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September 16, 2004
Today's sponsor: The National Underwriter Company
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
National Underwriter publications in the BenefitsLink Bookstore! The National Underwriter Company is regarded as one of the premiere publishers of professional references. A leader in publications and online services in the areas of Financial Planning, Employee Benefits & Retirement Planning as well as Life & Health and Risk Management since 1897. Click above to see the list of informative publications.
Senator Frist Won't Bring Drug Import Legislation Up for Vote, Citing Safety Concerns
Excerpt: "Despite outrage rising in Tennessee and across the nation over the soaring costs of pres.cription drugs, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is blocking legislation that would allow consumers to purchase medicine from Canada at much cheaper rates." (The Tennessean)
Insurer May Pursue Action Over Former Employee's Coverage Under Group Disability Policy
Excerpt: "A federal district court improperly dismissed an insurance company's action seeking a declaration that a former employee was not covered under a group disability insurance policy. This was the decision of the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in The Paul Revere Life Insurance Company v. Bromberg (No. 03-2112)." (Spencer Benefits Reports)
From A to Z -- Voluntary Benefits Meet a Wide Range of Employee Needs
Excerpt: "Voluntary benefits are gaining extra luster in the eyes of employers who continue to look for ways to reduce their benefit costs, experts say. 'We're seeing companies of all sizes continuing to advance the number of voluntary benefits that they provide to their employees,' says Garry Sullivan, senior vice president at Aon Consulting. 'It's a very active and fluid field right now.'" (Employee Benefit News)
Flextime Work Scheduling Elevated to National Issue During Presidential Campaign
Excerpt: "Increasingly popular flextime benefits have jumped to national prominence as the calendar peels to the fall elections. Pounding the campaign trail, President Bush recently touted flextime's ability to help workers balance work and family demands and urged Congress to give private-sector workers the same flexible scheduling options that federal workers have." (Employee Benefit News)
New Health Insurance Option Coming to Federal Workers
Excerpt: "In the biggest test yet of an idea central to the Bush administration's health care policy, the government will offer more than three million federal employees and their families a new type of high-deductible health insurance that includes tax-free savings accounts, the federal Office of Personnel Management said yesterday." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Price Comparison for Drugs Is Put on Federal Web Site
Excerpt: "Over objections from some drug companies, the Bush administration unveiled a new feature of a federal Web site on Wednesday comparing prices for similar brand-name drugs that can be used to treat conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, arthritis and allergies." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
The Latest Tools in Consumer Driven Health Care?
Excerpt: "What's the latest on Health Savings Accounts and what are the future prospects? View Grace-Marie Turner's PowerPoint presentation delivered Sept. 15 at the Iowa Association of Health Underwriters to find out." (Galen Institute)
Health and Human Services Department Extends Rule on HIPAA Civil Monetary Penalties
Excerpt: "HHS has extended until September 16, 2005, its rule that establishes procedures for the imposition of civil monetary penalties on entities that violate the administrative simplification provisions of HIPAA. The rule was originally scheduled to expire on September 16, 2004, but HHS extended it 'to avoid the disruption of ongoing enforcement actions while HHS proceeds with rulemaking to develop a more comprehensive enforcement rule.'" (Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
Consumer-Driven Health Care Survey
Excerpt: "[Turn down your speakers before linking to]...Destiny Health's latest survey comparing the attitudes and behaviors of consumer-driven health plan members vs. traditional health plan participants." (Destiny Health)
Managed Care Organizations Favor Creation of 50 State-Based Medicare Advantage PPO Regions
Excerpt: "In public comments ..., Tufts Health Plan, Presbyterian Health Plan, John Deere Health Care, WellPoint Health Networks, Highmark, and Blue Shield of California join the majority of responding managed care organizations ... in urging the federal government to use a configuration of 50 state-based regions for regional Medicare Advantage ... PPOs and Pres.cription Drug Plans ...." (News and Strategies for MANAGED MEDICARE & MEDICAID via AISHealth.com)
Americans & Health Care Reform: How Access and Affordability Are Shaping American Views (PDF)
45 pages. Excerpt: "Clear majorities of Americans appear willing to accept a greater government role in health care, with 78% agreeing that health care is a necessity like water, gas and electricity and should be 'regulated by government to ensure fair prices, accountability, access for everyone and quality services.'" (Results for America)
Crossing the Digital Divide: Evaluating Online Communication Between Patients and Their Providers
Excerpt: "Conclusions: Web-based messaging was lower than expected because of patient-related factors and limitations of the technology. Patients, physicians, and staff had positive attitudes toward online communication. There was no detectable difference in communication volume between study groups, but more sensitive measures of work burden need to be developed and evaluated." (The American Journal of Managed Care)
Electronic Communication between Patient & Physician: Satisfaction, Benefits, and Concerns
Excerpt: "Conclusion: Patients that use electronic communication with their physicians find the communication efficient for disease management. Further patient education about inappropriate use of email for urgent issues is needed." (The American Journal of Managed Care)
Survey on Consumers' Use of the Internet for Health Insurance Information
Excerpt: "Methods: The survey included questions about searching for health insurance information in 3 health insurance markets: Medicare, individual or nongroup, and employer-sponsored group. We also asked questions about use of the Internet to manage health benefits. We tabulated means of responses to each question by market and tested for independence across demographic groups using the Pearson chi-square test." (The American Journal of Managed Care)
HMO Rates to Rise 10% in 2005, But Fewer Big Employers Are Reacting by Trimming Benefits
Excerpt: "Large employers have accepted HMO premium increases averaging 10.2 percent for 2005, and fewer are planning to shrink benefits next year, a new survey shows. Hewitt's data show that about a quarter of large employers will take steps such as raising co-pays and deductibles for 2005, compared with about half who did that for 2004, said Kenneth Sperling, health care market leader in Hewitt's Norwalk office." (The Hartford Courant; one-time registration required)
Editorial: Health Care Humbug Crawling Out of Campaign Ads
Excerpt: "Americans have come to expect political ads to stretch the truth, but a recent duo from the Bush campaign cross the line. One, titled 'Medicare Hypocrisy,' tries to blame Democratic nominee John F. Kerry for the recent hike in Medicare premiums. The second, called 'Healthcare: Practical vs. Big Government,' says the Kerry health care plan would amount to a 'government-run healthcare plan' costing a whopping $1.5 trillion over 10 years." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
French Health Insurance System Deficit Hits Record High
Excerpt: "France's ailing health insurance system for salaried workers showed a all-time record deficit last year of 11.9 billion euros (14.6 billion dollars), an official government report revealed." (Agence France Presse via Yahoo! News)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Milliman USA's Summer 2004 Issue of Benefits Perspectives: Current Issues in Employee Benefits
Articles include 'Designing Effective Consumer-Driven Health Plans,' which offers tips to employers adopting a consumer-driven health plan; 'Defined Benefit Plan Commencement Exercises,' which discusses key areas plan sponsors should focus on in complying with the rules governing pension payouts; and 'Keys to Effective Benefits Communications,' which provides five keys to improving employee understanding of the value of benefit programs. (Milliman)
Smaller Employers Bullish on Employee Benefits According to Recent Survey
Excerpt: "Small and midsize employers are strong believers in employee benefits, and they anticipate maintaining or expanding their offerings in the next two years, reveals research by Employee Benefit News and Genworth Financial Employee Benefits Group. The 2004 EBN-Genworth Small to Midsize Employer Benefit Survey,..., is the first comprehensive study of this group's attitudes toward benefits, plan offerings and purchasing practices." (Employee Benefit News)
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation in June 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (PDF)
26 pages. Excerpt: "Employer costs for employee compensation in June averaged $24.96 per hour, with 70.9% of that being attributed to salary, according to the latest numbers from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Benefits account for the second highest part of the total number, with $7.26 an hour being paid by employers, according to the DOL's National Compensation Survey." (Department of Labor)
Senate Panel Votes to Block Bush Administration's Overtime Rules
Excerpt: "The Senate Appropriations Committee voted yesterday to block the Bush administration's controversial new overtime pay rules, but only after the Senate's most senior Republican warned that a slew of such legislative riders could complicate final deals on bills needed to fund the federal government in fiscal 2005." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Coordinating FMLA, ADA and Workers’ Compensation
Nationwide on October 7, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com
FMLA Update 2004
Nationwide on September 20, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com
Implementing the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit and Medicare Advantage Program: Perspectives on the Proposed Rules
Nationwide on September 16, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation
In-Person COBRA Seminars
Nationwide on September 21, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com
PHR-SPHR Compliance Re-Certification Suite
Nationwide on September 20, 2004
presented by HRTrainingCenter.com
Public Health and the Presidential Election: A Discussion with the Campaigns
Nationwide on September 16, 2004
presented by Kaiser Family Foundation
What Do I Do Now? How to Respond to 10 Common Issues Involving the ADA and FMLA
Nationwide on September 28, 2004
presented by Winston & Strawn
Newly Posted Press Releases
Principal Financial Group Announces Revolutionary Life Insurance/Retirement Income Product
(Principal Financial Group)
MetLife Introduces 'Longevity Insurance' to Help Protect against Outliving Retirement Savings in Later Years
(MetLife)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Corporate Counsel, San Francisco
for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
in CA
Group Benefit Administrator
for Pinnacle Financial Group, A Metrowest family business
in MA
Pension Analyst
for Security Administrators, Inc.
in NY
Installation Administrator
for Transamerica
in CA
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