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November 23, 2004
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Overview of IRS's 2005 Health Savings Accounts, Transportation Benefit and Other New Limits (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The IRS has released its inflation-adjusted limits for 2005, which include new limits for transportation fringe benefits, health savings accounts, medical savings accounts, adoption assistance programs and long-term care premiums. .... The IRS has just released Revenue Procedure 2004-71, which contains inflation adjustments for certain amounts under the tax code. Among the amounts subject to annual inflation adjustments are some related to employee benefits." (Mellon)

National Survey Shows Half of Employers Want Feds to Do Health Care System Overhaul
Excerpt: "Half of all employers believe the federal government should significantly overhaul or even scrap the nation's privately financed health care system, according to a new survey. Just over a third of all employers – 36 percent – believe the government should enact significant reforms to address the rising cost of health care, while 14 percent say health care should be nationalized into a federally financed system like Medicare." (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Pres.cription Drug Spending Under the MMA: Modeling the Impact on Out-of-Pocket Costs
Excerpt: "This report projects the impact of the new Medicare drug benefit on out-of-pocket spending for people who enroll in 2006. The analysis is based on a model developed by the Actuarial Research Corporation for the Kaiser Family Foundation. The model generally conforms to the Congressional Budget Office's assumptions and projections about Medicare drug benefit spending and participation rates for the new benefit and for the low-income subsidy." (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Federal/State Policy Related to Immigrants' Eligibility & Access to Publicly Funded Health Insurance
42 pages. Excerpt: "This brief provides an overview of health coverage challenges facing immigrants, the federal rules regarding immigrants' eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP, and state efforts to provide replacement coverage for immigrants who are ineligible for Medicaid and SCHIP." (The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured)

Outcome of California's Health-Related Ballot Measures Has Implications for Future Reform Efforts
Excerpt: "Almost one-third of the Nov. 2 ballot in California -- five out of 16 measures -- dealt with health care. That statistic alone speaks volumes about the importance of California's single largest economic activity. That voters approved three of those five measures and came very close to approving a fourth -- a groundbreaking health insurance proposition watched closely nationwide -- adds a new note of urgency to the debate on health care reform." (California Healthcare Foundation)

AMA's 'Health Savings Accounts at a Glance' Brochure Explains How Health Savings Accounts Work (PDF)
Excerpt: "Also newly available is 'Health Savings Accounts at a Glance,' a brochure that explains how health savings accounts work, why HSAs should be considered, who can have an HSA, what to do if an employer doesn't offer HSAs, where to find additional information and more. The brochure distills numerous government regulations on HSA structure, eligibility and tax treatment into a concise primer on HSAs. The AMA has long-standing policy supporting HSAs, as well as their predecessor, ...." (American Medical Association)

Business Opportunities In Transforming Health Care: a Conversation With William W. McGuire
Excerpt: "After a spate of high-profile acquisitions including Oxford Health Plans, UnitedHealth Group (UHG) covers twenty-two million Americans in insured and self-insured health plans and tens of millions more through specialty products. Bill McGuire describes his strategy of growth through acquisition and through diversification into Medicaid managed care, the individual insurance market, and services for the elderly under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003." (Health Affairs)

Managed Care Organizations Change Distribution System to Address Broker Consolidation
Excerpt: "Just as health insurers have undergone consolidation over the past few years, so have the brokers and agencies that sell their products. Some insurers say they have adjusted distribution strategies to leverage the greater sophistication of larger brokers, such as by instituting multiyear goals or by developing targeted product designs. But other insurers say they have not made changes to broker relationships because of consolidation." (MANAGED CARE WEEK via AISHealth.com)

Going Beyond the 'Medical Malpractice Myths' -- Three Letters to the Editor of the Washington Post
Excerpt: "Why is it that when a doctor weighs in on the medical malpractice crisis ['Dispelling Malpractice Myths,' op-ed, Nov. 14], the solution never includes giving the public access to the National Practitioner Data Bank, with its record of malpractice claims payments and out-of-court settlements made on behalf of individual doctors? By blocking public access to these records, physicians perpetuate the malpractice crisis." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)

Kaiser Study Finds Savings in Medicare Drug Benefit - - 65% of Participants Will Spend Less
Excerpt: "A new study confirms that the drug benefit being added to Medicare will provide significant help to elderly people with low incomes or very high drug costs. But, it says, one in four people who sign up for the benefit will have to spend more of their own money for pres.cription drugs. The study, issued Monday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, says that on average people who sign up for the benefit will see their out-of-pocket drug spending decline by $465, or 37 percent, from what ...." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)

Journal of the American Medical Association Calls for a New Drug Watchdog
Excerpt: "The United States needs a better system to detect harmful effects of drugs already on the market, and it should be independent of the Food and Drug Administration and the drug industry, medical researchers and journal editors said yesterday. Arguing that it was unreasonable to expect the same agency that approves drugs to 'also be committed to actively seek evidence to prove itself wrong,' the editors of The Journal of the American Medical Association recommended that the ...." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)

'Principles of Managed Care' Based on Policy Developed by AMA's Council on Medical Service (PDF)
34 pages. Excerpt: "Principles of Managed Care,' a booklet largely based on policy developed by the AMA's Council on Medical Service, provides guidelines for establishing equitable and effective policies and procedures for managed care practices to ensure high-quality health care services for patients and fairness for physicians. The AMA strongly encourages managed care organizations and payer groups to follow the guidelines; public or private entities that evaluate managed care for ...." (American Medical Association)

Therapeutic Categories, Drug Classes Main Concerns with U.S. Pharmacopeia Draft Guidelines
Excerpt: "The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) formulary guidelines for the Medicare Part D pres.cription drug benefit are out, but they're merely a draft and one that many in the health care industry say is full of holes. As a first draft that's trying to 'referee between' managed care organizations, PBMs and drug manufacturers, the model guidelines are 'likely to look a lot different by the time they're done,' consultant John Gorman tells DCMR. 'USP is just making recommendations here,' ...." (DRUG BENEFIT NEWS via AISHealth.com)

Many Health Care Consumers Would Tolerate Some Managed Care Utilization Management Practices
Excerpt: "Despite their mistrust of managed care in general, individuals would accept some managed care strategies if it would help them lower health care costs, according to a study recently conducted by researchers from NORC, a national organization for research at the University of Chicago. The study results, Public Perceptions of Cost Containment Strategies: Mixed Signals for Managed Care, were published in the November 10 issue of Health Affairs." (Spencer Benefits Reports)

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

CBO Paper: Disability and Retirement: the Early Exit of Baby Boomers from the Labor Force (PDF)
28 pages. Excerpt: "Although the oldest members of the baby-boom generation will not become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits until 2008, when they reach age 62, many of them already have left the labor force. This paper--prepared as part of the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO's) ongoing examination of the future composition of the labor force and the performance of the economy--uses data from a national survey to provide information about the men and women who leave the ...." (U.S. Congressional Budget Office)

The National Conference of Insurance Legislators Consider Broker Suitability Requirement
Excerpt: "The National Conference of Insurance Legislators is weighing in on the broker compensation issue. The Albany, N.Y., group has proposed model legislation that responds to the investigations conducted by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The measure is more comprehensive than a comparable proposal put out by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 15. The NAIC proposal focuses mainly on disclosure." (The National Underwriter Company)

Employee Benefits Legal Alert: Benefit Limits for 2005; New Gross Income Limit on Certain Dependents (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The IRS and the Social Security Administration have announced the cost-of-living adjustments for various limits for 2005. The limits affecting retirement plans are shown ... and the limits for health and certain other fringe benefit plans are shown .... The application of the new gross income limitation for certain dependents is discussed at the end of this Legal Alert. ... These adjustments are effective for plan years that begin on or after January 1, 2005." (Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)

Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser Trucker Huss
Excerpt: "Trucker Huss is the largest employee benefits specialty law firm on the West Coast. We provide services to clients nationwide on all aspects of employee benefits counseling and litigation and are dedicated to handling the most sophisticated issues with responsive and high level service. Our clients include Fortune 50 employers, large multi-employer plans, mid-sized and small employers, public sector union and association plans, plan fiduciaries, institutional trustees, other law firms (BenefitsLink.com)

Newly Posted Events

Retirement Plan Law & Regs - A Review of Federal Enforcement Performance & Initiatives for 2005
in Connecticut on December 2, 2004
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) - Stamford Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases

Traditional Pension Plans Outperformed 401(k) Plans During Last Bear Market, Watson Wyatt Analysis Finds
(Watson Wyatt)

"Your 401k Survival Guide" Released: A Book for America's Workforce
(401khelpcenter.com, LLC)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Pension Account Technician
for Alerus Retirement Solutions
in MN

Government Sector Salesperson; Retirement Plans
for CitiStreet- A State Street and Citigroup company
in IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, MO, OH, TN

Daily Valuation Trader
for TPGR Daily, LLC
in AZ

Defined Benefit Requirements Analyst
for Hewitt Associates
in IL

Document Compliance Manager
for ADP Retirement Services
in NJ

Manager Communications
for BISYS Retirement Services
in MN

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