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August 3, 2004
Today's sponsor: BeneCom Associates, LLC

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Since 1992, BeneCom has produced benefit communications,
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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)
ERIC Summary Outline for Employer Sections (Title 1; J & R) of the Medicare Regulations
Excerpt: "ERIC has developed a summary outline for the proposed Medicare rules for Title 1 section: Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. The outline covers Subparts J & R and condenses them into a little more than eight pages of material." (ERISA Industry Committee)

Text of Proposed Regs for Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (PDF)
233 pages. (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services)

Issue Paper from CMS: the Retiree Drug Subsidy -- More Secure Coverage For Retirees (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) contains new retiree drug subsidies designed to encourage employers and unions to continue providing high quality prescription drug coverage for their retirees. This alternative retiree drug subsidy provides special tax-favored payments to qualified retiree prescription drug plans." (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services)

Overview: GASB Hands Down Nonpension Benefit Accounting Guidance
Excerpt: "The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has provided guidance on how state and local governments should account for retiree nonpension benefits." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Bipartisan Consensus Emerging on Need to Bolster IT in Health Care Industry
Excerpt: "A little-noticed item in the Democratic Platform refreshingly highlights agreement between the two parties on the need to address one of the most critical deficiencies in our health care system: the lack of information technology." (HR Policy Association)

Patient Data-Matching Software: a Buyer's Guide for the Budget Conscious
Excerpt: "The patient matching task is an important and challenging step in the creation of integrated clinical databases used for disease management and quality-improvement purposes." (California HealthCare Foundation)

Analysis: Comprehensive HSA Guidance Clarifies Many Issues, Sets Forth Several New Rules
Excerpt: "In Part I below, we provide a background of HSAs and previous guidance provided by the IRS and Department of Labor; in Part II, we summarize the major issues that the IRS resolved, both favorably and unfavorably, in this guidance; and in Part III, we offer some additional observations on the new rules." (Groom Law Group)

New Buzz in Weight Loss Therapy
Excerpt: "[Jamie] Finley, a former Arkansan who grew up on Southern fried chicken and eggs cooked in bacon grease, hopes the novel device -- called an implantable gastric stimulation system -- will help her control her appetite and shed some of her roughly 200 pounds. And keep them off." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Trends in U.S. Health Insurance Coverage, 2001-2003
Excerpt: "Against the backdrop of a sluggish economy and rapidly rising health insurance premiums, the proportion of Americans under age 65 covered by employer-sponsored insurance fell dramatically from 67 percent to 63 percent between 2001 and 2003. Although the decline in employer coverage could have spurred a large increase in the uninsured, the proportion of Americans without health insurance did not increase significantly ..." (Center for Studying Health System Change)

Pharmaceutical Roulette
Excerpt: "Americans once had the world's safest system for distributing prescription drugs, but now that system is undercut by a growing illegal trade in pharmaceuticals.... At a time when more Americans are relying on medication, their chances of receiving a drug that is fake, diluted or mislabeled has never been so great." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Fewer Getting Health Insurance Through Jobs
Excerpt: "The percentage of people who get health insurance through employers fell sharply from 2001 to 2003, resulting in 9 million fewer people with employer coverage after accounting for population growth, researchers said today." (USA Today)

Self-Funded Non-Federal Governmental Plan Opt-Out Regulations Finally Final
Excerpt: "Under HIPAA, the sponsors of non-federal governmental plans may elect to exempt the self-funded portions of their plans (i.e., those portions that are not offered through health insurance coverage) from most of HIPAA's portability requirements--this is sometimes referred to as 'opting out of HIPAA.' ... In July of 2002, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published interim final regulations ... [These have been made] final without any changes." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Text of Final Statutory Stock Option Regulations (PDF)
26 pages. Excerpt: "This document contains final regulations relating to statutory options. These final regulations affect certain taxpayers who participate in the transfer of stock pursuant to the exercise of incentive stock options and the exercise of options granted pursuant to an employee stock purchase plan (statutory options)." (Internal Revenue Service)

Watson Wyatt Publishes Global News Briefs, July 29, 2004 Issue
Excerpt: "The latest Watson Wyatt Global News Briefs, featuring information on compensation and benefits issues from around the world, are now available online." (Watson Wyatt)

Putin Feels Fallout Over Plan to Eliminate Soviet-Era Benefits
Excerpt: "Putin's initiative targets such benefits as free public transportation, free medication and cut-rate vacations for retirees, war veterans and people in myriad other categories deemed 'socially vulnerable' by the Soviet Union." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Newly Posted Events

Briefing on the Individual Health Insurance Market
Nationwide on August 3, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation
Newly Posted Press Releases

US Retirement Plans Combat Market Timing
(Association for Financial Professionals)

GASB Issues Statement That Addresses Employer Reporting of Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions
(Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB))

Treasury and IRS Finalize Regulations for Incentive Stock Options
(U.S. Department of Treasury)

New Survey Results Highlight Corporate Benefit Departments
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Section 125 Flexible Benefits Supervisor
for Leggette Actuaries, Inc.
in TX

Compliance Analyst
for Transamerica
in CA

Central Regional Manager, Trust & Custody Services
for U.S. Bank
in MN

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