| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
October 6, 2004
Today's sponsor: Financial Research Associates, LLC
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Made in America Taft Hartley Benefits Summit Financial Research Associates presents: The 2nd Annual Made in America Taft Hartley Benefits Summit February 6-9, 2005 in Palm Springs To Register call 800-280-8440 or visit www.frallc.com The summit will consist of concurrent tracks, one covering topical issues regarding DC/DB plans and the other covering current for health & welfare topics. Don't miss out, register today! All Administrators and Trustees save $1,000!
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Overview: GASB Rules for Other Postemployment Benefits Finalized in Statement No. 45 (PDF)
Excerpt: "After a decade and a half on the Governmental Accounting Standards Board's (GASB) to do list, employers now have an accrual accounting standard for retiree welfare benefits, in the form of GASB Statement No. 45, 'Accounting and Financial Reporting by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions.'" (Milliman)
Special Report: Savings Accounts -- Comparison of CDHP Savings Vehicles by Hewitt Associates
Three vehicles for Consumer-Driven Health Plans -- Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Reimbursement Arrangements, and Health Savings Accounts -- are compared. (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
High Court Lets California Mandated Health Insurance Contraceptive Coverage Ruling Stand
Excerpt: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a California Supreme Court ruling upholding a state law requiring group health insurance plans that provide pres.cription drug benefits to include contraceptive coverage. That law was challenged by Catholic Charities of Sacramento Inc., which alleged the mandate violated its constitutional rights to religious freedom." (Business Insurance)
State Budgets Improve, Yet Health Insurance Programs Struggle
Excerpt: "Over the past four years, the private sector has shed nearly 5 million jobs that offered health insurance. Many of those who lost private coverage were picked up instead by public insurance -- Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). But with the country in the midst of a financial crunch, many states are trying to curb their healthcare spending. NPR's Julie Rovner reports." (Morning Edition on National Public Radio)
Report: Northern Exposure: Drug Reimportation Programs Offer Hope for Rx Costs, But Concerns Linger
Excerpt: "Fed up with the rapidly increasing costs of pres.cription drugs, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino kicked off a Canadian drug reimportation program for the city's employees and retirees earlier this summer. 'Drug prices have been rising too fast,'' the Democratic mayor said in announcing the program. 'We are pursuing importation as a way to help city of Boston workers and retirees access vital pres.cription drugs at affordable prices.''" (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Healthcare Industry Lessons: Tailor Products & Services to Consumer Needs & Win Market Share
Excerpt: "The healthcare industry is experiencing turbulence, but we are only at the beginning of an era of fundamental change. Fiscal pressures, government oversight and consolidation, combined with an increasing amount of information available to consumers and other factors, are bearing down on healthcare practices, professionals and the manufacturers of healthcare products." (Modern Healthcare; one-time registration required)
Your Health, Your Money: a Weekly Check on Health Care Costs and Coverage
Excerpt: "What's new in health insurance for 2005? For most people, that depends heavily on which plans their employer is sponsoring. And insurers are saying that businesses continue to favor plans that shift costs onto consumers. With federal workers also receiving more such options, pressures -- or incentives, if you prefer -- are growing for people to limit their medical expenses." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Health Care by the Numbers Saves Money
Excerpt: "Breaking down departmental silos, organizing processes around customers, using information technology to benchmark quality and cost, paying for performance ... this is the sort of reengineering every other industry underwent years ago. Now, Dartmouth-Hitchcock has shown that those principles can be applied to a huge segment of the economy that is growing three times as fast as everything else -- not because it is so productive, but because it is so wasteful." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Towers Perrin Study: Health Care Cost Growth Tapers Off
Excerpt: "Health care costs in employer-sponsored plans are expected to rise an average of 8 percent in 2005, the first time the increase has sunk to single digits in the last five years, a new survey said. However, the news is hardly a reason to celebrate. The increase comes off an enormous cost base that has exploded in recent years, causing problems for most companies, and employees continue to pay more for less coverage, said ... Towers Perrin, which conducted the study." (AP via The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Perspective Piece on Pres.cription Drug Prices
Excerpt: "Prices for brand-name pres.cription drugs are 35 to 55 percent lower in other industrialized countries than in the United States. The central reason for these price differentials is that Canada and most European countries ... directly regulate the prices of pres.cription drugs. High U.S. prices are said to be necessary to cover the costs of research and development for new and better drugs, given the price levels in Europe and Canada." (New England Journal of Medicine)
Study from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey Ties Workers' Health to Benefits (PDF)
16 pages. Excerpt: "Employer-based health insurance provides the majority of U.S. workers with access to health care and protection against devastating financial losses. Millions of workers, however, do not receive health benefits from their employers, and few sources of affordable coverage exist outside the employer-based system." (The Commonwealth Fund)
AAA on CMS's Proposed Pres.cription Drug Regulations for the Medicare Advantage Program (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "In particular, this letter discusses issues related to the calculation of monthly savings--a step in determining beneficiary rebate amounts (as defined in section 422.266) for MA plans--and payment adjustments based on the variation in costs among different areas including input prices, utilization, and practice patterns." (American Academy of Actuaries)
American Academy of Actuaries on CMS's Proposed Regulations on Medicare Advantage Program (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "This letter presents the comments of the American Academy of Actuaries' Medicare Steering Committee regarding the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS's) proposed regulations on the Medicare Advantage (MA) program (CMS-4069-P)." (American Academy of Actuaries)
American Academy of Actuaries' Comments on CMS Proposed Regs on Medicare Pres.cription Drugs (PDF)
22 pages. Excerpt: "This letter presents the comments of the American Academy of Actuaries' Actuarial Equivalence Work Group regarding [CMS's] ... proposed regulations (CMS-4068-P) on the Medicare pres.cription drug benefit portion of the Medicare Modernization Act .... In particular, this letter discusses actuarial equivalence issues related to pres.cription drug plans ..., Medicare Advantage ... plans, Medicare supplement plans, and retiree health benefits." (American Academy of Actuaries)
The President's Plans for Health Savings Accounts (PDF)
8 pages. This issue contains the transcript of an interview with Mr. Doug Badger, Special Assistant to the President. (The HSA Insider)
Sacramento Bee Editorials Examine California Propositions 72 and 67
Excerpt: "The Sacramento Bee on Monday examined how SB 2 could employers and workers in the state (Rojas, Sacramento Bee, 10/4). SB 2, a state law scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2006, will require some employers to provide health insurance to workers or pay into a state fund to provide such coverage." (California Healthcare Foundation)
Medicare Hike Could Squeeze Social Security Benefits: Premium Jump Biggest Ever
Excerpt: "Many Medicare beneficiaries could see next year's cost-of-living increases in their Social Security checks much reduced by higher Medicare premiums that will grow by $11.60 a month in 2005, the largest annual dollar hike in Medicare's history." (AARP Bulletin Online)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Pilots at US Airways Will Vote on Plan to Cut Pay and Benefits
Excerpt: "US Airways' pilots will get to vote on the company's demand for $300 million in wage and benefit concessions, including an 18.25 percent pay cut and a reduction in pension contributions, the union said last night. The master executive council of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents US Airways' pilots, agreed to send a tentative agreement with the company to pilots after a 12-hour meeting in Pittsburgh." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Human Resource Executive Announces Winning Applications in HR and Training Technology
Excerpt: "In the past, product awards issued by Human Resource Executive magazine were announced in two separate issues–-one devoted to HR products, the other to training applications. This year, in the interest of streamlining the process and bringing the latest features and systems to your attention in one publication, the editors have chosen to combine the contests and have listed below their top 10 choices for HR products and top five choices for training." (Human Resource Executive)
Perspective on the Current Frenzy of Class-Action Employment Litigation
Excerpt: "Unless your company a) is bankrupt, b) has a reputation for being a vicious litigator, and c) has never had a disgruntled employee in its history, you're probably in the cross hairs of a plaintiffs' attorney somewhere casting about for an easy mark for a class-action employment case." (Richard F. Stolz in Human Resource Executive)
Louisiana State Judge Rejects G.ay Marriage Ban
Excerpt: "A state judge on Tuesday threw out a Louisiana constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, less than three weeks after voters overwhelmingly approved it. The judge, William A. Morvant of the 19th Judicial District Court, said the amendment was flawed because it had more than one purpose: banning not only g.ay marriage but also civil unions." (AP via The New York Times; one-time registration required)
October 5, 2004, ERLIC Update on Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Provisions in H.R. 4520
Excerpt: "The House and Senate Conferees to the corporate/international tax bill (H.R.4520) are continuing to meet today to try to reach agreement on a final bill. Nonqualified deferred compensation provisions have not yet been brought up for amendment. The Conference Chairman, Bill Thomas (R-CA) wants to finish the conference sometime tomorrow." (The ERISA Industry Committee)
Opinion: Anthem, UnitedHealth, Wellpoint Pay Their CEOs Fortunes
Excerpt: "While 45 million Americans don't have health insurance, the chief executive officers of the major companies that provide health coverage to much of the nation are munificently paid. Among 12 U.S. health insurers, all with 2003 net sales of $1 billion or more, the median and average total pay came to $9 million and $15.2 million, respectively." (Graef Crystal at Bloomberg News)
Will Proposed Legislation Make Deferred Compensation Packages Less Attractive for Executives?
Excerpt: "Congress is taking aim at deferred compensation after recent scandals. At Enron and other companies, declining credit quality triggered accelerated payouts to senior executives shortly before the firms collapsed, leaving lower-level employees holding worthless company stock in their 401(k) accounts." (Financial Planning)
Text of Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Provisions in 'Chairman's Mark' of Corporate Tax Bill (PDF)
19 pages. Excerpt: "House-Senate talks on a final corporate tax bill including nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) curbs have shifted into overdrive with the release of a draft bill from conference chair Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA)." (Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
Text: Description of Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Provisions by Joint Committee on Taxation (PDF)
10 pages. The document describes the treatment of nonqualified deferred compensation plans under the corporate tax bill. (Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
2003 Legislative and Regulatory Year in Review and the Outlook for 2004 (PDF)
31 pages. Excerpt: "Congress faces a considerable amount of unfinished legislative business related to the federal budget and tax matters. Before adjourning at the end of 2003, the Senate failed to act on appropriations legislation to fund federal government agencies for fiscal year 2004, which began October 1, 2003. These budget and tax bills also potentially address some significant provisions related to human resources and benefit programs." (Hewitt Associates)
EBRI Posts Frequently Asked Questions about Employment-Based Benefits
Excerpt: "This section of EBRI's Web site is designed to answer basic questions about major benefit issues and trends. It provides short, graphical answers, with links to the detailed data underlying the figure. In addition, references are provided to the relevant EBRI publication." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
AAA Stock Options Task Force Letter to FASB on Use of the Fair Value Index Adjusted Method (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The Academy writes to FASB about a proposal to use a fair value index-adjusted method for valuing employee stock options." (American Academy of Actuaries)
Newly Posted Events
Automatic Rollover/Lost Participants Web Seminar
Nationwide on November 2, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
ERISA Workshop
in Texas on November 16, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
ERISA Workshop
in Wisconsin on November 17, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
ERISA Workshop
in Louisiana on November 18, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
ERISA Workshop
in Missouri on November 18, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Fall Seminar
in Massachusetts on November 4, 2004
presented by MA Chapter-National Institute of Pension Administrators
Retirement & Life-Planning Education Webinars for October
Nationwide on October 18, 2004
presented by Planning For Life
SPARK Accredited Retirement Plan Consultant (ARPC) Training and Designation Program
in Massachusetts on November 30, 2004
presented by Society of Professional Administrators and Recordkeepers (SPARK)
SPARK Accredited Retirement Plan Specialist (ARPS) Training and Accreditation Program
in Massachusetts on December 1, 2004
presented by SPARK - the Society of Professional Administrators and Recordkeepers
Newly Posted Press Releases
PSCA's 47th Annual Survey of Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plans Now Available
(Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA))
PBGC Protects Pensions Of Hourly Workers At Kaiser Aluminum
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))
MassMutual Introduces New, Timesaving Features for Retirement Plan Administrators
(MassMutual Retirement Services)
Workscape Executive to Explore Outsourced Benefits Administration Trend at Upcoming 14th Annual Southeast Human Resource Conference
(Workscape)
ICC Plan Announces Relationship with Advisors Capital Resource
(Metrics Partners)
BenefitStreet Selects ICC Plan Solutions as Enrollment Kit Provider
(Metrics Partners)
American Express 401(k) Participant Survey Reveals Individual Confidence in Retirement Planning Continues to be Driven by Goal Setting
(American Express Retirement Services)
TRI-AD Adds New COBRA Web site Administration Features
(TRI-AD)
Retirement & Life-Planning Education Webinars for October
(Planning For Life)
2004 Health Insurance Conference: Consumer Driven Healthcare - Washington State
(IB-Strategies)
USWA to Challenge Court Ruling, PBGC Takeaway of Pensions; Union Calls PBGC Preemptive Attack on Shutdown Benefits ``Outrageous''
(United Steelworkers of America (USWA))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Analyst
for Long Island Employee Benefits Group, Ltd.
in NY
Internal Wholesaler
for Principal Financial Group
in MA
Defined Benefits
for Pension Consulting Firm
in MA
Senior Benefits Administrator
for Sodexho
in MD
Benefits Analyst Executive Deferred Compensation Plan
for Target Corporation
in MN
Relationship Manager
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
CFP
for South Florida RIA, TPA and Record Keeping Firm
in FL
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