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May 26, 2004 - 8899 subscribers
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Overview: Labor Department Finalizes COBRA Notice Rules
Excerpt: "Under the final rules, the general COBRA notice typically would have to be provided to employees within 90 days of becoming covered under the employer's health care plan. However, in a change from the proposed rules, this general notice would not have to be furnished if an individual became eligible for COBRA within this 90-day period. In that situation, only the detailed COBRA election notice would have to be furnished." (Business Insurance)

Text of Final COBRA Notice Regulations (PDF)
30 pages. Excerpt: "The final rules set minimum standards for the timing and content of the notices required under the continuation coverage provisions and establish standards for administering the notice process.... These regulations apply to notice obligations arising under the COBRA provisions of part 6 of title I of ERISA on or after the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after the date that is six months after May 26, 2004." (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

Text of Adv. Opinion 2004-03A: IBEW Local No. 150 Holiday and Vacation Fund
April 30, 2004. Excerpt: "This is in response to your request for an advisory opinion regarding the applicability of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No. 150 Holiday and Vacation Fund (Fund). Specifically, you ask for an opinion from the Department of Labor (Department) that the Fund is not an 'employee benefit plan' within the meaning of section 3(3) of ERISA." (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

California Senate Approves Pres.cription Drug Reimportation Program
Excerpt: " The California Senate on Monday approved a bill (SB 1144) that would allow the state to reimport lower-cost, U.S.-manufactured pres.cription drugs from Canada for Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid program, and other state health programs, the Los Angeles Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Opinion: the Second Coming of Managed Care
Excerpt: "Instead of one company doctor sitting in corporate headquarters making decisions about treatments and hospitalizations, several different people in many different locations manage patient care. In addition to health plans and insurance companies, care can be managed by external utilization-management companies; third-party administrators; benefit-management, disease-management, pharmacy-management, and mental-health-management companies; hospitals; employers; and government payers ..." (Dr. Linda Peeno in TRIAL Magazine via Health Administration Responsibility Project)

Drug Firms Say, 'No, Canada'
Excerpt: "Industry-linked groups lobby with a vengeance against bills to ease imports from the north." (Los Angeles Times via Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights)

Coalition Launches Multimedia Campaign in Support of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Law
Excerpt: "A coalition that includes labor unions, doctors, nurses, church groups and retirees on Tuesday will begin a multimedia campaign in favor of a law (SB 2) that would require some employers to provide health coverage to employees or pay into a state fund to provide such coverage, the Los Angeles Times reports." (California HealthCare Foundation)

Trends in Manufacturer Prices of Brand Name Pres.cription Drugs Used by Older Americans, 2000 to 2003
Excerpt: "Some of the key findings are as follows: Although the average price increase by brand name drug manufacturers in 2000 was slightly above the rate of general inflation, in 2003, the average price increase was three times the rate of inflation. Among all 197 drugs in the sample, the four-year average annual growth rate in manufacturers' brand name drug prices was 6.0 percent, compared with an average annual general inflation rate of 2.5%." (AARP Research)

Employers and Politicians Sick About Health Care
Excerpt: "From the largest corporations to the smallest mom-and-pop shops, business executives identify double-digit increases in health insurance costs as perhaps the biggest threat to their bottom lines and their future. Yet beyond their vocal complaints, businesses have been strikingly absent from the burgeoning political debate and largely unwilling to take sides." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Employee Stock Options Under the New FASB Exposure Draft
Excerpt: "To determine the 'fair value' of an employee stock option, FASB now prefers a lattice-based model instead of the widely used Black-Scholes model. This article briefly outlines what factors employers need to consider as they examine how to value their employee stock options and design their compensation programs to minimize the stock option expense." (Aon)

Newly Posted Events

401(k), 403(b), 457 - What's the Same? How Are They Different?
Nationwide on June 18, 2004
presented by ASPA (American Society of Pension Actuaries)

Newly Posted Press Releases

MB Financial Bank Looks to Ceridian for Multi-Suite of Web-based Human Resource Solutions
(Ceridian)

AHIP Launches Consumer Protection Campaign - Anti Fraud TV PSA and Website to Alert Consumers to Possible Insurance Scams
(America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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in CA

Retirement Plan Specialist-Field
for ICMA Retirement Corporation.
in GA

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