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August 6, 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)
President Promotes Flextime for Workers
Excerpt: "President Bush called on Congress on Thursday to pass legislation making it easier for employers to offer workers time off instead of overtime pay -- an idea Republicans hope will appeal both to Bush's core business supporters and to swing voters juggling home and work responsibilities." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)

FDA Official Asks Boston Mayor To End Drug Reimportation Program
Excerpt: "FDA Associate Commissioner William Hubbard in a letter sent on Wednesday formally warned Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (D) about the safety risks of a program that allows some city employees and retirees to reimport lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and asked him to end the program, the Boston Herald reports ..." (BlueCross BlueShield Association)

Dealing with Diabetes: Medical and Lifestyle Management
Excerpt: "[E]mployers can support habits - healthy eating, weight loss and exercise - that can help diabetic employees control their blood sugar levels and even prevent workers with 'pre-diabetes' from getting the full-blown disease." (BenefitNews.com)

Game Teaches Employees About Health Benefit Trade-Offs
Excerpt: "Imagine letting your employees design the company health plan. You'd give them a fixed budget and let them decide which features are truly most important to them and at what coverage levels: Primary care? Hospital care? Pharmacy? Mental health? That's the idea behind a health benefits computer game developed by physician ethicists ..." (BenefitNews.com)

Pharmaceutical Formularies: the Right Formula for Cost and Utilization? (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Plans, purchasers, and policymakers are perusing promising strategies to reduce pharmaceutical spending while maintaining quality. One such approach separates drugs into 'tiers' based on price levels and creates a financial incentive-- in the form of a lower co-payment-- for individuals to make the lowest cost selections.... The study's findings suggest that a formulary's structure greatly influences an individual's behavior regarding drug therapy." (AcademyHealth)

Apparently, It Isn't Just Older Men Who Want Via.gra
Excerpt: "The use of Via.gra has grown more than three-fold among younger men since it entered the market, according to a study by Express Scripts published in the International Journal of Impotence Research." (Workforce.com)

Termination of Retiree Health Benefits Offered By Predecessor Did Not Violate ERISA: Court
An employer did not violate ERISA when it terminated the retiree health care benefits that a predecessor employer had offered as part of an early retirement incentive program. This was the ruling of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Vallone, et al. v. CNA Financial Corporation (No. 03-2090). (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

FASB Holds Firm to Option Expensing Stance
Excerpt: "The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has begun drafting the final rule of its proposal to mandate stock option expensing on corporate financials." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Text of Milliman's Monthly Benefit News and Developments, August 2004 Issue (PDF)
2 pages. Especially nice: 'Upcoming Key Dates' column. (Milliman USA)

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide: August 3, 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 August 3, 2004." (Hewitt)

Have Any Computer Tips You'd Like to Share with Your Employee Benefits Colleagues?
Add 'em to our wiki page called ComputerTips! Perfectly OK to add a tip anonymously if you'd prefer. (BenefitsLink)

Newly Posted Press Releases

PBGC Ready To Pay $75 Million In Unclaimed Pension Benefits
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))

Peter Mullin Joins Governor Schwarzenegger as Honorees of W.O.M.E.N. 2004 Highlight Award
(Mullin Consulting)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Account Manager - Small Group
for Benefit Concepts, LLC
in GA

Lead Human Resources Representative
for Entergy
in LA

Pension Administrators/Consultants
for Westchester Pension Investment Corp., Inc.
in NY

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