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June 8, 2004 - 8872 subscribers
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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Smoking Cessation Treatment Cost-Effective for Health Plans
Excerpt: "Offering smoking cessation programs to health plan enrollees may not cause a decline in a health plan's total expenditures, but such programs are highly cost-effective, add an average of 7.1 years to the lives of enrollees who quit, and should be offered by more managed care organizations (MCO), a new study recommends." (Medscape; one-time registration required)

Health Savings Accounts for Multiemployer Funds (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "This Bulletin describes HSAs ... and addresses the implications for multiemployer health funds." (The Segal Company)

Overview: DOL Finalizes COBRA Notice Requirements (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "These final rules require health plans to take a number of actions, adding to benefits professionals' already long To-Do lists: Talk to your services providers and review COBRA services contracts; Revise current initial and qualifying event COBRA notices (and stop all use of the old DOL model notice!); Update health plan procedures and SPDs for COBRA compliance; Create new notices for specific COBRA situations: unavailability and early termination of continuation coverage ..." (Gardner Carton & Douglas)

PEO Liable for Failure to Provide COBRA Notices; Over $300,000 Awarded
Delcastillo v. Odyssey Resource Mgmt. (D. Neb. 2004). Excerpt: "Despite the convoluted facts and uncertainty as to the basis for this decision, employers should be mindful that the sequence of events presented--an employee's failure to return to work after an illness or injury, continued coverage under the employer's plan, uncertainty about the employee's termination date, no communication about COBRA--is not unusual and can create confusion about COBRA rights." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

Drug Companies Sued Over Blocking Reimportation
Excerpt: "A lawsuit filed in New Jersey district court accuses several major drug companies of violating antitrust laws by preventing U.S. consumers from purchasing pres.cription drugs from Canadian pharmacies." (Business Insurance)

Text of DOL Information Letter on Application of Affiliated Service Group Definition to MEWA Rules
Excerpt: "It is our understanding that 'affiliated service group' status within the meaning of section 414(m) of the Code may be based upon an interest of less than 25 percent. Accordingly, 'affiliated service group' status under section 414(m) of the Code would not, in and of itself, support a conclusion that a group of two or more trades or businesses would be a single employer for purposes of section 3(40) of ERISA." (Employee Benefit Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)

Funded Multiemployer Holiday and Vacation Fund Is an ERISA Plan
DOL Advisory Opinion 2004-03A (Apr. 30, 2004). Excerpt: "It is important to remember that, under the 'payroll practices' exceptions established by DOL regulations, vacation benefits that are paid solely from the employer's general assets will not be subject to ERISA. But when the vacation benefits are funded, as they were in this case, the benefit arrangement will most likely be an ERISA plan." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

Overview: IRS Guidance on the Interaction of the HSAs with Other Health Arrangements
3 pages. Excerpt: "This Client Alert ... addresses ... the interaction of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) with health Flexible Spending Accounts (health FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs).... The likely impact on plan sponsors of this IRS Ruling is described ..." (Mintz Levin)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Federal Law Doesn't Recognize Same-Sex Marriages: Effect on Employee Benefits
Excerpt: "The different definitions of 'marriage' and 'spouse' under federal and state law will raise a number of complicated legal (and Constitutional) questions that may take years to answer.... Employers with employees in Massachusetts will have to begin dealing with these types of issues sooner rather than later. All other employers probably should at least start thinking about them because of the likelihood that other states will begin recognizing same-sex marriages in the future." (Deloitte's Washington Bulletin)

Newly Posted Events

18th Annual Advanced ALI-ABA Course of Study - Retirement, Deferred Compensation, and Welfare Plans of Tax-Exempt and Governmental Employers
in District of Columbia on September 9, 2004
presented by ALI-ABA (American Law Institute-American Bar Association)

Active Living, Obesity and Nutrition
Nationwide on June 7, 2004
presented by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Advanced Cafeteria Plans
in Washington on July 22, 2004
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)

Pension Seminar
in Ohio on June 24, 2004
presented by Employee Benefits Council of Northeast Ohio

Solutions for Saving Health Care Dollars
in Georgia on June 17, 2004
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) - Atlanta Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases

dailyVest Releases Investor Statement Personal Rate of Return Batch Processing Software
(dailyVest Inc.)

Owner of Georgia Firm Pleads Guilty To Embezzling From Company’s Profit Sharing Plan
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

401(k) Sr Plan Specialist
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA

Employee Benefits Consultant/Sales Consultant:
for Wachovia
in MD

401(k) Administrator
for Small Suburban Maryland 401(k)/Retirement Plan TPA
in MD

Pension Plan Administrator
for South Florida TPA
in FL

Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Administrative Retirement Services, Inc.
in IL

Benefits Specialist
for Chugach Alaska Corporation
in DC

Corporate Benefits and Compliance Manager
for Oldcastle, Inc.
in GA

Marketing & Service Coordinator/Executive Assistant
for Benefit Concepts, LLC
in GA

Defined Benefit Administration Manager
for AMVESCAP Retirement, Inc.
in GA

Plan Administrator
for Benefit Associates, Inc.
in CA

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