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January 10, 2005
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Health Care Literacy at the Workplace Is a Growing Issue for Small Business Owners
Excerpt: "According to the International Foundation for Employee Benefits Plans ... a significant part of the answer [to health care costs] is health-care literacy. We discussed this growing trend with Barbara Swarthout, SPHR, CEBS, director of educational programs for the IFEBP, and found out how advisors can help their clients increase health-care literacy among their employees and drive down costs." (Advisor Today)
Linking the Delivery of Health Care with Disability Benefits
Excerpt: "For years, employers have integrated disability management with worker's compensation to control disability costs. But dovetailing disability and health care benefits 'is where the money is,' says Barton Margoshes, M.D., vice president and chief medical officer for Cigna Group Insurance, a division of Philadelphia-based Cigna Corp. 'Health care and disability are inextricably linked,' he says." (Employee Benefit News)
Schwarzenegger Releases Plan to Eliminate or Consolidate Some Health-Related State Boards
Excerpt: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) during his State of the State address on Wednesday proposed consolidating or eliminating about 100 state regulatory boards, including some health-related commissions, the Sacramento Bee reports. Among others, Schwarzenegger called for the elimination of the Board of Registered Nursing and the consolidation of the responsibilities of the Medical Board of California to the state's consumer services agency (Delsohn, Sacramento Bee, 1/7)." (California Healthcare Foundation)
Overview: Health Reimbursement Arrangements: Are They Subject to COBRA?
Excerpt: "Because an HRA is an employer sponsored health plan, it is subject to COBRA. COBRA premiums must be based on the cost to the plan of providing coverage to similarly situated beneficiaries who have not experienced a COBRA qualifying event. That premium must be determined for a 12 month period in advance." (OnQue Technologies, Inc.)
Federal Complaint Alleges L.A. Times Disclosed Patient Information in Articles on Care at Hospital
Excerpt: "A group of physicians and community leaders allege in a federal complaint that the Los Angeles Times and the county health department violated the law by revealing confidential patient information in stories about alleged lapses in care at a hospital. The complaint says the county violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ... by providing the newspaper with confidential information about patients at the Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center ...." (AP via Editor & Publisher)
Overview: Final HIPAA Portability Regulations Clarify Issues and Add New Requirements
Excerpt: "The Department of the Treasury, DOL, and HHS have issued final and proposed HIPAA portability regulations. The final regulations make modest substantive changes to the 1997 interim regulations and include provisions on preexisting condition exclusions (PCEs), certificates of creditable coverage, and special enrollments. The proposed regulations address, among other things, the application of HIPAA portability requirements to coverage gaps during FMLA leave." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama Will Cover Physician Assistants' Work with Insured Members
Excerpt: "Doctors are getting letters from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama this week letting them know physician assistants' services will be covered, following a lengthy court battle the insurer lost. The mandated coverage will be effective for treatment given Oct. 22 and forward and applies only to patients Blue Cross insures. The coverage does not necessarily apply to patients who are under employer-insured plans that use Blue Cross as their claims administrator." (The Birmingham News)
Health Insurance Costs Nipping at Wages
Excerpt: "'Every dollar spent affects every other dollar you spend, and when any one cost goes up you can't necessarily pass that on to the client,' he said. That truism wasn't lost on those surveyed, about 40 percent of whom said increased health-insurance costs have meant smaller wage increases for employees." (Business First of Columbus via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Pharmacy Benefit Management Progress Report
Excerpt: "Fortunately, some movements in the pharmaceutical industry stand to improve not only costs but also patient care. Here is a look at some of the current trends, as well as where they may potentially lead over the next few years.' (Employee Benefit News)
Drug Industry Plans Release of More Data about Medication Studies
Excerpt: "Faced with pressure from lawmakers and editors of medical journals, four trade groups representing the world's biggest drug makers said yesterday that their members planned to release more data about clinical drug trials. In a joint statement, the groups said their member companies had committed themselves to disclose more information about drug studies, both when the studies are started and when results are released." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Minnesota Public-Private Alliance Targets Health Costs in State
Excerpt: "As the no. 1 employer in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty believes he has found an answer that may pave the way for other states to save billions of dollars: Band together with local large corporations, health plan distributors and labor groups to persuade health care providers to control costs and improve efficiency--and increase the quality of care. On Nov. 29, Pawlenty announced the goals of the Smart Buy Alliance, a coalition of health care purchasers ...." (Workforce Management)
Employees Prefer Work-Based Health Insurance, Recent Polls Show
Excerpt: "Workers tend to blame the health care industry, not their employers, for rising health costs, and they show a strong preference for employer-sponsored health insurance, two recent polls demonstrate." (Employee Benefit News)
Federal Law on Association Health Plans Likely in '05
Excerpt: "Federal legislation regulating association health plans -- insurance provided by a professional or industry association to its members -- has long been on the wish list of many groups that work with small businesses." (The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Taking the Pulse: The Commonwealth Fund Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey is Introduced
Excerpt: "[I]n conjunction with Harris Interactive, the well-known online polling company, we've developed the Commonwealth Fund Health Care Opinion Leaders survey, a collection of 1,155 experts and innovative thinkers representing a broad range of health care sectors and points of view. We'll be surveying this group regularly on important policy questions and soliciting commentaries from a number of those same opinion leaders on the major issues of the day. Our goal is not only to gauge ...." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Opinion: Bush's Unheralded Health Care Agenda Appears Modest but Would Restructure U.S. System
Excerpt: "President Bush has proposed what appears at first glance to be a relatively modest agenda of health care reforms. But if passed by Congress in its entirety, the administration's plan would fundamentally restructure the health care system. It would turn upside down--actually, right side up--almost all of the current perverse economic incentives that plague the U.S. health care system." (Council for Affordable Health Insurance)
Opinion: The Nation's Health Policy Agenda: Real— and Realistic— Opportunities for Progress
Excerpt: "What can the nation expect with regard to major health policy developments in the next few years? Some have expressed concern, bordering on despair, that prospects for 'progressive' priorities will go nowhere given the results of the recent election. I view it as far more helpful to look realistically toward the likely health care agenda to be pursued by the administration and Congress." (Gail R. Wilensky via The Commonwealth Fund)
Wisconsin Legislator Wants to Use Refinancing to Shield Health Savings Accounts from State Tax
Excerpt: "Legislative leaders offered dueling plans Friday on what to do with $11 million the state expects to save by refinancing bonds. .... Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, said Friday he wants to use $7.5 million of the savings to make health savings accounts tax-exempt over the 2003-05 state budget." (AP via GazetteExtra)
Long-Term Care Insurance Policies Are a Hard Sell in the Workplace
Excerpt: "Employers may be well versed on long-term care issues and insurance, but employees do not appear to be particularly knowledgeable or interested - a fact that makes boosting enrollment in employer-sponsored LTC programs frustratingly difficult. 'Participation from a worksite standpoint is a little over 4%,' says James Barrett, president of American Worksite Insurance Marketing." (Employee Benefit News)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
The January 2005 issue of Milliman's Monthly Benefit News and Development (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "[This edition] covers: the outlook for federal legislation affecting employer-provided health and retirement benefits; the Department of Health and Human Services' study of the nation's health in 2002; upcoming key dates; IRS, DOL, CMS, and Social Security Administration regulatory guidance; accounting guidance from the FASB, the GASB, and the IASB; and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid's guidance on security standards under HIPAA." (Milliman)
New FASB Rules Make Stock Options an Expense -- Companies Using Tactics to Lighten the Costs
Excerpt: "With the long-awaited decision by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in December requiring U.S. companies to expense their stock options, one of the great accounting debates of all time has ended. Barring congressional intervention, by July most public companies will begin treating stock options as an expense. But that doesn't mean the battle is over. Instead, companies that use options are gearing up for the next round: cutting their expense by any means legally possible." (BusinessWeek Online)
Report: Benefit Cost Comparisons Between State and Local Governments and Private-Sector Employers (PDF)
Pages 6-9 of 16 page October 2002 EBRI Notes. Excerpt: "This article examines some of the causes of the differences in total compensation costs between state and local government employers and private-sector employers." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Mayday? Payday! Hit the Silk! Executive Pension Plans Provide Soft Landings
Excerpt: "Public companies are required to publish a fairly detailed list of the more obvious forms of compensation: annual pay, bonuses and stock awards. But shareholders and securities lawyers say that there is a dearth of clear, concise information about retirement pay from most companies. And now that other forms of compensation are simpler for investors and shareholders to scrutinize, critics are concerned that chief executives may be ... bundling potential riches in ... retirement plans." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Overview on Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan Legislation - What Should You Be Doing Now? (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The legislation can be summarized as covering three general areas: initial deferral elections, distributions, and changes to elections. Generally, an initial election to defer compensation must be made in the taxable year before the services relating to such compensation are performed. A special rule applies to new participants if the election is made within 30 days of becoming eligible for the plan. Deferral elections for certain performance-based compensation must be ...." (The Cochlan Group, Inc.)
Overview: IRS Transition Guidance on Deferred Compensation Legislation (PDF)
15 pages. Excerpt: "The guidance comes in the form of Notice 2005-1 (Dec. 20, 2004) and provides generous and flexible transition relief for most arrangements, typically extending to the end of 2005. Much of the information in the Notice was contained in the Act or the conference report on the Act. Our focus below is on the new guidance in the Notice – primarily the transition relief and definitions of key terms." (Groom Law Group)
Short Note on the Death of the Discount Non-Qualified Stock Option
Excerpt: "A frequent planning technique for management compensation has been the issuance of non-qualified stock options (NQOs) where the option exercise price is less than the fair market value of the option stock on the date of grant. This planning technique is no longer tax effective under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, which was enacted on October 22, 2004." (Pepper Hamilton LLP)
Applying Brakes to Entitlement Programs Gets Wide G.O.P. Backing
Excerpt: "In his budget request to Congress, President Bush will try to impose firm, enforceable limits on the growth of federal benefit programs, and the chairmen of the Senate and House Budget Committees say they strongly supported that effort." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Contract Drivers Deliver Trouble to FedEx by Seeking Benefits of Employees
Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service is also investigating FedEx's driver classification, prompted by driver complaints, according to people familiar with the situation. The tax agency will examine whether FedEx has 'pushed the envelope of control so far' that it's no longer in compliance with an earlier agreement under which its predecessor company was permitted to count drivers as independent contractors, according to one knowledgeable person." (Wall Street Journal via SFGate.com)
Newly Posted Events
2005 NAGDCAST #1 - Plan Structure
Nationwide on January 25, 2005
presented by NAGCDA (National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc.)
Health Care Literacy - Are Your Employees Truly Informed?
Nationwide on January 20, 2005
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Healthcare Cost Containment Strategies for Employers
in Florida on April 27, 2005
presented by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)
New 401(k) Rules: Automatic Rollover of Mandatory Distributions
Nationwide on January 19, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Employers Keeping Retiree Drug Coverage After Medicare Drug Benefits Become Available
(Deloitte)
Invesmart Advisors Forms Partnership With Nation's Leading Retirement Advisors
(Invesmart, Inc.)
Assist America Lends a Strong Hand in Helping Tsunami Victims
(Assist America, Inc.)
New Health Benefit for Union Retirees of Bethlehem, LTV, Acme Metals, Georgetown Steel Begins March 1
(United Steelworkers of America (USWA))
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Trust Operations Manager
for Charles Schwab
in CA
Institutional Investment Consultant
for Charles Schwab
in AZ
Benefits Compliance Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Account Executive - Client Services
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NC
Vice President, Retirement Services
for Invesmart, Inc.
in PA
Sr. Pension Administrator
for Retirement Alliance, Inc.
in NH
Account/Client Services Manager (Seattle)
for Zenith Administrators
in WA
Pension Administrator
for Retirement Alliance, Inc.
in NH
Account/New Business Development Manager
for Zenith Administrators
in WA
Internal Sales Specialist (Retirement Plans)
for Standard Insurance Company
in OR
Benefits Manager
for Genuine Parts Company
in GA
Benefits Administrator
for Swiss Re
in NY
Employee Benefits Tax Manager
for Deloitte Tax LLP
in OH
Resource Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
HM Benefit Plan Consultant -Entry
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Connections Health Plan Conslt
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
HM Analyst
for Hewitt Associates
in TX
Senior Benefits Analyst
for Chugach Alaska Corporation
in VA
Benefits Analyst
for Chugach Alaska Corporation
in VA
Daily Valuation Specialist
for A Pension Administration Firm
in OR
Account Representative for Employee Retirement Plans
for Great-West Retirement Services
in MO
Retirement Plan Specialist
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in IN
Field Trainer--Benefits
for AMS Services, Inc.
in ANY STATE
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