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December 9, 2004
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Cost Savings Will Drive More Employers to Consumer-Directed Care, Mercer Predicts
Excerpt: "Consumer-Directed health (CDH) plans cost less per employee than do traditional health coverage options, according to results of an employer study released Nov. 22 by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. And although just 1% of employers offered a CDH plan in 2004, that percentage is expected to balloon to 26% by 2006, Mercer predicts. This year, the cost to cover an employee with a traditional indemnity health plan was $6,707 -- up $776 from 2003, according to the study." (INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE via AISHealth.com)
Government's Health Information Technology Rhetoric Comes Up Short on Cash
Excerpt: "A request for $50 million to fund health IT projects didn't make it into the spending bill passed by Congress late last month. Despite the praise heaped on David Brailer, the nation's health IT czar, apparently no politician, including President Bush, saw fit to back the rhetoric with cash. While government funding for health IT is expected from other quarters, the decision is disappointing. Electronic patient records and e-prescribing promise to decrease medical errors, increase ...." (eWeek Enterprise News & Reviews)
Confusion Surrounds New National Doctor and Private Payer ID Numbers
Excerpt: "Physicians will someday be able to use one identification number to fill out all their claim forms, but there is a long road before that goal comes to fruition. Starting May 23, 2005, physicians can submit an application to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to receive their own National Provider Identifier. That single ID number will eventually replace all other identifiers that physicians use in reimbursement and other transactions with private payers, clearinghouses ...." (American Medical News)
U.S. Drug Importation Report Delayed, Thompson Says
Excerpt: "The Bush administration is not ready to release a highly anticipated report on the importation of pres.cription drugs that was due Wednesday, Health and Human Services ... Secretary Tommy Thompson said. A Medicare law signed by President Bush (news - web sites) a year ago required the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) to study how American consumers could buy cheaper medicines safely from Can.ada and some other countries." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Lawmakers to Seek New Pay Plan for Medicaid Drugs
Excerpt: "U.S. taxpayers are overpaying for medicines for poor Medicaid patients and the system is ripe for an overhaul next year, lawmakers in both parties said on .... Democrats and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittees on health and oversight both expressed concern about how drug companies, particularly manufacturers of generic ... drugs, are setting prices artificially high. That lets both the drug maker and the pharmacists dispensing the medications make big profits." (Reuters via The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Faith-Based Plans Use Riders, Ethicists to Navigate Benefits, Coverage Issues
Excerpt: "Congress's decision last month to extend discrimination protections to health insurers that refuse to cover abortions is just the latest instance of how the debate over so-called 'values' issues like reproductive rights and g.ay marriage has extended into the health insurance arena. Faith-based health plans have long grappled with how to offer comprehensive health coverage to customers without violating either their own religious tenets or state and federal laws that govern such ...." (MANAGED CARE WEEK via AISHealth.com)
Opinion: Minnesota's Health Care Gamble with the Smart Buy Alliance of Government and Employers
Excerpt: "No one is immune from the problem of runaway costs in the dysfunctional U.S. health care system -- not individual families, not businesses, and certainly not state and federal governments. The universality of the problem is what makes an experiment being launched in Minnesota this month an important national story. Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced on Nov. 29 the formation of the Smart Buy Alliance, an unprecedented partnership of state government and private employers that will ...." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Summary Paper: ERIC's Health Savings Accounts Workability Project (PDF)
September 2004. 3 pages. Excerpt: "[A] summary paper developed by The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) outlin[es] the desired changes to make HSAs, FSAs and HRAs more relevant and responsive to major employers. The paper also identifies an additional medical savings account desired by major employers to assist in saving for retiree medical costs .... The ERIC HSA Workability Project Steering Committee conducted numerous conference calls, a FocusOn call with US Treasury staff ...." (The ERISA Industry Committee)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: New York City Law Requirement of Equal Domestic Partner Benefits for City Contractors (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Businesses that contract with the City of New York should be aware of the City's recently adopted 'Equal Benefits Law.' The law requires that businesses with contracts for $100,000 or more provide domestic partner benefits to their employees that are equal to the benefits the employer provides to married employees and their spouses. This law is similar to laws in place in certain other cities, such as in San Francisco and Seattle, and a California state law that will ...." (The Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP)
Towers Perrin's Worldwide Pay and Benefit Headlines for December 2004 (PDF)
8 pages. The newsletter includes updates on pay and benefit issues in Australia, Can.ada, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Netherlands, and the United States. (Towers Perrin)
Colgate Executives Get Thousands for Perks -- the Plan Covers 800 Executives
Excerpt: "Colgate-Palmolive Co., which announced Tuesday it is eliminating 4,400 jobs, disclosed in a regulatory filing that many of its top executives and officers are given allowances of up to $11,500 a year to spend on anything from pet sitters to running shoes to karate lessons to movie rentals. The plan, called 'Above and Beyond,' was detailed in the consumer product company's quarterly filing in November with the Securities and Exchange Commission." (Associated Press)
State of the Third Party Administration Industry & Forecast for 2005
Excerpt: "The TPA industry has had an active, but not eroding amount of mergers & acquisitions among members. Frankly, the biggest problem is how to tally SPBA's comparative 'size' from year to year. A firm name may disappear from the roster, but the office & workers & clients are still in the TPA business under the merged SPBA member name, so they are not really a 'loss' to the industry or SPBA. .... [W]e find that for every merged or closing firm, there is a new firm joining each year." (Society of Professional Benefit Administrators)
Mercer's 2004 Spotlight on Benefits Report Analyzes Benefit Levels of Large U.S. Employers
Excerpt: "The 2004 Spotlight on Benefits Report, an analysis of the benefit programs of more than 1,000 large US employers, indicates that large nonprofit organizations (including civic and professional associations, religious organizations, national charitable organizations, and major foundations) offer the highest level of total benefits at 128% of the market median, followed by government employers at 127% of the market median and education employers at 121% of the market median." (Mercer Human Resource Consulting)
Newly Posted Events
Basic HSAs - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on January 20, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Basic IRAs - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on January 11, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Comparing Roth and Traditional IRAs - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on March 22, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Coverdell Education Savings Accounts - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on February 10, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Current Health Care Trends – 2005 and Beyond (Based on survey research)
Nationwide on December 16, 2004
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Establishing IRAs and IRA Amendments - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on February 8, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
General Traditional IRA Distributions - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on February 15, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Beneficiary Distributions - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on March 8, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Contributions - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on March 31, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Required Minimum Distributions - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on January 25, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Required Minimum Distributions - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on March 17, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Required Reporting - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on January 13, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA to IRA Transfers and Rollovers - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on January 27, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA to IRA Transfers and Rollovers - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on March 24, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Update - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on January 5, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
IRA Update - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on March 2, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Roth IRA Distributions - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on February 22, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
SEP Plans - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on March 29, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
SIMPLE IRA Plans - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on February 17, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Withholding - Telephone Seminar
Nationwide on February 24, 2005
presented by BISYS Retirement Services
Newly Posted Press Releases
SIIA To Conduct Briefings On Compensation Practices
(Self-Insurance Institute of America, Inc.)
CalPERS Discloses Private Equity Profits and Management Fees/Costs; Innovative Settlement Balances Transparency With Ability to Compete
(CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System))
Mortgage Benefits Corp. and First Consolidated Mortgage Company to offer Exclusive Stated Income Loan Product
(Mortgage Benefits Corporation)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Professionals
for BeneTemps, Inc.
in CT, MA, NY, RI
Pension Administrator
for The Benefits Consulting Group, Inc.
in IL
Daily Valuation Specialist/DC Record-Keeper
for R-Tech Consultants, Inc.
in CA
Conversion/Compliance Specialist
for Retirement Benefit Solutions, LLC
in VA
Assistant Administrator
for McCready and Keene, Inc.
in IN
Senior Marketing Analyst
for ICMA Retirement Corporation
in DC
Health & Welfare Consultant
for National Consulting Firm
in DC
Retirement Project Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Customer Service Project Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
ERISA Business Analyst
for King & Spalding LLP
in GA
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