| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
August 30, 2004
Today's sponsor: IQPC
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Conference on Healthcare Cost Containment Strategies for Employers Proven Strategies for Reducing your Healthcare Costs, Maintaining Healthy Employees and Sustaining a Competitive Benefits Package October 25 - 27th, 2004 * Chateau Sonesta Hotel * New Orleans, LA This must-attend event will provide you with real-time strategies and solutions in lowering your healthcare costs. Hear first-hand case studies on how to implement innovative techniques to ensure healthy employees while maintaining a competitive benefits package, and walk away with practical knowledge enabling your company to become a market leader in healthcare cost containment.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Insurer Encourages Doctors to Submit Claims via Internet
Excerpt: "UnitedHealth Group has launched a program that encourages physicians to submit claims directly to the insurer over the Internet." (The Business Journal (Minneapolis/St. Paul) via bizjournals)
What Makes a Company a Good Place to Work?
Excerpt: "With relentless corporate downsizing, rising healthcare costs and brutal global competition, employees often find their benefits and perks are the first to be jettisoned. Still, some South Florida companies are bucking the trend and make a point of including workplace satisfaction and employee safety and well-being in their corporate mission." (The Miami Herald; one-time registration required)
ABA Reports Various Employee Benefit Regulators' Views on Health Issues
Excerpt: "The following health benefit items were discussed. Bear in mind these responses represent only the views of the individuals and cannot be relied upon as official government positions. The following discussion focuses only on the health benefit questions and responses by the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services." (Deloitte's Washington Bulletin)
New Statistics for Health Insurance from the 2003 National Compensation Survey
Excerpt: "Integrating compensation programs into the NCS provides new opportunities for calculating the relationships among the percentage of employers offering health insurance, the percentage of employees participating in health insurance plans, and the cost to employers for such plans." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Trends In Employer-Provided Pres.cription-Drug Coverage
Excerpt: "Pres.cription-drug costs have been rising faster than the rate of inflation; although coverage remains an integral part of employee health care plans, covered employees share a greater portion of the cost of pres.cription drugs and are being offered cost-saving incentives more than ever before." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Calif. Lawmakers OK Canadian Drug Bill
Excerpt: "California lawmakers have approved bills that would create government-sponsored Web sites encouraging consumers to buy cheaper pres.cription drugs from Canada." (AP via Yahoo! News)
Large Firms Take a Hit on Insurance Costs, Too
Excerpt: "Soaring medical costs have forced companies of all sizes to cut back on health care benefits in recent years, and with higher expenses on the horizon the bad news only seems to get worse for employers." (Washington Business Journal via bizjournals)
Health Plans for Retirees Face Big Cuts
Excerpt: "Employers in Western New York might be poised to trim health-care benefits for retirees or jettison them altogether in a cost-cutting strategy to help keep their businesses afloat." (Business First of Buffalo via bizjournals)
Issue Brief: Will Poverty, Income, and Health Insurance Coverage Improve Significantly In 2004?
Excerpt: "The new Census Bureau report released yesterday showed that poverty increased, health insurance coverage eroded, and median incomes stagnated in 2003. Some who have attempted to downplay the new Census figures have argued that the figures are already out of date and conditions have improved significantly in 2004 ... [T]his analysis finds that health insurance coverage is likely continuing to erode this year." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
Opinion: What Health Insurance Crisis?
Excerpt: "The bottom line: About 8.2 million Americans, not 45 million, are chronically uninsured and low-income." (David Gratzer in the Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
Treasury Secretary Says Health Costs Impede Growth
Excerpt: "U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on Friday is expected to renew his call for Capitol Hill action on President George W. Bush's health care ideas, citing high insurance costs as a drag on the economy." (Reuters via Medscape)
Coming Soon: the Vanishing Work Force
Excerpt: "As workers age, fewer new bodies are coming up the pipeline to replace them. According to projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the working-age population - adults 16 to 54 who are neither in the military nor in jail - will have grown by six million people from 2002 to 2012. By contrast, the 55-and-over age bracket will have expanded by 18 million." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Employee Issues Best Addressed Early In M&A Process
Excerpt: "The changing economy has led to an influx in merger and acquisition activity. Often overlooked in such transactions are critical legal and practical issues relating to the employees being acquired." (Columbus Business First via bizjournals; one-time registration required)
How to Outsource All of Your Firm's Employee Benefits
Excerpt: "Business owners can save time and frustration by outsourcing the management of the benefits they offer." (Orlando Business Journal)
Bush to Push for 'Ownership Society' Approach to Healthcare, Retirement Savings
Excerpt: "In New York, the President will take the wraps off a second-term domestic agenda built around the idea of an 'Ownership Society' in which Americans would be empowered to save and invest more, playing a larger role in managing their own health care and retirement finances." (BusinessWeek)
Uneven Start for New Overtime Rules
Excerpt: "New federal overtime rules have generated some controversy – but they won't take effect in all states at the same time." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Medical and Retirement Plan Coverage: Exploring the Decline in Recent Years
Excerpt: "The percent of workers with employer-provided medical care and retirement benefits plans declined over the past decade; a variety of potential explanations are explored." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
New Benefits Data from the 2003 National Compensation Survey
Excerpt: "Private establishments with 100 or more workers were much more likely than small establishments to offer medical insurance and retirement benefits in 2003; this information comes from new National Compensation Survey data on employee benefit plan coverage and plan details." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
The 2003 National Compensation Survey: a Wealth of Benefits Data
Excerpt: "The BLS National Compensation Survey provides an array of benefits data; in 2003, for the first time, information is available on the percentages of establishments offering health insurance and retirement plans, and the percentage of medical premiums paid by employers and employees." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Incidence Benefits Measures in the 2003 National Compensation Survey
Excerpt: "For the first time, data from the National Compensation Survey allow comparisons between establishments offering health and retirement benefits and the rates at which employees have access to and participate in those benefits." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Warning Anew About Retiree Expectations
Excerpt: "The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, warned on Friday that the federal government might have to scale back promises to the elderly in programs like Social Security and Medicare." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
FASB Modifies Option Expensing Proposal
Excerpt: "A split Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has retreated a bit on its planned stock option expensing plan by deciding to stick with existing rules on accounting for income taxes of option awards." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser ftwilliam.com
Excerpt: "www.ftwilliam.com offers the employee benefits professional the highest quality plan documents and forms at highly competitive prices. Plan documents on a per document basis are only $50/adoption agreement, or $100/volume submitter document. An annual subscription to all documents is only $1,500. The Form 5500 package (including schedules) and the IRS/PBGC form package are only $250 each. )."
Newly Posted Events
2004-2005 Membership Meeting
in Ohio on October 21, 2004
presented by Employee Benefits Council of Northeast Ohio
Consumer-Driven Health Plans: Potential, Pitfalls, and Policy Issues
Nationwide on September 10, 2004
presented by AcademyHealth
New Medicare Prescription Drug Rules: Critical Issues for Retiree Health Plan Sponsors
Nationwide on September 8, 2004
presented by Mercer Human Resource Consulting
U. S. Labor Department Sponsors Seminars To Help Plan Professionals Comply With Federal Pension Law
in Pennsylvania on September 20, 2004
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
TREA Offers ARAG's Prescribed Legal Solution to Its Members
(ARAG Legal Insurance Company)
Putnam Investments Joins CPI Platinum Partner Retirement Plan Platform
(CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.)
A Professionally Managed ETF Solution Hits the Retirement Plan Marketplace
(The Institute for Wealth Management)
Pixion PictureTalk Sponsors Free Webinar: “The 401(k) Owner’s Manual: The Best Websites for Your Retirement”
(Financial Interactions LLC)
Movers and Shakers: Newly Posted Announcements of Promotions and New Personnel
(Post Yours!)
Renee W. O'Rourke (Faegre & Benson LLP)
Brenda R. Berg (Faegre & Benson LLP)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
DC Administrator
for Lorraine Dorsa & Associates
in FL
Manager, Partner Relationships
for PAi
in WI
Human Resource Legal Consultant
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Director of Internal Sales
for The Newport Group
in NC
Compliance Specialist
for New Directions Management Services, Inc.
in TN
Director, Communications and Product Development
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
Defined Contribution/401(k) Administrator
for Professional Capital Services, LLC
in PA
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