If the headlines in this newsletter aren't clickable for you,
please use the online, clickable version at:
https://benefitslink.com/2004/2004_06_03_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

June 3, 2004 - 8906 subscribers
Today's sponsor: The BenefitsLink Jobs Board

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

Where the best benefits employers find the best candidates
Fill your employee benefits job openings fast by advertising on
BenefitsLink.  What better place to find qualified candidates?
Your help wanted ad will be listed in the BenefitsLink Newsletter
(over 22,000 subscriptions to the two editions), will be seen by
thousands of candidates who view our listings online, and will be
emailed to over 3,400 job-seekers.
Click to see how easy it is to place an ad!

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Health Plans To Seek Increases of 13.7% for Employers in 2005, According to Report
Excerpt: "Health insurers will seek premium increases for large employers averaging 13.7% in 2005, according to a report to analysts containing survey findings Hewitt Associates, the Hartford Courant reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

GOP Bill to OK Pres.cription Drug Imports
Excerpt: "A Senate committee chairman said Wednesday he plans to finish work before the summer's political conventions on legislation to legalize pres.cription drug imports. Leading proponents, however, said that would not leave enough time to get the bill through Congress this year." (AP via Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Debut of Drug Cards Greeted With a Shrug
Excerpt: "The people at AARP are still surprised. After sending out 26,000 enrollment kits for the new Medicare pres.cription-drug discount card, only 400 people had signed up as of last Friday. That's right, 400. That's not a typo." (Christian Science Monitor)

EEOC Final Regulations Allowing Retiree Health Benefit Design Generate Controversy (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "[T]he AARP is making a strong push to have the regulations withdrawn by the EEOC or overturned legislatively." (Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions)

Opinion: New Medicare Drug Benefit Feels Good But Doesn't Solve Underlying Issues
Excerpt: "Clearly the subsidies will provide companies with a welcome incentive to assist seniors with their pres.cription-drug bills. But the Medicare reform legislation not only muddies the already murky waters of retiree-benefits accounting even further, it also fails to address the looming problem of underfunded retiree health plans." (CFO.com)

Treasury Defends Ability To Enforce Health Savings Account Rules
Excerpt: "The Treasury responded last week to a statement implying that the IRS would be unable to police withdrawals from HSAs. Kevin Knopf, Benefits Tax Counsel for the Treasury Department, told a luncheon audience the requirement that HSA withdrawals be spent on medical expenses to qualify for tax-free treatment would be difficult to enforce." (Roth & Company, P.C.)

Brokers Predict Big Future for Health Savings Accounts
Excerpt: "Fifty-five percent of brokers responding to the survey by the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers predicted that HSAs would be a significant or very significant coverage option for private employers, and 29% said they thought the new plans would be moderately important." (Business Insurance)

A Corporate Strategy For the Uninsured
Excerpt: "Some 50 corporate heavyweights, including IBM, (IBM) General Electric, (GE) McDonald's, (MCD) General Motors (GM) and Textron, (TXT) have agreed to form a health-insurance buying pool for those who aren't covered. The pool targets part-time workers, ex-workers whose COBRA has run out, retirees under age 65, contract workers and younger folks who've outgrown their parents' coverage. The group estimates 4 million people might qualify." (Investors Business Daily via Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights)

Opinion: a Look at Market-Driven Health Care and Social Control
Excerpt: "Because the central values of the marketplace are self-interest and the 'bottom line,' market-driven health care is in fundamental contradiction to the best values of the health professions expressed in the Hippocratic Oath, the Samaritan tradition, and the legacies of Florence Nightingale and Lillian Wald. All these affirm that medicine and health care should be driven not by self-interest but by that most humane of values – a commitment to each other's well-being." (Axis of Logic)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Text of Chairman's Substitute to H.R. 3574, 'Stock Option Accounting Reform Act' (PDF)
9 pages. (Via American Benefits Council)

Newly Posted Events

Automatic Rollovers - Who, When, How, What and Where Description
Nationwide on June 29, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

How Beneficiaries Fare Under the New Medicare Drug Bill
Nationwide on June 1, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation

Plugged In: Investment Advice Trends
Nationwide on June 3, 2004
presented by PLANSPONSOR

What You Need to Know to Manage Executive Nonqualified Plans in a New World
in Connecticut on June 16, 2004
presented by WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefits Network) Stamford Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases

David Wray Named Chair Of The Department Of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council
(Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA))

PBGC Takes Step To Protect Participants In Enron's Underfunded Defined Benefit Pension Plans
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))

Still River Offers Eight Basic Financial Web Calculators Free with Purchase
(Still River Retirement Planning Software, Inc.)

PensionOnline Announces New One Person Defined Benefit Proposal Functionality
(Metrics Partners)

SEC Votes To Propose Provisions Implementing Gramm-Leach-Bliley Bank Broker Rules
(U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)

REACH Financial Group, LLC launched in Pasadena, CA by Eric G. Christenson and Michael T. Anderson
(REACH Financial Group, LLC)

Diocese of Sacramento Will Appeal Catholic Charities Lawsuit to U.S. Supreme Court
(Catholic Charities)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Defined Contribution Software Customer Support
for DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
in IL

Technical Product Specialist
for Pyramid Digital Solutions
in AL

Qualified Plan Administrator
for High End Small Plan TPA
in FL

Retirement Consultant
for Lincoln Financial Group
in AZ, KS, OR, WA

Senior Software Support Advisor
for Excellent Mid-Atlantic company with a high regard for their employees seeks
in DC, VA

Relationship Manager
for Federated Investors, Inc.
in PA

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: