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June 24, 2004
Today's sponsor: DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.

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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)
Retiree Healthcare Promises to Haunt Local Governments
Excerpt: "U.S. state and local governments will have to start accounting for billions of dollars in health care and other benefits promised to retirees when new national financial reporting rules take effect from 2006, officials said on Tuesday." (Reuters via Medscape; one-time registration required)

Overview: Department of Labor Details New COBRA Notice Requirements for Employers
Excerpt: "[E]mployers [should] adopt the requirements articulated in the final regulations by: Revising your existing COBRA notices to comply with the new requirements; Customizing the model notices to fit your plan's administration; and Developing COBRA 'procedures' in accordance with the new rules and updating your plan's summary plan description ('SPD')." (Buchanan Ingersoll)

Overview: Aetna v. Davila Decision and Its Consequences (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Congressman John Dingell, Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, has reintroduced the Patients' Bill of Rights to allow patients to sue health care plans under state law. It seems unlikely that employer plans, including self funded plans, will escape this latest effort to subject them to new remedies and litigation." (ERISA Industry Committee)

HSAs Showing Broad Appeal
Excerpt: "A new study by a leading firm offering Health Savings Accounts shows that 43% of those purchasing the new accounts since January 1 were previously uninsured." (The Galen Institute)

Ernst & Young Says U.S. Drug Price Controls Likely
Excerpt: "Ernst & Young said the average medicine in 2002 cost about 77 percent more in the United States than in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. The U.S. is the only developed nation in the world with no price controls on drugs." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Overview: IRS Provides Leeway for High-Deductible Health Plans
Excerpt: "Federal officials are providing transition relief for high-deductible health insurance plans that fail to meet the federal requirements for health savings accounts because of state mandates related to nonpreventive coverage." (Business Insurance)

House Committee Approves Legislation That Would Bar FDA From Enforcing Reimportation Ban
Excerpt: "The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved by voice vote a draft agriculture budget for fiscal year 2005 that includes an amendment that would bar FDA from enforcing its ban on importing pres.cription drugs, CQ Today reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Kerry Criticizes Bush for Patients' Rights Stance
Excerpt: "Renewed debate over patients' rights legislation 'dominated the presidential campaign' on Wednesday, as presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) and President Bush traded 'barbed exchanges' over the issue, USA Today reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

Singles Fight Privileges for Families, Couples
Excerpt: "In the workplace, singles are expected to put off summer vacations so married colleagues can visit Disney World while their kids are out of school. Married people get family leave and special dispensations to work at home, while singles often feel chained to their desks. Married people enjoy economic benefits, too." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Planning For Same-Sex Marriages in Massachusetts
Excerpt: "In the case of ERISA, which is riddled with protective provisions for 'spouses', much will depend on the language of the Plan, and whether it uses insurance products to deliver benefits. [f.4] Action is required, regardless of whether the employer is enthusiastic (or less so) about this new Massachusetts development. Similar considerations will apply in the case of other federal workplace mandates, such as COBRA and FMLA." (Rackemann, Sawyer & Brewster)

50-State Rundown on G.ay Marriage Laws
Excerpt: "Since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling, more than 35 states have introduced legislation aimed at preserving the traditional definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman." (StateLine.org)

Domestic Partner Benefits to be Included in Illinois Government Workers' Plan
Excerpt: "Same-sex partners of AFSCME labor union members would be entitled to insurance benefits in the third year of the contract negotiated with the state. That has some union members angry, lawmakers frustrated and union officials defensive." (Quincy [Illinois] Herald-Whig)

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide: June 22, 2004
Excerpt: "Hewitt's Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law, regarding health and welfare benefit plans, retirement plans, and human resources and employment law. Click ... to learn more about pending legislation in each area. These files were updated on June 22, 2004." (Hewitt)

Dear FASB: Don't Change Stock Option Accounting
Excerpt: "For 2 1/2 months, the letters and e-mails have flooded in -- some angry, some worried, some pleading. There are hundreds of cut-and-paste form letters from tech workers at companies like Intel. But there are also many heartfelt notes, sometimes written in faltering English. The topic triggering the emotional outpouring: an arcane accounting rule change for stock options." (SiliconValley.com)

EBay Shareholders Nix Options Expensing
Excerpt: "A preliminary count at eBay's annual meeting in New Orleans showed that 59 percent of shareholders votes rejected the nonbinding proposal." (Reuters via Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Newly Posted Events

NTSAA Summer Symposia
Nationwide on August 4, 2004
presented by National Tax Sheltered Accounts Association

Teleconference Briefing - New Restrictions on Deferred Compensation
Nationwide on June 29, 2004
presented by Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Defined Benefits Consultant
for Hewitt Associates
in NJ

Project Coordinator
for The Segal Company is an employee benefits, human resources consulting firm
in DC

Manager, Retirement Services
for The Newport Group
in NC

Retirement Planning Advisor
for Merrill Lynch
in OH

Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Associate
for Piper Rudnick LLP
in MD

401(k) Service & Sales Associate
for A Financial Services Company- A Metrowest Family Business
in MA

Operations Manager
for Susquehanna Patriot Bank
in PA

Senior Pension/ 401 (k) Administrator - Takeover
for Polycomp Administrative Services, Inc.
in CA

Experienced 401(k)/Defined Contribution Administrator/Consultant
for Growing Northern Central New Jersey Benefits Consulting Firm
in NJ

Senior Compliance Specialist
for AMVESCAP Retirement, Inc.
in GA

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