| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
December 1, 2004
Today's sponsor: Financial Research Associates, LLC
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The 2005 National Public Employees’ Retirement Funds Summit 4th Annual STARS & STRIPES ’05 The 2005 National Public Employees’ Retirement Funds Summit April 3-5, 2005 Casa Marina, Key West, Florida To register call 800-280-8440 or visit www.frallc.com Trustees and Administrators receive $1000 off the registration fee! This year Stars & Stripes has added industry debates, case studies, panel discussions, keynote addresses, closed-door discussions, "work-along" sessions, a series of roundtable discussions, mock situations and other interactive presentations. This is just a sample of what you can expect this year at the Stars & Stripes(sm) 2005 Summit. This year’s summit is skillfully designed with concurrent tracks, one for investment professionals and the other for public fund administrators and staff.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Briefing Paper: GASB's Accounting Standards for Other Postemployment Benefits (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has approved its new accounting standards for Other Postemployment Benefits (OPEBs), including retiree health care. .... The GASB's primary change requires that the long-term cost of retire health care and other such benefits be determined on an actuarial basis using prescribed methods and assumptions. This briefing paper concisely describes key aspects of the new standards." (Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company)
HIPAA Administrative Simplification - Educational Materials
Excerpt: "[CMS] last week released the first in a new series of papers providing guidance on the HIPAA Security Rule. The first paper, 'Security 101 for Covered Entities,' provides an overview of the Security Rule and its intersection with the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The series will contain seven papers, each focused on a specific topic related to the Security Rule and designed to give HIPAA covered entities insight and assistance with implementation of the security standards." (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
Healthcare Intelligence Network Offers New Report on HIPAA Security Auditing
Excerpt: "The report - 'HIPAA Security Auditing: How To Create a Consistent, Repeatable and Documented Program' - is a resource for health care providers, health plans and health care clearinghouses who are looking to shore up their security programs mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), ...." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Overview: Changes in the Definition of “Dependent:” Legislative and Regulatory Fixes Forthcoming (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "This Benefits Information Bulletin presents an overview of the revised definition of 'dependent' and examines the implications for employee benefit programs. In addition, it discusses the outlook for legislative and regulatory activity to address some of the issues raised for employee benefit plan sponsors." (Milliman)
Illinois I-SaveRx Program Has Few Participants
Excerpt: "Few senior citizens have signed up for Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pres.cription drug program that promises lower cost medications from pharmacies and drug wholesalers in Europe and Can.ada. Only 1,206 people -- out of a target audience of about 5 million in three states -- have joined 'I-SaveRx' and bought drugs through the program since its launch two months ago. The program is open to people in Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri." (AP via Crain's Chicago Business)
U.S. Corporations Doing More to Promote Wellness in the Workplace
Excerpt: "Weight-loss and blood pressure education are in vogue. More companies are offering corporate wellness programs in 2004 than last year, according to the American Management Association. The [included] chart shows the increased participation of companies offering programs such as smoking cessation over the past year." (Workforce Management)
UnitedHealth Group Acquisition of Definity Health Corp. Would Create Largest Provider of CDHPs
Excerpt: "In a move that shows rapid market progress for consumer-driven health plans, Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group is acquiring privately held Definity Health Corp. for $300 million in cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year. St. Louis Park, Minn.-based Definity Health says it will serve nearly 500,000 consumers in all 50 states in January. The company administers health reimbursement arrangements and health savings accounts for large, self-funded employers." (BenefitNews Connect)
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama Stops Paying for Gastric Bypass Surgery
Excerpt: "The state's largest health insurer is clamping down on gastric-bypass surgery. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama has stopped paying for the popular stomach-shrinking operation while it reviews possible rules changes. Among them: making obese patients first try dieting under a doctor's supervision. Monday was the deadline for doctors to comment on the proposal; it's not clear when the insurer will make a final decision." (The Huntsville Times)
Opinion: a National Health Insurance Program for the United States: Must Abandon Fragmented System (PDF)
Excerpt: "Many American physicians--including myself--believe that the funding infrastructure should be redesigned to maximize heath care resource allocation for the primary benefit of patients. Because of the failure of organized medicine to advocate on behalf of our patients, we decided that a new organization was needed. We established Physicians for a National Health Program (www.pnhp.org)." (PLoS Medicine via Physicians for a National Health Program)
The Massachusetts Republican Governor Aims for 'Universal Healthcare'
Excerpt: "Mitt Romney wants to expand insurance coverage using incentives rather than government spending. Can it work? The Republican governor of one of the nation's most solidly Democratic states says he can succeed where others have failed: moving toward truly universal access to affordable health insurance. For Gov. Mitt Romney(R)of Massachusetts, it's a high-stakes gambit to resolve what has become a gut-level concern for millions of families nationwide in an era of rising healthcare ...." (The Christian Science Monitor)
Massachusetts Bill Would Push Businesses to Provide Health Insurance Coverage with "Assessment"
Excerpt: "Smokers would pay an extra 50 cents for a pack of cigarettes in Massachusetts, and Bay State employers would be required to offer healthcare coverage to their workers under legislation unveiled yesterday by a key state senator. The bill proposed yesterday by Senator Richard T. Moore, cochairman of the Legislature's Committee on Health Care, stakes out ground held by many liberal healthcare advocates, who say that covering everybody in Massachusetts is impossible without ...." (The Boston Globe)
Comments on and Excepts from Recent Articles on the Implementation of Health Savings Accounts
Excerpt: "Today's Wall Street Journal provides a good article discussing the challenges individuals face in adopting and implementing the new health savings accounts ('HSAs') which are growing in popularity: 'Savings Accounts for Health Care Cause Confusion.' The article makes the point that 'early adopters' of the accounts may encounter glitches, as 'consumers, banks and insurers are still figuring out the details on just how these new accounts are supposed to work.'" (Attorney B. Janell Grenier via BenefitsBlog.com)
Wall Street Journal Looks at Use of and Confusion with Health Savings Accounts
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on [November 30] examined some of the challenges facing consumers, insurers and banks as the health care industry works out the details of health savings accounts. One 'potential are[a] of confusion' is 'when and how much' patients with HSAs should pay providers, the Journal reports. According to the Journal, some providers and consumers 'are confusing HSAs with direct, full-price payments' made by the uninsured. In fact, consumers with HSAs are expected ...." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
CalPERS Trustee Takes Aim at Executive Stock Options
Excerpt: "California Treasurer Phil Angelides is working to foster a populist stance by the state's two giant pension funds. He wants them to put pressure on companies to distribute stock option grants broadly throughout their organizations, rather than to confine them to a handful of top executives. The problem is, his position seems to fly in the face of maximizing shareholder value, which, the last time I looked, was supposed to be a key goal of the two pension funds." (Graef Crystal via Bloomberg News)
2004 United States @Work Study: Redefining the Employer/Employee Relationship (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "This year's United States @Work study, the ninth such study by Aon Consulting, presents an in-depth look at compensation and benefits from the employee's perspective. It compares 2004 results to studies conducted in 2001, 1998, and 1995. The 2004 study is based on responses from 2,001 randomly selected individuals." (Aon Consulting)
Vermont State Pension Funds May Join Fight for Canadian Drugs
Excerpt: "Vermont's two largest public pension funds are joining a multistate effort to pressure drug companies not to limit supplies to Canadian pharmacies that export medicines to the United States. The Vermont teachers' and state employees' pension funds will join similar funds in other states and take their fight to the 2005 annual meetings of Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals." (AP via The Times Argus)
Newly Posted Press Releases
PERFORMAX Offers Qualified High Deductible Health Plan Designs
(PERFORMAX)
Business Takes Hit with Governor's Veto of Deferred Compensation Bill
(Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
DB/DC Administrator
for Metavante Corporation
in CA
ERISA Consultant
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
Retirement Services District Manager (SALES)
for ADP Retirement Services
in FL
Daily 401(k) Plan Administrator
for The Newport Group
in NC
Pension Consultant
for Transamerica
in CA
Associate Director of Employee Benefit Plans
for Western and Southern Financial Group
in OH
Vice President Business Development
for Corporate Benefit Services of America, Inc.
in ANY STATE
Vice President Medical Management National Sales
for Corporate Benefit Services of America, Inc.
in ANY STATE
Case Administrator
for Tycor Benefit Administrators, Inc.
in PA
Premium Billing Administrator
for Ceridian - Raleigh, North Carolina
in NC
Health and Welfare Lead Benefits Administrator
for Ceridian - Raleigh, North Carolina
in NC
Actuary
for Matthews Benefit Group, Inc. in St. Petersburg, FL
in FL
Client Manager
for Pentec, Inc.
in CT
Client Manager Assistant
for Pentec, Inc.
in CT
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