| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
April 1, 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)
EEOC Chair Will Ask U.S. Justice Department to Appeal this Week's Ruling on Retiree Health Benefits
Excerpt: "Late Wednesday, EEOC Chair Cari Dominguez issued a statement saying that she would ask US Justice Department lawyers to appeal Brody's ruling to the 3rd Circuit. 'The agency remains confident on both policy and legal bases in its authority to implement the rule,' Dominguez said in the statement. 'We are also confident that the Court of Appeals will correct the District Court's misunderstanding of the EEOC's authority under the ADEA and allow the rule to go into effect.'" (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Prepaid Cards Can Boost HSA and FSA Programs
Excerpt: "Prepaid healthcare cards that are tied to a health savings account (HAS) are a new area in which prepaid cards have a role, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. If HSA-linked prepaid cards are used to streamline paper-based claims and reimbursement processes, both the insurance provider and the accountholder benefit in efficiency terms." (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia via ePaynews.com)
New Government Web Site Provides Hospital Data on 17 Quality Measures
Excerpt: "The federal government on Wednesday launched a new Web site [at http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/] to provide information on hospitals' compliance with 17 widely used quality measures in treating heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Web site, called Hospital Compare, includes data from all but about 60 of the nation's 4,200 general hospitals." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Lawsuit Alleges that Health Insurers Improperly Denied Coverage for Emergency Care in California
Excerpt: "Some health insurers violate state law by 'systematically' refusing to cover emergency treatment, and some hospitals overbill policyholders for such services, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Reuters/Orange County Register reports." (California HealthCare Foundation)
D&O and Healthcare Lead List of Headaches in Treasury & Risk Management's Annual Insurance Survey (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "A Treasury & Risk Management survey of 266 insurance decision makers -- a mix of CFOs, risk managers, treasurers and a handful of controllers -- indicates that companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenues get a better deal on the price of most insurance products than do smaller companies." (Treasury & Risk Management)
With Consumer-Driven Healthcare, Companies Leave the Driving to Their Employees
Excerpt: "The basic idea behind consumer-driven health is simple: Employees in traditional health insurance plans are unable to be good consumers of healthcare because they don't have any sense of the real cost of their care or any clear stake in cutting costs. For example, if a health plan typically charges the employee a $10 co-pay for a visit to the doctor's office, the employee sees that as the full cost of going to the doctor, though the plan itself may be paying $75 for that visit." (Treasury & Risk Management)
Summary: Early Implementation of Health Coverage Tax Credit in Maryland, Michigan, & North Carolina (PDF)
44 pages. Excerpt: "To gather more evidence about HCTCs' effectiveness and assess their prospects as models for broader reforms, researchers visited Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina, which used varied approaches to HCTC implementation. The authors present key findings and propose reforms to improve HCTCs' ability to help its current target population and aid policymakers in designing future health insurance tax credits." (The Commonwealth Fund via Economic and Social Research Institute)
Overview: District Court Ruling Will Accelerate Employer Retreat from Retiree Health Plans
Excerpt: "Judge Brody, of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ruled that the EEOC does not have exemption authority regarding the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), having found that Congressional intent was otherwise clear in the statutory language. [Target page has link to Judge Brody's decision in the AARP v. EEOC litigation.]" (The ERISA Industry Committee)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin 107 Regarding the Revised Standard on Share-Based Payment (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "On March 29, 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 107 (SAB 107) to provide interpretive guidance regarding the interaction between revised Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123 (FAS 123(R)) and certain SEC rules and regulations." (Powell Goldstein LLP)
Proposed FASB Staff Position No. EITF 00-19-A (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The Board directed the FASB staff to issue this FASB Staff Position (FSP) to clarify the application of Issue 00-19 to freestanding financial instruments originally issued as employee compensation. The guidance in this FSP is consistent with the Board's intent in issuing FASB Statement No. 123 (revised 2004), Share-Based Payment." (Financial Accounting Standards Board)
Overview: Supreme Court Permits Disparate Impact Claims Under ADEA
Excerpt: "The Supreme Court held today that plaintiffs may bring age discrimination claims against their employer for instituting policies which have an adverse impact on older workers. Smith v. City of Jackson (544 U.S. _(2005), Case No. 03-1160)." (The ERISA Industry Committee)
The End of Stock Appreciation Rights As We Know Them?
Excerpt: "The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, signed last fall by President Bush, significantly changed the landscape for deferred compensation plans. As is often the case with new legislation, however, many details were left to be resolved through the Treasury Department/Internal Revenue Service rule-making process." (Leading Companies Online Magazine via The Beyster Institute)
Overview: Colleges and Universities Get Final Rules on FICA Tax Withholding for Student Workers
Excerpt: "The IRS recently issued final regulations and a new safe harbor addressing when student employees of colleges and universities are exempt from FICA tax withholding." (Ice Miller)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Fort Worth TPA Firm Approved by MFS
(Pension Planning Associates, Inc.)
Former Retirement Plan Director of Fortune 200 Company added to Pension Consultants, Inc. Staff
(Pension Consultants, Inc.)
401(k) Advice Professional Launches Investment Selection Review
(The Scarborough Group, Inc.)
Head of Enron Investigation Slated to Speak at the 2005 Pension Focus Conference about “Getting It Right – Knowing Your Fiduciary Responsibilities”
(Pension Focus, Inc)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Plan Specialist
for Benefit Consultants Group
in NJ
Plan Consultant/Senior Administrator
for Benefit and Consulting Firm in the New Orleans area
in LA
Benefits Consultant
for Sony Corporation of America
in NY
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