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August 12, 2004
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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)
Kerry Pushes for Canada Drug Imports
Excerpt: "Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry yesterday called for President Bush to disavow his signature Medicare pres.cription drug program and allow for medicine to be imported from Canada." (Washington Times)

FDA Frowns on D.C. Canada-Drug Web Link
Excerpt: "District officials, in an effort to offer residents access to cheaper pres.cription drugs, have placed a link on the city Web site to a guide for ordering drugs from Canadian pharmacies. U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials said yesterday that such purchases violate federal law." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Caution: Web Pharmacies Can Endanger Your Health and Your Wallet
Excerpt: "If you need a pres.cription filled, be careful before ordering from an online pharmacy. We all know that the price of pres.cription drugs is enough to give you a headache, but don't be so eager to get a price break that you end up with counterfeit drugs, advises the National Consumers League (NCL)." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Opinion: Some Can't Stomach Drug-Firm Baloney Over Reimportation
Excerpt: "The asthma medication that costs $110 in California is just $45 in Mexico, but the long drive isn't the only hassle. [78-year-old Carole] Jaquez once got pulled over when crossing back into the United States with her legal purchase, and she fumed while drug-sniffing dogs went through her car as if the elderly widow were a mule for a Tijuana cartel." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)

To Cut Costs, Houston Mayor Proposes Reductions in Drug Coverage for City Employees
Excerpt: "Administration officials only specified the city would no longer assume responsibility for so-called 'lifestyle drugs' that they've deemed extraneous. Such a list would include any drugs that do not prevent, mitigate or cure an actual disease." (Houston Chronicle)

Miners Facing Loss of Benefits Seek Aid
Excerpt: "The United Mine Workers of America is taking up the mantle of thousands of retired coal miners who will lose their medical coverage following a ruling by a bankrup.tcy judge." (AP via New York Times; one-time registration required)

Deaths Raise Fears Over Stomach Stapling
Excerpt: "The deaths raise concerns because most of the 110,000 people who have gastric, or stomach, bypass surgery each year in this country are women in their child-bearing years, say doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who tried to save the mother and baby." (AP via Yahoo! News)

NCUA Final Regulations Authorize Federal Credit Unions to Serve as Trustees or Custodians of HSAs
Excerpt: "Prior to the passage of the Medicare Pres.cription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (see Code Sec. 223), FCU trustee and custodial authority had been limited to pension and retirement plans." (CCH News & Information Library)

Half of U.S. Employees Say Their Employer is Unprepared for an Attack
Excerpt: "Forty-nine percent of employees say their employer has not communicated any special plans or procedures in case of a terrorist attack. The poll was conducted online among 674 employees who work for clients of ComPsych, an EAP vendor. Only 15 percent said that their employers had done a thorough job and kept everyone updated on procedures." (Workforce.com)

Venus and Mars: Genders See Workplace Differently
Excerpt: "A survey by ISR, a Chicago HR consultant firm, found that women execs in the US highly value a workplace's 'communal' aspects – working relationships with colleagues, customer quality focus and communications. Their male counterparts, on the other hand, are more driven by what ISR dubbed 'personal reward factors' such as career development." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)

Job Relocations Take Toll on Family Life
Excerpt: "Companies that decide to transfer workers often choose to do so during the summer. Job relocations create both opportunities for American families and tensions between spouses and parents and children. Hear NPR's Susan Stamberg and family life commentator Bonnie Erbe." (National Public Radio)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

California High Court to Rule on Validity of Same-Sex Marriages Through San Francisco Mayor's Office
Excerpt: "Exactly six months ago, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom sparked equal parts elation and outrage when he allowed same-sex couples to get married in the famously g.ay-friendly city -- even taking part by officiating at some unions. On Thursday, the California Supreme Court was set to decide if Newsom exceeded his authority." (AP via Yahoo! News)

An Early Test for Same-Sex Massachusetts Marriage
Excerpt: "One activist lawyer in Florida is pushing ahead on his own to force states to recognize same-sex 'marriages' in Massachusetts and elsewhere by challenging federal law, contrary to the wishes of the nation's largest groups supporting homose.xual rights." (Washington Times)

Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide: August 10, 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 10, 2004." (Hewitt)

Newly Posted Events

18th Annual Cincinnati Employee Benefits Conference
in Ohio on June 9, 2005
presented by Cincinnati Bar Association - Employee Benefits Committee
Newly Posted Press Releases

Federal Retirement Board Selects Center for Fiduciary Studies to Provide Fiduciary Training
(Center for Fiduciary Studies)

Farzaroli Corporation In Consulting Role for TPAs
(Farzaroli Pension Corporation)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Director of Pension Administration
for Associated Pension Consultants
in CA

Litigation Counsel
for American Express
in MN

Pension Internal Wholesaler
for Minnesota Life
in MN

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