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July 2, 2004
Today's sponsor: NCEO

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

Check out the publications by the NCEO in the BenefitsLink Bookstore!
The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), a nonprofit
membership and research organization that provides information on
broad-based employee stock plans, now has over a dozen of its
most popular publications available for purchase in the
BenefitsLink bookstore. Topics range from employee stock
ownership plans (ESOPs) to stock options to employee stock
purchase plans (ESPPs).

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Ohio's External Review Experience
Excerpt: "In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that patients may not sue their HMOs in state courts for coverage decisions, independent external-review programs across the country will become even more critical. External review is designed to resolve medical necessity disputes before they reach courts." (HealthLeaders)

Disability Insurance Policies Do Not Have To Provide Equal Coverage for Mental, Physical Conditions
Excerpt: "The New York state Court of Appeals ruled 7-0 on Thursday that disability insurance policies written in the state do not have to include equal coverage for mental and physical conditions, AP/Long Island Newsday reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)

GAO: More Effort Needed to Assess Consistency of Social Security Disability Decisions
58 pages. Excerpt: "Each year, about 2.5 million people file claims with the Social Security Administration (SSA) for disability benefits. If the claim is denied at the initial level, the claimant may appeal to the hearings level. The hearings level has allowed more than half of all appealed claims, an allowance rate that has raised concerns about the consistency of decisions made at the two levels." (U.S. General Accounting Office)

Workplace Fitness Efforts Beginning to Take Hold
More than half (56%) of the companies reported increased morale among their workforce as a result of their fitness initiatives, and more than one out of four (27%) said their fitness initiatives resulted in health care cost savings. (PLANSPONSOR; one-time free registration required)

Railroad Says 'All Aboard' to Better Health, Lower Costs
Excerpt: "Beset by rising insurance costs, Union Pacific employs semi-tough love to improve the health of its mostly middle-aged, blue collar workforce. While some companies take a no-prisoners approach, UP choose to nudge, encourage and prod its employees to good health. And it's saving millions." (Workforce.com)

Employers Confront Tough Decisions on Consumer-Driven Health Plans
Excerpt: "Employers cite two reasons for embracing consumer-driven health ... Some are doing it as a frank cost-shift to employees, while others are including it as part of a long-term strategy to reward people for adopting healthy lifestyles." (BenefitNews.com)

More Workers Going Without Health Insurance
Excerpt: "The economy started creating jobs again last year, but the number of working-age adults who went without health insurance for more than a year jumped sharply, the government reported Wednesday." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)

Opinion: Working Mothers Caught in a Bind
Excerpt: "[W]hile women tend to be the primary caregivers of their children, the job opportunities that are expanding the fastest for women are those where child care benefits are rarest, part-time and service-industry jobs. And not only are employers becoming increasingly stingy in offering child care benefits, the government has been cutting back as well." (Center for American Progress)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Survey of Executive Severance Practices
Excerpt: "In April 2004, Hay Group conducted a survey of severance policies applicable to senior executives in the normal course of business activities.... We were particularly interested in the extent to which companies used contractual arrangements to implement executive severance policies that extended beyond broad-based severance programs." (HayGroup)

Financing of Employee Benefits Hits the HR Classroom
Excerpt: "Years of talk about how benefit managers should be strategic partners with top management has missed one important step. Most benefit managers still deal with the soft side of HR-- administration and employee communication-- and leave benefit finance to accountants. The result is many HR managers get left out of major decisions made by their companies." (BenefitNews.com)

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide: June 29, 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 29, 2004." (Hewitt)

Text of Papers Presented to Society of Actuaries Symposium on Managing Retirement Assets
Papers include 'Real Longevity Insurance with a Deductible: Introduction to Advanced-Life Delayed Annuities,' 'Immediate Annuity Pricing in the Presence of Unobserved Heterogeneity,' 'Annuitization: Keeping Your Options Open,' 'Full Circle: Purchasing Insured Annuities in a Defined-Benefit Plan,' 'Managing Longevity Risk in U.S. Retirement Plans through Mandatory Annuitization,' 'Assessing Long-Term Care Risk and Long-Term Care Options,' more. (Society of Actuaries)

SEC Chief Accountant Open to Delaying Stock-Options Expensing
Excerpt: "Securities and Exchange Commission Chief Accountant Donald T. Nicolaisen said Tuesday that he would entertain the idea of giving companies another year to gear up for a final rule on expensing stock options." (AccountingWEB)

GAO Supports FASB's Action on Stock Option Expense Rules
Excerpt: "In a letter this week to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States gave full support to the proposed statement requiring companies to record share-based payment as an expense." (AccountingWEB)

Overview: Retiree Health Coverage Waiver Is Employer-Initiated Reduction in Coverage (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The IRS recently ruled that the waiver of retiree health coverage in exchange for enhanced pension benefits could be deemed an employer-initiated reduction in coverage for purposes of Internal Revenue Code Section 420. Thus, the employer could fail to satisfy the cost maintenance requirements necessary for a qualified transfer of excess pension assets to a retiree health benefits account." (Mellon's Human Resources & Investor Solutions)

Newly Posted Events

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans
in Ohio on September 14, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans
in Indiana on September 23, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans
in Illinois on September 30, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

Fundamentals of Qualified Plans
in Kansas on September 23, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel

MEDICAID DRUG REBATE CONGRESS 2004
in District of Columbia on August 24, 2004
presented by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Defined Benefit Client Account Manager
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA

Client Services Manager
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC

Associate Actuary
for State of Washington
in WA

Benefits Administrative Services Manager
for RSI
in NJ

Retirement Account Executive
for Principal Financial Group
in NY

Account Executive - Retirement Services
for Principal Financial Group
in NY

Retirement Education Account Executive
for Principal Financial Group
in OH

401k External Wholesaler (Mid Atlantic Region)
for ADP Retirement Services
in MD, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT

401(k) Administrator
for Continental Benefits Group, Inc.
in NJ

Director of Underwriting Services
for Craford Benefit Consultants
in CA

Employee Benefits Attorney (509 BW)
for Marvel Consultants, Inc.
in IL

Third Party Pension Administrator
for THOMAS, DOLL & COMPANY, CPAs
in CA

Plan Administrator
for DC Pension Consultants, LLC
in NJ

Operations Administrator - Multiple Openings
for Mellon Financial Corporation - Human Resources & Investor Solutions
in MA

Pension Plan Administrator
for Klinger & Associates, Inc.
in MN

Senior Director, Research
for International Foundation
in WI

Health & Welfare Customer Service Associate
for Fidelity Investments
in MA, NH, TX

Paralegal
for National Benefit Fund for Hospital and Health Care Employees
in NY

Pension Portability Specialist
for ICMA Retirement Corporation, a non-profit, mutual fund organization
in DC

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