.ay marriage becomes legal in Massachusetts next week. But Somerville, a neighboring city, came to the opposite conclusion, saying couples who sign the license application will be issued licenses, even if they have no intention of moving to Massachusetts. The two decisions underscore a mushrooming debate about same-sex marriage here ..." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

Updated Summary of 'Employee Benefits in Private Industry, 2003' (PDF)
17 pages. Excerpt: "In addition to data on access to benefit plans, the tables in this release include data on days of paid vacations and holidays, provisions of life insurance plans, and, for the first time ever, the sharing of costs of medical care premiums between employees and employers.' Actual survey results are at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ebs2.toc.htm (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor)

GAO: More Data About Business-Owned Life Insurance Could Be Useful in Making Tax Policy Decisions
66 pages. Excerpt: "If Congress decides that it needs more data on business-owned life insurance, it may wish to consider having SEC, Treasury, or NAIC collect the data from businesses or insurance companies. SEC and Treasury expressed reservations about collecting the data, noting that the data is not needed to fulfill their regulatory missions.' Executive summary is online at http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d04303high.pdf (U.S. General Accounting Office)

New Jersey Lawmakers Pile Up Benefits Legislation
Excerpt: "New Jersey is hardly awash in money these days, but that hasn't stopped state lawmakers from introducing more than 200 bills - with a total price tag of at least $3.2 billion - to increase or guarantee health and pension benefits for public employees. Not to worry. Lawmakers, who often don't know the details or cost of their bills, usually introduce them simply to avoid running afoul of the state's powerful public employee unions." (NJ.com)

Complicated Tax Breaks: the Price of Democracy?
Excerpt: "The government publishes a yearly list of 'tax expenditures,' indicating the costs in forgone taxes of different breaks. These favor the middle and upper-middle classes. Here are some of the biggest for 2004: tax-free employer contributions to pensions and 401(k) plans, $123 billion; tax-free employer payments for health insurance, $120 billion ..." (Robert J. Samuelson in Newsweek via MSNBC.com)

Newly Posted Events

Basics of Health & Welfare Plans
in Connecticut on June 8, 2004
presented by Southern New England Chapter ISCEBS

How to Comply With the New FLSA Regulations - Audio Conference
Nationwide on May 25, 2004
presented by Thompson Interactive, A Division of Thompson Publishing Group

Medicare Discount Prescription Drug Card Program
Nationwide on May 17, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation

Policy Options to Expand Health Insurance Coverage
Nationwide on May 11, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation

Troubleshooting the 2003 Form 5500 Audio Conference
Nationwide on June 3, 2004
presented by Thompson Interactive, A Division of Thompson Publishing Group

WEB Atlanta Chapter Program Announcement
in Georgia on May 20, 2004
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) - Atlanta Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases

SunGard Introduces Relius Government Forms 5500 Web Client
(SunGard Corbel)

Benefit Advisors Network Adds Chapman Schewe
(Benefit Advisors Network)

IRS Tax Forums Planned For This Summer
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))

Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Announces Settlements Restoring At Least $66.5 Million to Enron Retirement Plans
(U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.)

GASB Issues Standards to Improve Postemployment Benefit Plan Reporting
(Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB))

Boehner, Johnson Announce Plans To Hold A Hearing On Cash Balance Pension Plans
(Committee on Education and the Workforce)

AMA Details Plan To Cover The Uninsured By Strengthening Current System
(American Medical Association (AMA))

Oklahoma Makes Federal Health Coverage Tax Credit Available
(U.S. Department of Treasury)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Retirement Plans Investment Consultant
for Stanley Hunt Dupree & Rhine Investment Advisors (a subsidiary of BB&T)
in NC

Client Relationship Manager
for The Newport Group, Inc.
in FL

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