| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
September 7, 2004
Today's sponsor: Alexander Hamilton Institute
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Live Audio Conference. Get your HSA questions answered by our benefits expert. HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS: ARE THEY RIGHT FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION? September 15, 2004 1:00-2:30 PM Eastern Time REGISTER TODAY Learn all about Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), how they work, and whether they can reduce your organization's health care costs. Visit our website to read the course outline, register, or to order a conference recording if you are unable to participate in the live event.
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Rebounding Economy Renews Employer Interest in Lifestyle Benefits for Employees
Excerpt: "Actually, it's all about keeping workers happy and bringing new employees in. As the market begins to rebound, employers want to attract and retain the best labor available. A survey from the Minneapolis-based Gantz Wiley Research provides good reason: It found that the number of workers planning to stay on in their current position fell to 59% this year from 62% in 2003." (Employee Benefit News)
Employer Health Plans Combat Rising Diagnostic Imaging Costs
Excerpt: "Employers long ago carved out pharmacy, vision and dental benefits from their health plans. But now another service may be ripe for removal: diagnostic imaging." (Employee Benefit News)
Employees Face More Benefit Choices During Open Enrollment Season at Work
Excerpt: "Within the next few weeks, workers are likely to find a little something extra in their paychecks. No, sorry ... it's not money. Those fat envelopes will be stuffed with the paperwork that goes with new benefit plans." (Reuters via The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Flextime Bids Fond Farewell to the 9-to-5, Monday to Friday, Work Day
Excerpt: "Flextime -- which can include coming in and leaving the office early, a compressed workweek in which an employee has all or part of Friday off, a reduced work schedule or even telecommuting -- gained in popularity during the Internet boom of the late 1990s? As employers were trying to attract talent in heavy demand, they began offering this benefit, among others, to potential employees." (Washington Post; one-time registration required)
What Good is an Electronic Medical Record without Personal Health Record and Proactive Health Plan?
Excerpt: "Lifelong electronic medical records (EMRs) that could contain all essential medical information about consumers, cradle to grave, have long been a favorite speculation or dream of people in healthcare. If only a complete record of all patient genetic abnormalities, test results, medications taken, allergies and bad reactions, acute and chronic condition history, etc. could be created and maintained over each lifetime?" (Scott MacStravic for HealthLeaders News)
Working Long Hours? Take a Massage Break, Courtesy of Your Boss
Excerpt: "The company, Armani Exchange, offers this yoga and meditation class free to help employees relax, reduce stress and recharge during the middle of the week. Similar classes are now familiar in workplaces across the country, from old-line firms like AT&T to New Economy outfits like Yahoo." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: The Eroding Stature of Workers Reflected in the Decline in Wages and Fringe Benefits
Excerpt: "One irony of Labor Day 2004 is that so much political oratory speaks of values and morality when the dignity of human labor is under relentless assault. The overriding manifestation of this -- affecting all levels of full-time workers, not just the working poor -- is the decline in wages, as shown by studies from both the U.S. Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service documenting an increase in poverty during the first three years of the Bush administration." (San Francisco Chronicle via SFGate.com)
Opinion: The Cruel Legacy of Taft-Hartley: a Labor Day Call for Rights for Working People
Excerpt: "The general rule of law for employees is employment at will--this means an employee can be fired for any reason, no reason or a bad reason without recourse. .... .A Worker's Bill of Rights is needed because the rights of worker's have been on the decline. It is time to reverse that trend and begin to give workers--the backbone of the US economy--the rights they deserve." (Ralph Nader on CounterPunch)
Anthem Will Offer HSAs: Insurer's Health Coverage Will Include Special Savings Accounts
Excerpt: "The state's biggest health insurer is ready to introduce coverage that includes health savings accounts." (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida to Launch Doctor Recognition Program
Excerpt: "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida will roll out a program this fall that recognizes and rewards doctors who provide quality services." (Tampa Bay Business Journal via bizjournals.com)
Health Insurers: Complications Limit Coverage on Gastric Bypass Surgery
Excerpt: "South Carolina government is not the only large employer telling workers their health insurance will no longer cover an increasingly popular and expensive surgery to help extremely obese people lose weight. BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, the Columbia-based insurer and the state's largest private-sector employer, recently decided to stop covering the procedure for its own work force, 13,000 people nationwide and 10,000 in the Palmetto State." (AP via TheState.com)
CEO Helps Upgrade Aetna's Condition: Rowe Sees Focus on Solving Nation's Health Care Issues
Excerpt: "During the past year, investors have been saying, 'Aetna, we're glad we met ya.' The shares have outperformed the broader market by a factor of six the past year after Aetna CEO Jack Rowe did major surgery on what once was the USA's largest health insurer. Following a serious downsizing and new product introductions, Aetna is returning to its former glory as a pre-eminent player in the insurance industry." (USA TODAY)
Retail Health Clinics Promise Savings, Convenience
Excerpt: "Having nurses handle common colds, ear infections and the flu can save employers money and can be a 'dream come true' for employees, according to Blue Cross. Some doctors are skeptical." (Workforce Management; one-time registration required)
Overview: Defined Contribution Health Plans -- a Green Light for Health Reimbursement Arrangements (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "...the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gave a bright green light to innovative health plan designs that use employer-funded defined contribution accounts to pay employee and dependent health care expenses. Termed a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) by the Treasury/IRS guidance, an HRA account may be used to pay both out-of-pocket health care expenses and health coverage premium costs." (Mark L. Stember in Journal of Pension Benefits via Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)
HSA Website Helps Individuals and Employers Find Insurers Offering Health Savings Account Policies
Excerpt: "Which insurers offer a Health Savings Account policy? Select a state and get a list of companies' offerings in that state." (The HSA Insider)
Beyond Bankable Dollars: Establishing a Business Case for Improving Health Care
Excerpt: "To address widespread deficiencies in the quality of health care, the authors argue that health care organizations need to be able to make a 'business case' for improving quality--a compelling rationale for financial investment in quality improvement programs." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Buying Individual Health Insurance Can Prove a Headache
Excerpt: "The U.S. Census Bureau report last month showing a rise in the number of people without health insurance also showed that a good portion of those people could afford coverage. That wouldn't surprise Joan Stolbach of Reston, Va. Three years ago, when her husband went on Medicare, their HMO informed Ms. Stolbach, 57, that she'd have to get an individual policy. Two policies, two brokers and many frustrating moments later, the hunt is an experience she wouldn't recommend." (Wall Street Journal Online via Council for Affordable Health Insurance)
SB 2 Mandated Health Insurance Cost Estimator for Affected California Employers
Excerpt: "The California Health Insurance Act of 2003...known as SB 2, ...would require some employers to provide health insurance coverage to workers. Implementation of SB 2 is on hold pending a voter referendum on the November 2004 statewide ballot. The California HealthCare Foundation has developed an online tool to help interested parties--primarily employers, but also the media, unions, individuals, and others--understand the potential financial effects of the new legislation's requirements." (California HealthCare Foundation)
Opinion: Latest Census Figures on Uninsured Inaccurate, Wall Street Journal Says
Excerpt: "Media coverage of the Census Bureau report does not take into account 'that there are more Americans with various problems in part because there are more Americans,' a Wall Street Journal editorial states, adding that although the number of U.S. residents who are uninsured increased to 45 million in 2003, the percentage of U.S. residents who are uninsured remained largely unchanged at 15.6%." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Issue Brief: President Bush's Plan to Make Health Care More Affordable
Released September 2, 2004, the fact sheet outlines the President's plan to reduce the cost of health care, provide more coverage options, and keep health decisions with patients and doctors. (The White House)
Citing Higher Costs, U.S. Plans Rise in Medicare Premium
Excerpt: "A day after President Bush heralded his efforts to help the elderly cope with increased medical expenses, federal officials announced the largest premium increase in dollars in the Medicare program's history, raising the monthly expense by $11.60 to $78.20." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Department of Labor's FairPay Overtime Initiative Provides FairPay Resources on Web Site
Excerpt: "… the FairPay Web site. It's designed to help you understand the Department's new FairPay rules that strengthen overtime protections. Under the new FairPay rules, workers earning less than $23,660 per year -- or $455 per week -- are guaranteed overtime protection. This will strengthen overtime rights for 6.7 million American workers, including 1.3 million low-wage workers who were denied overtime under the old rules." (Department of Labor)
Opinion: Corporate Middle Managers Position in the Economic Class War
Excerpt: "Politicians who complain about 'corporate bosses' gaining at the expense of 'American workers' are often accused of engaging in class warfare, which clashes with America's proud self-image as a classless society." (Paul Osterman in The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
FASB Makes Progress on Stock Compensation Redeliberations: Delay May Not Be Necessary (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "… the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) earlier this year released an Exposure Draft (ED) that would require companies to expense stock options beginning in 2005 (2006 for nonpublic companies). Credible sources have speculated that the 2005 effective date may be delayed." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Labor and Benefits Expenses in Supermarkets
Excerpt: "Charts showing how much money is spent on labor and benefits in grocery stores, broken down by store size." (Food Marketing Institute via Workforce Management; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Fraud Prevention Institute
in California on November 17, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Health Care Management Conference
in California on November 15, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
NIPA 2005 Annual Conference
in Arizona on May 15, 2005
presented by !Trak-It Solutions
NIPA 2005 Business Management Conference (BMC)
in Arizona on January 15, 2005
presented by !Trak-It Solutions
Trustees Training Program-Part II
Nationwide on November 8, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Health & Welfare Associate
for Towers Perrin
in IL, MA, NJ, NY, TX
Defined Benefit Client Account Manager
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
Pension Administrator
for San Luis Pension Consultants, Inc.
in CA
Account Manager
for Motivano
in FL
Benefits Analyst
for R. L. Polk & Co.
in MI
Sr. Associate, Benefits Technical Support
for NRECA
in VA
Employee Benefits Attorney
for Entergy
in LA
Defined Benefit Administrator
for Gucciardi Benefit Resources
in WI
Manager, Compliance Testing
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NY
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