If the headlines in this newsletter aren't clickable for you,
please use the online, clickable version at:
https://benefitslink.com/2004/2004_05_25_welfare.html
(click or copy-and-paste the above address into your web browser)

BenefitsLink
Welfare Plans
Newsletter		To BenefitsLink home page Fill your job openings fast by advertising on BenefitsLink

May 21 - 25, 2004 - 8894 subscribers
Today's sponsor: BeneCom Associates, LLC

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

BeneCom Associates, LLC, for one-stop benefit communications
Since 1992, BeneCom has produced benefit communications,
including enrollment materials, SPDs, benefit statements,
newsletters and more, for companies large and small,
nationwide. So if you've been looking for an independent
benefit communications specialist, look no further. Click
above for more information, or give us a call at
(860) 674-2626, Ext. 11, or (770) 461-5559. We're here to help.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
In Firing Hospitals from HMO, CalPERS Again At the Forefront
Excerpt: "By summarily dismissing 38 hospitals from its HMO on Tuesday, the ever-powerful California Public Employees' Retirement System sent a message that's likely to resonate with hospital chains, insurance companies and employers around the United States. The message: Employers will take bold steps to battle rising medical costs, even if it means cutting off thousands of employees' access to their regular hospitals and, in some cases, doctors as well." (Sacramento Bee)

SBC Reaches Tentative Deal With Union
Excerpt: "While some increases in co-payments for medical services and pres.cription drugs were agreed upon, SBC will continue to provide fully paid health care benefits, the union said. Active SBC employees will receive bonuses of $1,000 to help offset these higher costs. Retirees, who are now under a different plan from active workers, will receive $2,500." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Court Remands Claim to Insurer Because Denial Letters Did Not Explain Reasons for Decision
Scott v. Hartford Life & Accident Ins. Co. (E.D. Pa. 2004). Excerpt: "The trial court declined to grant summary judgment for the insurer, concluding that the denial of benefits was arbitrary and capricious because the communications with the employee 'were so opaque that they violated ERISA's most basic notice requirements.' The insurer's letters did not explain why the submissions were inadequate or what evidence was needed to establish disability, as required under DOL claims regulations." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

Employer 'Established or Maintained' LTD Plan, Making It Subject to ERISA
Anderson v. UNUM Provident Corp. (11th Cir. 2004). Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: This opinion provides a detailed discussion of what constitutes establishment and maintenance of a plan for ERISA purposes--a basic issue that is often overlooked." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

How Much is Your Company Spending on Tuition Reimbursement Programs?
Excerpt: "Corporate America spent $10 billion on tuition reimbursement in 2003, but few companies track how those dollars are spent, or know whether they are getting any benefit by underwriting employees' degrees. It's not that ROI can't be measured. It's just that many companies don't seem to care about it." (Workforce.com)

Abbott Move Leads Federal Government to Ponder Drug-Pricing Rule
Excerpt: "For the first time, the U.S. government will weigh whether it can require drug companies to lower prices on drugs developed with the help of taxpayer dollars. The question, which will be debated Tuesday at a U.S. National Institutes of Health meeting, was sparked by Abbott Laboratories' 400 percent price increase on one of its older AIDS drugs ..." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)

Medicare Bill Saves Billions For Carmakers, Other Big Companies
Excerpt: "The hotly contested Medicare drug bill, designed to give seniors pres.cription-drug coverage, has another effect that's not so widely discussed: It should save Detroit's automakers and largest suppliers billions of dollars and enhance their profits this year and beyond. Under the new law, the U.S. government is effectively subsidizing companies for providing a certain level of drug benefits for retirees." (Knight Ridder via MyrtleBeachOnline.com)

FDA Officials Testify Against Pres.cription Drug Reimportation at Senate Committee Hearing
Excerpt: "During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Thursday, lawmakers provided different accounts of 'confusion among [beneficiaries] about the new Medicare pres.cription drug cards, long waits for help in choosing the right card and errors in government-listed drug prices,' CongressDaily reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Overview: FASB Requires Amortization of 28% Medicare Drug Subsidy and Reporting of Benefit Payments
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has affirmed its proposal released on March 12 (Financial Accounting Statement (FAS) 106-b) that will require companies to amortize the 28% employer subsidy under the Medicare Pres.cription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 over the life expectancy of the participants. The FASB's final position was released on May 19 as FAS 106-2, which supersedes FAS 106-1. (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Study Asserts That Allowing Tax Deduction For HSA Contributions Would Expand Ranks of Uninsured
According to a study recently released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, President George W. Bush's proposal to provide a tax deduction for contributions to health savings accounts (HSAs) likely would expand the ranks of the uninsured. The Center estimates that, at the cost of $25 billion over ten years, the deduction would likely cause the number of uninsured individuals to increase by 350,000. (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

'Actively Misled' Employees Entitled To Involuntary Termination Benefits
Excerpt: "In a suit filed by retired Chevron workers, the Ninth Circuit determined that those employees who had retired before an involuntary termination benefit program was under 'serious consideration' by Chevron, were nonetheless entitled to the benefits since they had been 'actively misled' by Chevron regarding the program's future availability. (Mathews v. Chevron Corp...." (RIA Tax News)

Opinion: CalPERS Protects Taxpayers, Pensioners
Excerpt: "As a CalPERS board member, I believe that we - as trustees of the nation's largest public pension fund - have a responsibility to take on corruption and market manipulation, and to do all that we can to restore integrity to this nation's boardrooms and financial markets.... To that end, I am proud of the actions we have taken at our state's pension funds and the good that we have done to push the markets to a greater degree of integrity, fairness and transparency ..." (Phil Angelides in the Sacramento Bee)

Opinion: CalPERS Betraying Its Mission
Excerpt: "What if you open a 401(k) plan with your employer and the plan manager decides to dabble in social causes instead of looking out for your retirement? Would you be mad? Of course you would. What if the plan manager for the retirement system for state employees decides to dabble in social causes, loses money, and because the state is required to make up for those losses, sticks taxpayers with the bill? Should they be mad?" (Bill Simon in the Sacramento Bee)

Opinion: To CalPERS, Retirees Take a Back Seat
Excerpt: "The blacklisted hospitals, CalPERS officials said, are charging too much to treat members of its health care system. Although the 10-1 exclusion vote by the CalPERS board was aimed, it said, at hospitals and physicians' groups whose bills far exceeded state norms, it just so happens that the action was taken as Sutter, the largest hospital chain in Northern California, and other hospital groups, were opening contract negotiations with the Service Employees International Union." (Victorville (Calif.) Daily Press)

Massachusetts Seeks to Invalidate Some Same-Sex Marriages
Excerpt: "Gov. Mitt Romney began cracking down Thursday on same-sex marriages by out-of-state couples, taking steps to invalidate their marriage licenses and asking the attorney general to consider taking action against the cities that issued them." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

IRS Warning on Questionable Employment Practices
Excerpt: "Although the warning applies to employment taxes, employers should take note that many of these schemes affect employee status and compensation, and therefore could affect an employer's liability for retirement plan benefits." (SunGard Corbel)

Deferred Compensation Planning Opportunities For Physicians Employed by Hospital-Controlled Entities
Excerpt: "Physicians employed by hospital-controlled, tax-exempt entities are often frustrated by their inability to duplicate the opportunities available in the for-profit sector to accumulate significant retirement plan assets during their periods of peak earnings." (Buchanan Ingersoll)

Newly Posted Events

Certificate Series - Basic Compensation Concepts
in Wisconsin on August 24, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Certificate Series - Financial Planning Basics
in Wisconsin on August 9, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Certificate Series - Investment Planning and Program Design
in Wisconsin on August 11, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Certificate Series - Retirement Plan Basics
in Wisconsin on August 5, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Certificate Series - Total Compensation and Organizational Strategies
in Wisconsin on August 30, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Certificate Series - Variable Pay
in Wisconsin on August 26, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Retirement Plan Services Graduate School
in South Carolina on October 10, 2004
presented by Cannon Financial Institute

Retirement Plan Services I & II School
in Indiana on July 18, 2004
presented by Cannon Financial Institute

Retirement Plan Services II School
in Massachusetts on August 1, 2004
presented by Cannon Financial Institute

Retirement Plan Services III and IV School
in North Carolina on June 13, 2004
presented by Cannon Financial Institute

Retirement Plan Services Sales School
in North Carolina on June 20, 2004
presented by Cannon Financial Institute
Newly Posted Press Releases

McKay Hochman Offers Four All-new Retirement Plan Education eSeminars
(McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)

Gilsbar, Inc. Appoints Director of Information Systems
(Gilsbar, Inc.)

The Principal Financial Group Launches Managed Accounts Program for Retirement Plan Investors
(Principal Financial Group)

Invesmart Selects Web Technology From Envisage Information Systems
(Metrics Partners)

Labor Department Announces Final Rules on Notices For COBRA Continuation Health Care Coverage
(U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, Washington, D.C.)

di Pretoro joins DailyAccess Management Team
(DailyAccess Corporation)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Defined Benefit Calculation Specialists
for Constantin Control Associates
in IL, NC, NJ, NY, PA

Pension Administrator/Compliance Analyst
for CNA Trust
in IL

Senior Compliance Analyst
for CNA Trust
in CA

Account Executive
for Lockton Companies Inc.
in MO

Health and Welfare Benefits Manager
for Coors Brewing Company
in CO

Sales, Government Markets
for CitiStreet
in CO, VA

Pension Plan Coordinator
for Transamerica
in MA

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Creative Benefit Strategies, Inc.
in OH

Account Specialist/Recordkeeper
for AMVESCAP Retirement
in RI

Plan Administrator
for Capital Investment Advisory
in FL

Account Manager
for Great-West Healthcare
in OR

Client Administrator
for Marsh Financial Services
in NJ

Client Services Consultants (St. Louis, Denver, and Washington D.C.)
for American United Life Insurance Company
in CO, DC, MO, VA

Pension Administrator
for Compensation Planning Inc
in RI

Handy Links:
Copyright 2004 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.

Published by:

BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151

Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.

Housekeeping: