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February 18, 2005
Today's sponsor: World Congress

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

Innovation in the Cost-Appropriateness of Behavioral Health & Wellness

The Leadership Summit on Innovation in the Cost-Appropriateness
of Behavioral Health & Wellness explores the costs of behavioral
health to the Nation and the workplace. Stakeholders will discuss
economic incentives and present successful cost-effective
initiatives to provide quality, cost-appropriate behavioral health
and wellness services. Featuring employer and government driven
cost-reduction demands with health plan and provider collaboration
the Summit showcases innovative behavioral health, pharma and
wellness interventions and how to combine the best of both.

(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Employment Policies Institute Blasts Washington State 'Universal Health Proposal'
Excerpt: "An Evergreen State 'universal health proposal' may cost $10,200 per newly insured resident and insure only 18% of residents who now are uninsured. The Employment Policies Institute ... has published those predictions in a report blasting the proposal. The proposal, which would require all employers in the state with more than 50 employees to provide full medical insurance for their employees, is still in committee in the Washington House and Senate." (National Underwriter)

Overview: HIPAA's Final Security Regulations for Electronic Protected Health Information (PDF)
24 pages. Excerpt: "Implementation Standards and Specifications. The ... charts are based upon the matrixes at the end of the Final Security Regulations and have been augmented to incorporate the guidance included in the preamble to the Final Security Regulations and in the Final Security Regulations themselves." (Haynes and Boone, LLP)

Overview: Final Regulations Implement the New Medicare Rx Benefit (PDF)
4 pages. (The Segal Company)

Overview: Final Medicare Part D Rules Clarify Options for Plan Sponsors and Impose New Requirements
Excerpt: "Even if you don't provide retiree coverage, the rules require health plan sponsors to certify to Medicare-eligible employees whether their drug coverage is 'actuarially equivalent' to Part D. The Part D rules apply to all sponsors of pres.cription drug plans, including governmental and church plans. Depending on what option is best for an organization, deadlines for action may be as soon as March 23, 2005." (Hay Group (one-time registration required))

Overview: Final Medicare Part D Rules Clarify Options for Plan Sponsors and Impose New Requirements (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued final rules for the 2006 Medicare Pres.cription Drug Benefit (Part D) that provide important clarifications for options available to employers, Taft-Hartley plans, and unions that sponsor retiree pres.cription drug plans. Even if you don't provide retiree coverage, the rules require health plan sponsors to certify to Medicare-eligible employees whether their drug coverage is 'actuarially equivalent' to Part D." (Hay Group)

EBRI Report: Controlling Health Costs and Improving Health Care Quality for Retirees (PDF)
20 pages. Excerpt: "Medicare faces far larger long-term financial problems than Social Security and will soon account for a greater and rapidly growing share of the nation's gross domestic product, a new report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shows, and those problems will send Medicare into insolvency 23 years before Social Security." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)

Putting a Premium on Healthy Behavior: Employers and Health Benefit Plans Offer Rewards to Cut Costs
Excerpt: "Rewards systems such as frequent-flier programs, a common strategy in the commercial marketplace to influence consumer behavior, are now coming to the healthcare world. So-called consumer-directed health plans are the next new thing employers and insurers are pushing as a promising solution to a relentless rise in medical premiums. The theory behind the plans, which combine incentives with a high out-of-pocket expense, is that they encourage workers to make smart medical decisions...." (The Boston Globe)

Opinion: Association Health Plans -- A Step Backward for Small Employers and Consumers (PDF)
20 pages. Excerpt: Congress is considering legislation to exempt association-sponsored health insurance plans ... from existing state consumer protections. While promoted as a way to address health insurance affordability problems facing small businesses and their employees, the research overwhelmingly indicates that this proposal will make health insurance less accessible, less affordable and less secure for the vast majority of small employers and individual consumers." (BlueCross BlueShield Association)

U.S. District Court Awards Legal Fees in ExxonMobil ERISA Claim on Severance Pay
Excerpt: "A federal court has awarded $2 million in fees to lawyers in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) suit brought against ExxonMobil over severance pay issues. US District Judge Cynthia Rufe of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has ruled that a contract between Mobil and the plaintiffs who sued the company over charges that they were cheated out of severance benefits mandated that the company pay for legal fees, ...." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

What Are the Current Problems with Executive Compensation Disclosure?
Excerpt: "It's next to impossible to know for sure how much executives make in total compensation. This inability to get accurate readings on executive pay comes as many investors think spiraling CEO pay has become dangerously delinked from performance." (The Wall Street Journal via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Overview: Changes to the Internal Revenue Code's Definition of Dependent
Excerpt: "In October of 2004, the President signed the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 which revised the Internal Revenue Code's definition of 'dependent.' The revisions sought to create uniformity in the definition for purposes of personal exemptions, certain federal tax credits, and the head of household filing status." (Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP)

Details of IRS Commissioner's January 28 Speech Emphasizing IRS Enforcement Focus
Excerpt: "Steven Miller .... [b]egan his speech with a statement that he had come to discuss 'how the Employee Plans office of TE/GE needs to change in order to ensure that the IRS is effective in the future in its mission of promoting and protecting retirement benefits.' Here are some excerpts from his speech, capturing some of his thoughts on how the IRS will seek to bolster its enforcement programs: ...." (Attorney B. Janell Grenier via BenefitsBlog.com)


Newly Posted Events

2005 HIPAA Security Seminar for Employers
in California on March 8, 2005
presented by ArlenGroup

College for Advanced Management of Health Benefits
in Arizona on April 11, 2005
presented by National Business Coalition on Health

NBCH’s Tenth Annual Conference -- The Roadmap for Improving Health Care in America: Measuring, Reporting and Rewarding Performance
in Arizona on November 13, 2005
presented by National Business Coalition on Health

Defined Contribution/401(k) East Coast Conference
in Florida on February 24, 2005
presented by Pensions & Investments/International Business Forum

Targeting Work/Life Benefits
in Massachusetts on March 16, 2005
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB)


Newly Posted Press Releases

Medicare Will Reach A Cliff Years Before Social Security
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))

WMSI To Provide ADP Retirement Services with Small Balance Rollover Program and IRA Services from E*TRADE
(Wealth Management Systems Inc. (WMSI))


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Plan Administrator
for Weaver Partners, Inc.
in ANY STATE

Plan Administrator
for Fortune Benefits, Inc.
in GA

Retirement Services Implementation Specialist
for ADP Retirement Services
in FL

Retirement Plan Consultant
for Invesmart, Inc.
in CA

Retirement Services Sales Representative
for MassMutual Financial Group
in MN




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Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.

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