| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
March 2, 2005
Today's sponsor: WorldatWork
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
New WorldatWork publications added to the Bookstore WorldatWork, a not-for-profit professional association, is a leading publisher of compensation, benefits and total rewards information. With a portfolio of books, reports, survey briefs, booklets and online learning programs, WorldatWork creates, markets and distributes publications that are critical to improved organizational performance. WorldatWork has contributed to the education and development of business professionals worldwide since 1955.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Vermont Law Requiring Drug Companies to Disclose Average Wholesale Prices Takes Effect
Excerpt: "Under state legislation that is the 'first of its kind,' drug manufacturers beginning Tuesday will be required to disclose to Vermont physicians the average wholesale prices of individual drugs and other products in the same therapeutic class, the Wall Street Journal reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Medicare Part D Actuarial Equivalence Discount for TrOOP
Excerpt: "One of the significant changes in the final Medicare Part D regulations ... permits the calculation of employer plan actuarial equivalence to recognize that the value of the standard Part D plan to the individual is reduced by the value of supplemental coverage provided by the employer.... [A]ccording to [CMS] presentations, this reduction in the actuarial value of the Part D benefit calculation is not a theoretical reduction." (Deloitte)
Big Companies Push for Better Online Health Information Tools
Excerpt: "Now that large companies are adding health information to their benefit portals on the Web, insurers will have to work more closely with them." (Managed Care Magazine)
Preventing Diabetes-Related Hospitalizations Could Save U.S. $2.5 Billion Annually, Study Says
Excerpt: "The United States could save almost $2.5 billion annually by preventing diabetes-related hospitalizations, according to a study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, CQ HealthBeat reports ...." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Patient Health Information: It's Better When You Share
Excerpt: "Community health information networks failed in the 1990s. Today's newer version -- regional health information organizations -- seeks to form more collaborative relationships." (Managed Care Magazine)
Summary: Finding Doctors in Chicago -- A Project to Improve Online Physician Directories
Excerpt: "The Midwest Business Group on Health worked with stakeholders to find out what consumers and physicians like and dislike about online directories. According to the study's findings, online physician directories should maximize ease of use and navigation, for example, by incorporating sophisticated search functions and interactive features; provide a wide range of content, including information on physicians' practice style; and ensure the credibility of data by regularly updating ...." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Patients Use High-Tech Devices to Manage Medical Records
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal/Deseret Morning News ... looked at how consumers have begun using high-tech tools and services that allow them to create, store and share their own health records. Patients can collect data from multiple providers and use the records to store vital information, such as allergies and next-of-kin contacts, as well as track their immunizations and note any errors in physicians' records." (California HealthCare Foundation via The Advisory Board Company)
Digital Rx: Take Two Aspirins and E-Mail Me in the Morning
Excerpt: "Doctors may no longer make house calls, but they are answering patient e-mail messages - and being paid for it. In a move to improve efficiency and control costs, health plans and medical groups around the country are now beginning to pay doctors to reply by e-mail, just as they pay for office visits. While some computer-literate doctors have been using e-mail to communicate informally with patients for years, most have never been paid for that service." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Abstract of Working Paper: The Labor Market Effects of Rising Health Insurance Premiums
Excerpt: "[R]ising health insurance premiums may both increase the ranks of the unemployed and place an increasing burden on workers through decreased wages for workers with employer health insurance and decreased hours for workers moved from full time jobs with benefits to part time jobs without." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Opinion: Mandatory Health Insurance Now! It Will Save Private Medicine -- & Spur Medical Innovation
Excerpt: "The Bush administration, for its part, has failed to offer a coherent alternative to piecemeal nationalization of health care. [T]he increasingly successful campaigns to privatize Social Security ... suggest a way out: mandatory private health insurance. Under this system, ...purchasing health insurance would be not much different from buying car or homeowner's insurance today. As a result, we could preserve and extend the advantages of a free market with a minimal amount of coercion." (reasononline)
AMA Letter to Wall Street Journal Published 3/1/05: Consumer Choice Vital to Health System Reform
Excerpt: "Holman Jenkins's Feb. 23 Business World commentary 'Good Drug, Bad Customers -- II' makes a compelling case for health system reforms that increase patient involvement and choice in their health-care decisions. The American Medical Association has long advocated a system of individually selected and owned health insurance to increase patient choice and help expand health coverage to the uninsured." (American Medical Association)
Shopping for Health Savings Accounts Investments
Excerpt: "Is there a list of HSA providers that I can use to compare accounts? I saw my health insurance company pays 3%, which may not be competitive. When will companies like Vanguard get into the business of providing HSA accounts? The best list of HSA providers right now is at HSAInsider.com, but the investing options continue to improve almost every month." (Kiplinger.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Text: Advisory Opinion 2005-02A Regarding Certain ERISA Title I Annual Reporting Requirements
Excerpt: "Regarding the Schedule A (Form 5500) requirements for reporting fees and commissions paid to brokers, agents and other persons directly or indirectly attributable to policies or contracts placed or retained with or by an ERISA-covered employee benefit plan." (U.S. Department of Labor)
Overview: Action Items in Response to IRS Guidance on Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "[I]nternal Revenue Service ... guidance, Notice 2005-1, on the deferred compensation provisions of new Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code ... was issued on December 20, 2004 and revised on January 5, 2005. The guidance provides transition rules for 2005 for nonqualified deferred compensation plans ... that are subject to Section 409A with respect to deferral and payment elections, amendments, termination of participation, cancellation of deferrals, and plan...." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Employers Survey Workers to Gauge Benefit Perceptions and to Improve Plans
Excerpt: "The top reasons for conducting a survey were gauging employee satisfaction with benefits (68%); identifying problems with benefits package, HR policies, salary structure and company culture (42%); determining how well employees understand benefits (40%); soliciting employee benefit preferences (36%); gauging benefit perceptions of different employee groups (30%); and ascertaining employees' reaction to a proposed benefit change (26%)." (BenefitNews Connect)
Newly Posted Events
Family Events: What to Do (and Not Do) When Employees Marry, Have Kids, and Divorce
Nationwide on March 17, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
Form 5500 Workshop
Nationwide on April 20, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
SunGard Corbel’s Sixth Annual Relius Software Users Conference - Connection 2005
(SunGard Corbel)
Labor Department Testifies Before House Education and the Workforce Committee on Administration's Pension Reform Proposal
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))
Council Provides Finance Panel With Recommendations For Defined Benefit Pension Plan Funding Reform
(American Benefits Council)
Council Provides Education and Workforce Committee with Proposals for Strengthening Pension Plan Funding
(American Benefits Council)
MCOL’s Healthcare Web Summit Division To Host Fourth Defined Care 2005 Healthcare Web Summit: Fourth Annual Web Summit on Consumerism and Consumer-Driven Health Care
(Healthcare Web Summit)
Deadline Looms for Employers to Comply with Automatic 401k Rollover Rules Governing Lower Balance Retirement Accounts
(RolloverSystems)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Conversion Specialist
for The Newport Group
in NC
Financial Transactions Specialist
for ExpertPlan, Inc.
in NJ
Director, Member Services
for The Pension Boards-United Church of Christ
in NY
Regional Sales Associate
for CitiStreet
in FL, IL
Pension Accounting and Compliance Reporting
for A Fortune 500 company located in the Southwest United States
in AZ, CA, TX
Retirement Plan Specialist
for West Los Angeles Retirement Consulting/Investment Management Firm
in CA
Plan Administrator
for Arizona Qualified Plan Services, Inc.
in AZ
Benefit Analyst - Senior
for Precept
in CA
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
Copyright 2005 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you may reprint this newsletter in full (including this sentence) without obtaining our permission.
Published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
Housekeeping: