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July 7, 2004
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Inquiry Confirms Top Medicare Official Threatened Actuary Over Cost of Drug Benefits
Excerpt: "An internal investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services confirms that the top Medicare official threatened to fire the program's chief actuary if he told Congress that drug benefits would probably cost much more than the White House acknowledged." (New York Times; one-time registration required)

L.A. Times Coverage: Medicare Cost Withholding Was Legal
Excerpt: "Although Bush administration officials refused last year to provide Congress with information on the potential cost of the Medicare overhaul -- and threatened to fire a financial analyst if he released it -- their actions did not violate federal law, an internal investigation has concluded." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)

More State Laws To Govern Life's Minutiae
Excerpt: "California made history last week with the nation's first family leave law. Workers can take up to six weeks of paid leave in a 12-month period to care for newborn children or seriously ill relatives. Pay, ranging from $50 to $728 per week, is to be funded by the state's disability insurance fund." (Christian Science Monitor)

The Company Picnic Is Alive and Well
Excerpt: "While many feel-good perks have been dropped in recent years, company picnics have survived and thrived, free of the intense bottom-line scrutiny applied to other employee rewards. In many cases, companies have instituted their first picnics in the last couple of years, and none of the workplace experts consulted for this story knew of any companies that have stopped having them, nor would they dismiss them as passé." (Workforce.com)

Top Five Reasons People Stay in Their Jobs
Excerpt: "The survey, conducted by Ajilon Office (www.ajilon.com), a national specialty staffing and recruiting services firm, also identified the top five reasons people stay at their jobs: ... The top five reasons people leave their jobs are: ..." (The CPA Journal)

Can Employee Benefits Be Used as a Carrot to Avoid Litigation?
Excerpt: "[E]mployers may avoid unnecessary and frivolous litigation by conditioning the receipt of employee benefits on the waiver of legal claims. In other words, the provision of employee benefits may be used as a carrot to obtain a waiver of legal claims for employee benefits, employment-based claims, or other state or federal legal claims." (Buchanan Ingersoll)

Blue Cross and Blue Shield Teams Up with Mellon Financial to Provide Portable HSAs
Excerpt: "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico will team up with the Mellon Financial Corp. to offer portable health savings accounts that consumers can contribute to and take from job to job." (New Mexico Business Weekly via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)

Healthcare Scams: One Sick Scheme
Excerpt: "Employers Mutual is just one of many bogus health insurance companies that have bilked small-business owners. And the problem is getting worse. 'There has been a spike in the number of [fraudulent health insurers] in the past three years,' says Mila Kofman, a Georgetown University researcher." (BusinessWeek)

Employer/Employee Disconnect May Hinder CDH Success, Study Finds
Excerpt: "The widening gap between employer and employee views on who should foot the bill for health care coverage could undermine efforts to use CDH strategies to contain costs, according to results of a survey released this month by Towers Perrin." (Inside Consumer-Directed Care via AISHealth.com)

Treatment of People With Mental Illness: a Decade-Long Perspective
Excerpt: "Many believe that managed behavioral health care has been associated with reduced access to care. Data from a variety of sources suggest that access has increased, although patterns of care and locations of treatment have changed." (Health Affairs)

AMA Coverage: Supreme Court Strikes Down Landmark Patient Protection Law
Excerpt: "The U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down a Texas law that gave patients the right to sue their health plans for damages in state court. Now physicians hope they won't see a return of the toxic 1990s atmosphere in which they say it was more difficult to get insurers to pay for necessary care." (American Medical Association)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Employee Benefits Update (as of May 2004) (PDF)
48 pages; materials for May 4, 2004 presentation to the Employers Association of West Michigan. (Attorney John H. McKendry, Jr. of Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)

Chart of Semi-Annual Regulatory Agendas: DOL, IRS and PBGC
Excerpt: "The following charts summarize ongoing employee benefits-related projects identified in semiannual regulatory agendas recently published by the Departments of Labor and Treasury, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.... These charts focus exclusively on regulatory projects listed as being in the proposed rule stage or the final rule stage." (Deloitte's Washington Bulletin)

Staying Out of Jail Under ERISA's Bulked-Up Criminal Law Penalties
Excerpt: "This article summarizes the key statutes and cases involving certain ERISA and related criminal penalties, and is intended to aid practitioners who may need to defend their clients against criminal penalties." (Attorneys Russell D. Shurtz and Craig R. Pett)

Newly Posted Events

50th Annual Employee Benefits Conference
in Louisiana on September 19, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Best Practices In Conducting Workplace Investigations Webcast
Nationwide on July 15, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com

Certificate Series - Creating High Performance Organizations
in Wisconsin on September 22, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Certificate Series - Learning and Development/Work Environment Basics
in Wisconsin on September 20, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Deciphering the New Final Rule Revisions to "White Collar" Exemptions
Nationwide on August 12, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com

FMLA Update 2004: In-Person Seminars & Workshops
Nationwide on August 1, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com

In-Person COBRA Seminars
Nationwide on August 1, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com

The COBRA Training & Certification Program
Nationwide on August 1, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com

Treatment of Same-Gender Spouses and Domestic Partners for COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA, and Cafeteria Plans
Nationwide on July 29, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com

Trustees Masters Program
in Louisiana on September 18, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

U. S. Labor Department Sponsors New York Seminar On Federal and State Health Plan Laws
in New York on July 14, 2004
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, New York, N.Y.

U. S. Labor Department Sponsors New York Seminar On Federal and State Health Plan Laws
in Kentucky on August 4, 2004
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, New York, N.Y.

U. S. Labor Department Sponsors New York Seminar On Federal and State Health Plan Laws
in Alaska on September 14, 2004
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, New York, N.Y.

U. S. Labor Department Sponsors New York Seminar On Federal and State Health Plan Laws
in Maine on October 13, 2004
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Public Affairs, New York, N.Y.
Newly Posted Press Releases

SEC Launches Sweep Examination of Mutual Fund 401(k) Payments - McHenry Consulting Issues Alert to Document SEC Retirement Sweep
(McHenry Consulting Group)

ERIC Praises House Ed and Workforce Drive to Get the Facts About Cash Balance / Hybrid Plans
(ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee))

Metrics Partners Wins Three New Clients During the 2nd Quarter
(Metrics Partners)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Account Manager / Business Developer
for Aon Consulting
in NC

NBI Lead Project Manager
for Transamerica
in CA

Health & Welfare Benefits Consultant
for Hewitt Associates
in NJ

Employee Benefits Account Executive (Sales)
for The Protector Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
in CT, MA, RI

DC Administrator
for Lorraine Dorsa & Associates
in FL

Employee Benefits Sales Trainee
for The Protector Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
in CT, MA, RI

Sr. Employee Benefits Consultant
for Marsh
in NV

Sr. Pension Administrator
for Third Party Administrator with exciting growth potential.
in TX

Administrative Assistant-Retirement Planning
for Atlantic Pension Planning Corp.
in NJ

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