| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
March 23, 2005
Today's sponsor: Financial Research Associates
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
MEDICARE PART D IMPLEMENTATION SUMMIT April 28 – 29, 2005 • Washington D.C. To register: 800-280-8440 • Build effective education and outreach programs to ensure competitive enrollment • Understand the likely implications of "dual eligibles" on your plan • Learn how different pricing strategies will appeal to different market segments • Gain practical insight into effective contract negotiation strategies with manufacturers • Maximize your marketing budget by aligning your efforts with those of the CMS • Understand the special requirements for delivering Rx services in LTC facilities • Examine cost-effective formulary management techniques
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
More Firms Manage Employee Absence Through Paid-Time Off Plans
Excerpt: "Absence benefits are changing as worker and business priorities shift, according to a query of 536 employers with 100 or more employees by Mercer Human Resource Consulting and Marsh." (BenefitNews Connect)
Milliman's Winter 2005 Health Perspectives (PDF)
16 pages. The edition includes articles titled: What is Your Role in Medicare Part D?; Risk and Reward in Healthcare Pricing; Medical Underwriting for Individual Medical Coverages; The True Cost of Mental Healthcare: What You Don't Know May Be Hurting Your Bottom Line; and, When It Comes to Quality, How Do Your Physician and Health Plan Stack Up? (Milliman)
States Consider Obesity Surgery Coverage Mandate
Excerpt: "A proposal before Connecticut lawmakers would require insurance companies to cover the surgery for people with a body-mass index of 30 or more if a doctor deems the surgery medically necessary. The BMI is a widely used formula based on height and weight. .... Georgia lawmakers are considering a similar bill this year. And in Louisiana, 40 state employees were chosen last year from 1,200 applications to get the surgery on the state's dime." (AP via The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Fewer American Employers Totally Cover Health Insurance Premiums
Excerpt: "As old-line American companies - the last bastions of fully paid employee benefits - struggle in global markets, fewer and fewer of them are able to shoulder 100 percent of workers' health insurance premiums. 'Employers simply can't afford the benefits they have promised,' said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, .... 'The auto companies are in the most trouble because they have some of the highest health costs and some of the toughest competition.'" (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
After Years of Shifting Health Costs to Employees, Employers May Be Slowing Down
Excerpt: "Employers seem less inclined to pass along health care cost increases to employees, according to a new study. Forty-one percent of companies say they are willing to absorb costs themselves, compared with 29 percent last year, according to a report by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health. The survey involved 555 employers, each with at least 1,000 employees." (Workforce Management)
The Big Benefit Squeeze: Companies Are Paring Employee Costs by Clamping Down on Healthcare
Excerpt: "Many employees are paying a larger share of premiums, especially those in upper-level positions. At Chicago-based Exelon, which owns Peco Energy in Pennsylvania and ComEd in Illinois, for example, senior-level staff members used to pay 20 percent of their healthcare premiums. Today, that contribution can go as high as 40 percent. Fewer firms pick up the entire premium anymore, and many employees are shelling more out of pocket because of higher deductibles and copayments." (U.S.News & World Report)
Michigan Looks at Online Rx Price Comparisons with the Proposed Drug Cost Pricing Web Site Statute
Excerpt: "Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox joined with state lawmakers on Tuesday to propose a bill that would provide Michigan residents with an online price comparison tool for pres.cription drugs. The Drug Cost Pricing Web Site Statute, sponsored by Rep. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw Township, aims to create a user-friendly Web site with pres.cription drug pricing information and links to health-related resources for consumers." (Business Insurance)
Wellness Programs Must Be Properly Constructed and Marketed for Maximum Return on Investment
Excerpt: "The success of wellness programs hinges on closing the awareness gap that exists between employers and their workforces. 'Employers need more information on how to implement preventive programs at the work site,' says Ron Finch, director of the Center for Prevention and Health Services at the National Business Group on Health. All too often, even though companies offer wellness programs, many employees are not aware that these services are actually available, he explains." (Employee Benefit News)
Health Savings Accounts to Grow, But Issues of Profitability Exist, According to White Paper
Excerpt: "Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) will number 8.2 million and have assets of $50 billion by 2010, according to a white paper from the Financial Research Corporation (FRC). Despite these figures indicating large growth in the newest form of consumer-directed health accounts, however, the white paper suggests that the HSA market poses considerable risks for financial service firms. One major concern, according to FRC: profitability." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear ERISA Severance Case Based on Travel vs. Relocation
Excerpt: "The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a decision that an employer acted reasonably in ruling that an employee who had large amounts of travel was not 'relocated' and was therefore not entitled to severance benefits." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Mgmt Alert Revised with Correction: FASB Finalizes Accounting Rules for Equity-Based Compensation (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "In the Management Alert on FASB Accounting Rules for Equity-Based Compensation that was published on March 8, 2005, it has come to our attention that there was an error in the /Alert/ that would have lead the reader to believe the awards issued prior to the effective date would never incur a charge to earnings. This is, in fact, /not/the case. The portion of awards that vest on or after the effective date of FAS 123 will give rise to a charge to earnings." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
More Help Wanted: Older Workers, with Lower Turnover and Training Costs, Please Apply
Excerpt: "After years of encouraging workers to take early retirement as a way to cut jobs, a growing number of companies are hunting for older workers because they have lower turnover rates and, in many cases, better work performance. .... Conventional wisdom has long held that workers become more costly as they grow older, with more medical problems and more missed workdays. But 'overall costs are not much different based on the age of employees,' said Dan Smith, senior vice president ....'" (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Recent Guidance of Interest to Employee Benefit Plan Service Providers and Administrators (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "The SEC's final regulations on redemption fees indirectly impose requirements on plan intermediaries, including plan administrators. Proposed regulations and a prohibited transaction class exemption issued by the DOL provide a solution to the dilemma of what to do with an 'abandoned plan.' Finally, the DOL's most recent advisory opinion clarifies the information that must be disclosed on Schedule A to the annual report for employee benefit plans (Form 5500)." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)
Benefits Briefs, March 2005: Legal Developments Affecting Employee Benefits (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "In this issue: Automatic IRA rollover rules; DOL guidance on the fiduciary responsibilities of directed trustees; A DOL believer -- The WorldCom case; Court upholds IRS in taxing employee/plaintiff on attorneys's fees; Equitable relief versus legal relief; IRS to employees -- Everything's taxable." (Nixon Peabody LLP)
2004 –- The Year in Review: Executive Compensation Regulatory Framework Dramatically Altered (PDF)
11 pages. Excerpt: "Executive compensation reform and regulation continued to be front-page news in 2004, with developments closely watched by the U.S (if not the entire global) business community. The passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 opened the floodgates of executive-compensation reform, with a torrent of far-reaching actions in 2004, as well as 2003, leaving the regulatory landscape dramatically changed." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)
Newly Posted Events
401(k) Plan Loans, QDROs, and Hardship Withdrawals
Nationwide on April 7, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
401(k) Plans
in Illinois on April 26, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
401(k) Plans
in Minnesota on May 10, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
All-Day ERISA Seminar with Sal Tripodi, Esq
in Florida on April 19, 2005
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council of South Florida
Annual Spring Conference
in Arizona on May 3, 2005
presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Phoenix Chapter
Benefits & Pitfalls of Sponsoring Retirement Plans Investing in Employer Securities
in New York on April 7, 2005
presented by The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Cafeteria Plans
in Illinois on April 27, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
Cafeteria Plans
in Minnesota on May 11, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Illinois on April 29, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
COBRA Compliance for Group Health Plans
in Minnesota on May 13, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Illinois on April 28, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
ERISA Compliance for Health & Welfare Plans
in Minnesota on May 12, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
HIPAA Portability, Privacy & Security
in Illinois on April 29, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
HSAs, HRAs, & Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Illinois on April 28, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
HSAs, HRAs, & Consumer-Driven Health Care
in Minnesota on May 12, 2005
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
Managed Care Formulary and Pharmaceutical Benefit Management Under E-Prescribing
Nationwide on March 24, 2005
presented by Health Resources Online
Newly Posted Press Releases
Benefit Software Inc. Provides Personalized Employee Benefits Statement Service
(Benefit Software Inc.)
ACLI Urges Presidential Tax Panel To Promote Americans’ Retirement Security With Incentives
(American Council of Life Insurers)
TBG Financial Provides Personal Rate Of Return Analytics Powered By dailyVest
(Metrics Partners)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Administrator
for G.M. Pensions, Inc. in the San Diego Area
in CA
Special Markets Field Director, #500629
for John Hancock
in MA
Contract Development Analyst
for Transamerica
in CA
Client Services Specialist - Rotational
for ICMA-RC
in DC
Benefits Compliance Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL, WI
Balance Forward Operations Manager
for EMJAY/Great-West
in WI
Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for New York Life Investment management RPS
in MA
Defined Benefit Plan Administrator
for New York Life Investment Management RPS
in MA
Marketing Project Mgr (4-6 month contract)
for New York Life Investment Management RPS
in MA
Analyst / Junior Consultant
for Gildner & Associates, Inc.
in AZ
Senior Quality Analyst
for Great-West Healthcare
in KS
Product Implementation Project Manager
for Transamerica
in CA
Web Interface Design Specialists (OmniPlus/Pyramid)
for Peak Technology Group
in ANY STATE
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Copyright 2005 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you may reprint this newsletter in full (including this sentence) without obtaining our permission.
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