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November 12, 2004
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Paid Sick Days Dwindle, Disappear for Many as Employment-Based Benefit
Excerpt: "The flu vaccine shortage couldn't come at a worse time for employees, with cost-cutting employers reducing the number of paid sick days given to workers and curbing other benefits such as emergency back-up child care. In addition, about half the full-time American workforce gets no paid sick days, according to the Department of Labor. Part-time employees and those in lower-wage service and blue-collar jobs are the least likely to have paid sick days." (USA TODAY)
New Medical Record Initiative, the Family Health Portrait, Complements History-Taking
Excerpt: "Health providers may soon have a new patient-focused tool to assist with history-taking and possible identification of health risks that are not likely to surface in the course of managing asymptomatic patients. With the Family History Initiative ... a new computer-enabled program enables consumers to organize their own health information and enter family health or medical history details that could identify near- or long-term risks of developing certain conditions or diseases." (Medscape Medical News)
Return-to-Work Co-Ordinator/Buddy System Gets People Back to Work After Injury or Illness
Excerpt: " Typically, when an employee suffers a serious injury or illness, the employer sends flowers and makes sure the disability benefits are in order. .... Concerned about the financial and human toll associated with more conventional disability management practices, Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd. of Vancouver has taken a radically different approach, intervening within days of the accident or illness to see about accommodating the employee's return to work." (Globe and Mail)
Pfizer Says Medicaid Disease Management Program Saved Florida $41.9m; Some Doubt that Analysis
Excerpt: "Pfizer on Tuesday said that Florida saved $41.9 million over the 27-month period that ended in September 2003 as a result of a Medicaid disease management program provided by the company, the Orlando Sentinel reports (Groeller, Orlando Sentinel, 11/10). Under a contract announced in 2001, Pfizer agreed to establish care guidelines, pay case workers to monitor Florida Medicaid beneficiaries and communicate with physicians to help reduce the length of hospital stays." (The National Journal Group, Limited via BlueCross BlueShield Association)
Consumer-Directed Health Plans and the RAND Health Insurance Experiment
Excerpt: "The RAND HIE (RAND Health Insurance Experiment) randomized families to health insurance plans that varied their cost sharing from none ('free care') to a catastrophic plan that approximated a large family deductible with a stop-loss limit of $1,000 (in late-1970s dollars), which was scaled down for the low-income population. If one uses the rate of increase in per capita medical spending to convert late-1970s dollars into 2004 dollars, a $1,000 deductible then would be more than ...." (Physicians for a National Health Program)
What the Election Will Bring in Health Care -- Compilation of Recent Articles on Policy and HSAs
Excerpt: "The election is over and a lot of press is devoted to anticipating what the second term and a new Congress will bring. Kent Hoover writes in many 'Business Journals' that a new Bush term 'bodes well for health care reforms sought by small businesses.' First among these are association health plans that would be exempt 'from state regulation and coverage mandates.' Mr. Hoover says the legislation has stalled in the Senate, but with a larger majority, ...." (Galen Institute)
Consumers Cite Health Care Cost Issue as Domestic Priority in BCBS Public Opinion Survey
Excerpt: "Four consecutive years of increased health care costs have prompted U.S. consumers to prioritize the issue as 'one of the top items on the domestic agenda' and have 'driven' them to accept more 'managed care practices designed to hold down costs,' according to two studies released on Wednesday, the Hartford Courant reports. According to a post-election survey of consumers commissioned by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, 40% of respondents said that increased health ...." (The National Journal Group, Limited via BlueCross BlueShield Association)
The Long-Term Care Dilemma: What States Are Doing Right — and Wrong (PDF)
48 pages. Excerpt: "This paper explains the long-term care dilemma facing the country, and includes profiles of 10 states -- five of which could be considered 'pro-Medicaid' and five 'pro-private pay' states -- by looking at six variables and ranking them accordingly. The pro-Medicaid states are those that make it especially easy to qualify for Medicaid and seldom enforce estate recovery rules. For example, four of the five proved to have relatively generous eligibility systems; ...." (The Council for Affordable Health Insurance and the American Legislative Exchange Council)
Big IT Spenders Replacing Outdated Documentation Methods
Excerpt: "Turkal's parent organization, Aurora Health Care, is spending close to $163 million as part of a long-term IT upgrade to make such data exchange possible. The nonprofit's goal is simple: provide a common electronic medical record and supporting data-entry devices across its 14 member hospitals and scores of clinics that serve eastern Wisconsin. For a paper-heavy industry with a checkered history of IT implementations, it's an ambitious goal. Yet Aurora is not an anomaly." (HealthLeaders Magazine)
HMO Switch 'Going to Happen' for Georgia Medicaid Recipients Now in a Fee-for-Service System
Excerpt: "A cost-cutting plan to move 800,000 low-income Georgians into HMO-like organizations is on track to begin as early as next November, state officials said Wednesday. The state agency that runs Medicaid expects to send a request for proposals to health insurers in early January, with awarding of contracts to occur by midyear. .... The switch to HMO-like organizations would affect about 800,000 children, pregnant women and other adults in Georgia." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
SEC Probe Examines Referrals Between Marsh Business Units that May Impact Employee Benefits
Excerpt: "In another sign that the ongoing probes into the insurance industry may impact employee benefits, Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating possible conflicts related to business referrals between subsidiaries Putnam Investments and Mercer Investment Consulting." (BenefitNews Connect via BenefitNews.com)
Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated November 9, 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." (Hewitt Associates)
Retiree Was Not Entitled to Subsequently-Offered Early Retirement Package According to Court
Excerpt: "A retirement and welfare benefit plan participant who took early retirement was not entitled to benefits from a severance package offered by his former employer six weeks later because the severance package was a separate plan, as opposed to an amendment to the employer's existing retirement plan, according to a U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago (CA-7)." (CCH Pension & Benefits News)
Full Text of U.K.'s Inflation Report, November 2004 Edition, Notes Older Workers Return to Workforce (PDF)
Page 29 of 62 pages. Excerpt: "There are good reasons to believe that there has been an increase in the supply of older workers, at least in the recent past. The sharp fall in equity prices from late 2000 to early 2003 reduced the expected pension income of those in defined contribution schemes, and individuals' stock of wealth more generally. Earlier declines in annuity rates, which determine the annual income that a given stock of wealth can purchase, could also have affected expected ...." (Bank of England)
UK House of Commons Passes Civil Partnership Bill
Excerpt: "The House of Commons Tuesday night passed legislation giving same-sex couples many of the same rights as married couples have. The bill would create a civil partner registry. G.ay couples would have inheritance rights to their partners' estates, hospital visitation rights, and the right to receive the spouses share of their partner's pension." (G.ayWired.com)
G.ay Marriage Ban Could Block Michigan State Employee Benefits for Domestic Partners
Excerpt: "Benefits for g.ay state employees would be extended to their domestic partners in proposed contracts with five unions, but could be denied under a newly approved constitutional amendment banning g.ay marriage." (AP via ClickOnDetroit)
Newly Posted Press Releases
BenefitsLink Congratulates Ilene Ferenczy on the Opening of Her Law Office
(BenefitsLink.com, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Actuarial Associate- Retirement
for Towers Perrin
in CT, DC, GA, MA, NJ, NY, PA
Director of Employee Benefits
for Wesleyan University
in CT
DC Administrator
for Northwest Benefit Consultants, Inc.
in IL
Employee Benefits Plan Administrator
for Clifton Gunderson, LLP
in IL
Sr. Retirement Administrator
for JM Family Enterprises, Inc.
in FL
Benefit Analyst
for Kibble & Prentice
in WA
Business Analysts
for Pyramid Digital Solutions
in AL
Data Service Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Implementation/Transition Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
DC Practice Leader
for Hewitt Associates
in NJ
Conversion Specialist
for The Newport Group
in NC
Health Management Project Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in NJ
Defined Benefits Ongoing Project Mngr .
for Hewitt Associates
in CT
Benefit Plan Consultant
for Hewitt Associates
in FL
H&GB Ongoing Project Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in FL
Head of Pricing
for ING US Financial Services
in CT
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