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March 14, 2005
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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Companies Can Help Workers with Child Care Issues; Corporate Circle of Champions Work/Life Resource
Excerpt: "One thing that working people -- from the cleaning staff to the executive offices -- have in common is the need for quality child care." (Business Courier via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)

Karen Ignagni of America's Health Insurance Plans, Says Answer Disability Complaints with Proposals
Excerpt: "Disability insurers might consider coming up with some kind of dispute resolution system for angry claimants. Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, presented that idea here Thursday during a general session at a disability conference organized by JHA Inc., Portland, Maine, a disability insurance reinsurance and consulting firm." (National Underwriter)

Benefits, Perks Lure Young Adults to Part-Time Work: Businesses Offering Medical Benefits, Massages
Excerpt: "At a time when businesses and workers are facing greater health insurance costs, young creatives like Kenna are flocking to a handful of employers -- coffee shops, groceries and at least one bookstore -- that extend medical, retirement and other benefits to part-time workers. Such jobs go over particularly well in Portland, a magnet for aspiring artists, musicians and other talented workers who prefer working part time so they can pursue their creative projects." (The Oregonian)

Aon Consulting's Eurometer—Big Differences Among EU Sick Benefits (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Aon Consulting's Eurometer highlights topical issues in the field of employment and employee benefits and focuses on comparisons among the 25 European Union (EU) countries. Recent Eurometer results addressed the significant differences in sick pay among EU countries." (Aon Corporation)

Overview: Owner of Plan Administrator Corporation Not Liable for Its COBRA Violations
Excerpt: "These former participants apparently included the owner in their attempt to find a defendant with resources to pay the judgment. Owners of closely held corporations beware: In appropriate cases, this might work. Courts have pierced the corporate veil to impose COBRA liability on individual owners who do not respect the corporation's separate corporate existence." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)

Overview: HHS Posts New Privacy FAQs on PHI Disclosures
Excerpt: "In the most recent of its FAQs on HIPAA privacy, HHS addresses two unrelated issues. The first new FAQ reviews when covered entities (including health plans) may disclose PHI to interpreters. The other addresses health plans' disclosures of PHI in response to National Medical Support Notices (NMSNs). (NMSNs are standardized medical child support orders that state child support enforcement agencies use to obtain group health coverage for children.)" (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)

The Cost of a Stitch, Like All Things Medical, Is Not As Clear As It Seems
Excerpt: "[N]ot all hospitals and insurers are accustomed to share information about their charges and reimbursements. This could become a larger problem as more consumers are steered into Health Savings Accounts, where they will want to comparison shop since the money will be coming from their pockets more clearly." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Many Organizations Offer Convenient, Low-Cost Medical Screening Tests and Other Services
Excerpt: "With the rising cost of health care, more people are turning to services and resources offered in the community to keep expenses down and prevent more pressing health problems later. Most community outreach efforts are open to the public without income restrictions or guidelines. Some, however, may have age limits. What prompts people to seek such services? Affordability, accessibility and convenience. Many are free, close to home and require no appointment." (Kansas City Star)

David Cutler's Approach to the Health Care System Problem -- Pay More for Quality
Excerpt: "Cutler's approach is radically different. He says that most health-care spending is actually good. Spending has been rising, he says, because it delivers positive, and measurable, economic value, and because it can do more things that Americans want. Therefore, Cutler says, we should focus on improving the quality of care rather than on reducing our consumption of it. Rather than pay less, he wants to pay more wisely -- to encourage health-care providers to do more of what they ...." (The New York Times Magazine; one-time registration required)

Doctors Claim United Healthcare Quality and Cost Standards Program Pushes 'Bare-Bones' Care
Excerpt: "Critics of the program say its real intent is to provide cheaper, 'bare bones' care. Participating doctors are those who meet certain quality and cost standards determined by United Healthcare (UHC)." (St. Louis Business Journal via)

Washington State Mandated Insurance Coverage a 'Great Leap Forward' for Mental Health
Excerpt: "Under new consumer protections signed into law yesterday, 1.6 million Washingtonians will be guaranteed coverage for psychiatric treatment. For many patients, the law means insurers will no longer be allowed to refuse to pay for office visits because the doctor is a psychiatrist instead of an internist, or charge more for pres.criptions that treat depression than for medicines that treat heartburn." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter)

A State-by-State Breakdown of Health Insurance Mandates and Their Costs -- 2005 Edition (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "A health insurance 'mandate' is a requirement that an insurance company or health plan cover (or offer coverage for) common -- but sometimes not so common -- health care providers, benefits and patient populations." (Council for Affordable Health Insurance)

Employers Pressing Insurers for Better Health Care Data -- Info Necessary for Decision Making
Excerpt: "Employers and their brokers are putting pressure on health insurers to share more data about how workers use their health care benefits." (Cincinnati Business Courier via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)

Overview: New Medicare Drug Benefit Opens Up Range of Opportunities and Challenges for Employers (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "With the release of the final Medicare Part D regulations, employers that offer pres.cription drug coverage to Medicare-eligible retirees now have the information they need to assess the impact on their retiree medical plans and costs and to begin considering a wide range of plan design options and benefit strategies for 2006 and beyond." (Towers Perrin)

Electronic Prescribing Systems: Making It Safer to Take Your Medicine?
Excerpt: "Electronic prescribing involves doctors using computers containing extensive drug information to help choose and order the right medications for particular conditions. Electronic prescribing systems are one form of a relatively new technology called 'computerized physician order entry' that, itself, is part of a new trend in health care toward the adoption of electronic medical record systems -- computerized versions of patients' paper health records." (RAND Corporation)

Kentucky Bill Allows Scaled-Back Health Plans: Small Businesses Could Offer Policies
Excerpt: "Small businesses in Kentucky will be able to offer scaled-down health plans for employees under legislation intended to make it easier for them to cover workers." (The Courier-Journal)

Huge Billing Fraud Is Cited by Health Plans at California Clinics
Excerpt: "Twelve Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, working with the F.B.I., said Friday that they had broken up an elaborate insurance scheme in which thousands of patients from 47 states were sent to California to undergo unnecessary surgical and diagnostic procedures, for which doctors filed more than $1 billion of fraudulent insurance claims." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)

HSA Marketplace
Excerpt: "Periodically, Spencer Benefits Reports summarizes recent activity in the health savings account (HSA) marketplace. Click here for the most recent news." (Spencer Benefits Reports)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Multinationals Revising Long-Term Incentive Programs for Executives Outside the U.S.
Excerpt: "U.S. multinationals are overhauling their long-term incentive (LTI) programs for non-U.S. executives. This is a departure from the recent practice of relying on LTI plan features that were uniform worldwide, with the same vehicle -- stock options -- and the same plan terms and award sizes. Now a growing number of companies are shifting to customized approaches." (Towers Perrin)

Overview: Congress Rewrites Rules for Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Passed shortly before Halloween, and effective on January first of next year, Section 409A will be a New Year's nightmare for many businesses. For almost all business entities, it will mean reviewing compensation policies and for many businesses modifying those policies to conform to Section 409A's requirements. Fortunately, modification of plans can probably wait until next year ...." (Adams and Reese/Lange Simpson LLP)

Employment and Economic Changes Lead to Benefit Policy Shifts in Asia (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Many policy shifts in employment benefits have emerged out of the changing work patterns and a challenging economic climate in Asia. In a volatile business environment, employees can expect to change employment more frequently, and lifetime employment is a thing of the past. With each change, employees may lose their employer-provided medical benefits." (Aon Corporation)

Overview: New Military Service Notice Requirement: Post it Now! (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Employers may satisfy the new notice requirement by posting the DOL– issued notice where employee notices are customarily placed. Alternatively, employers may deliver the notice in other ways that will minimize costs while ensuring that the full text of the notice is provided." (Utz & Miller, LLC)


Newly Posted Events

2005 Annual Spring Summit, "A Check-Up for Your Plan"
in California on April 26, 2005
presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Los Angeles Chapter

Global Health Care Issues and Trends--Teleweb Seminar
Nationwide on March 23, 2005
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans


Newly Posted Press Releases

EBIA Weekly Celebrates 5th Anniversary!
(Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))

The Honorable Mark Warshawsky Prepared Remarks The National Newspaper Association “The Urgency For Social Security Reform In The United States” March 11, 2005 Washington, DC
(U.S. Department of Treasury)

Dorsa Consulting Inc. Selected as Member Firm of 401(k) Advisors USA
(Dorsa Consulting)


Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Post a Help Wanted Ad

Team Leader - Defined Pension
for The Rosen Group
in MA

Client Service Analyst
for The Rosen Group
in MA

Director, Business Development - Retirement & Benefits
for PAi
in WI

Senior Benefits Analyst
for Hospira
in IL

Defined Contribution/401(k) Administrator
for Professional Capital Services, LLC
in PA

Investment Operations
for PennRock Financial Advisors, N.A.
in PA

Retirement Plan Enrollment Specialists
for Invesmart, Inc.
in CA, PA




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