| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
April 5, 2005
Today's sponsor: Hay Group, Inc.
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Free Hay Group Web Seminar on Medicare Part D Are you ready for the changes taking place later this year? Let Hay Group's actuarial consultants help you decide how best to take advantage of the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. Register today for a free 1-hour web seminar, which explains, in plain English, if your retiree plan qualifies for the federal subsidy, what your options are, and how much you can expect to save. Deadlines are rapidly approaching. For more information go to: http://www.haygroup.com/expertise/commitment/medicare_part_d.asp
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Text of Rev. Rul 2005-24: Separate Arrangement Spoils Tax Treatment of Health Reimbursement Accounts (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "[A]rrangements formally outside the HRA that provide for the adjustment of an employee's compensation or an employee's receipt of any other benefit will be considered in determining whether the arrangement is an HRA and whether the benefits are eligible for the exclusion from gross income.... Although the 'option plan' in Situation 4 purports to be formally outside the reimbursement arrangement, the option plan and the reimbursement arrangement constitute one plan." (Internal Revenue Service)
Analysis of Medicare's Financial Condition: Beyond Actuarial Balance (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "The trustees conclude that 'the projections shown in [the] report continue to demonstrate the need for timely and effective action to address Medicare's financial challenges -- both the long-range financial imbalance facing the HI trust fund and the heightened problem of rapid growth in expenditures.' This issue brief examines more closely the findings of the Trustees' Report." (American Academy of Actuaries)
New IRS Rules Are Expected for HSAs, HRAs and FSAs
Excerpt: "More guidance is on the way for health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), according to Harry Beker, chief of the Internal Revenue Service's health and welfare branch." (INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE via AISHealth.com)
Firms Balance Workplace Flexibility and Business Demands
Excerpt: "Workplace flexibility includes paid leave, FMLA leave, telecommuting, job sharing, compressed workweeks, flextime, sabbaticals and phased retirement. Some 57% of employers offered flextime last year, compared to 34% for compressed workweeks, 23% for job sharing and 19% for full-time telecommuting, the Society for Human Resource Management reports." (Employee Benefit News)
ERISA Preempted State Law Claims Seeking To Recover Amounts Paid To Insurers Out Of Settlements
Excerpt: "ERISA preempted plaintiffs' state law claims seeking to recover amounts that they had paid to two health care plans out of third-party settlements as reimbursement for health care benefits. This was the ruling of the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in two consolidated cases, Levine v. United Healthcare Corporation (No. 04-1224) and Bogurski and Edmonson v. Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey (No. 04-1225)." (Spencer Benefits Reports)
AMA Booklet: Who Makes Decisions About Your Health Insurance Coverage? You Deserve to Know
2 pages; click on 'Patient Brochure' on target page. Excerpt: "This brochure was created to help patients understand how decisions about health insurance coverage are made, including the role of practitioners, employers and health insurers. It answers some common questions about: How health insurance coverage works; Who to talk to when you have questions or concerns about your health insurance coverage; What you can do if your insurance does not cover something you or your family might need." (Institute for Ethics of the American Medical Association)
Privacy Concerns Hinder Electronic Medical Records: Advocates Say Fears Are Largely Unfounded
Excerpt: "As medical professionals tout the benefits of electronic medical records, they also acknowledge that many of those same benefits are driving patient concerns." (The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
In Evaluating Compliance Effectiveness, Peel Off Layers of Onion to Get at the Truth
Excerpt: "Put your compliance program under the microscope and turn it up to the highest resolution. That's what it will take to get a true picture of the effectiveness of the program and its ability to prevent, detect and correct violations, experts say." (REPORT ON MEDICARE COMPLIANCE via AISHealth.com)
Employers May Boost Financial Incentives to Reduce Workers' Benefits Costs in 2005
Excerpt: "Facing continuing premium increases and a much broader array of product options, employers are likely to incorporate more financial incentives to encourage participation in disease management and other programs in 2005, predict employee benefits consultants interviewed by MCW." (MANAGED CARE WEEK via AISHealth.com)
Speaking the Patient's Language Helps Minority Groups Get a Handle on Medical Issues
Excerpt: "Wired.MD knows it's crucial to speak the language when helping minority groups get a handle on medical issues. The Portland business develops and delivers patient-education materials via video, Internet and handouts, and helps physicians communicate health information to patients in eight languages." (The Business Journal of Portland via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Congress' Implicit Healthcare Rationing
Excerpt: "As an emergency physician and former governor, I am struck by the towering contradictions - and indeed the hypocrisy - in the controversy over the tragic plight of Terri Schiavo. On the same day that the US House of Representatives voted to involve the federal courts in her case, it also approved a 10-year $92-billion cut in Medicaid funding - $30 billion deeper than the cut recommended by President Bush." (The Christian Science Monitor)
Rising Benefit Costs Crowd Out Wage Growth (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "While growth in employer health insurance costs has dipped into the single-digit range, the 8 percent rise in employer health care expenses in 2004 continues to crowd out growth in wages. .... This fact sheet shows the relationship between rising health care cost and declining wages in 2004." (Employment Policy Foundation)
Wall Street Journal Examines How Pregnant Women Have Led Consumer-Driven Health Care Trend
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on [April 5, 2005] examined how pregnant women 'are by necessity and ingenuity paving the way' in the consumer-driven health care trend. According to the Journal, an increasing number of women do not have health coverage for pregnancy services or are participating in a consumer-driven, high deductible plan, which creates an incentive for patients to search for the best price." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Opinion: Jury Still Out on Cost-Effectiveness of High-Deductible Health Plans
Excerpt: "Consumer-driven health insurance plans, also known as High Deductible Health Plans, have become an increasingly common benefits option for a very simple reason. High deductible medical insurance requires employees to meet much larger deductibles for out-of-pocket expenses before benefits can be tapped, which can significantly reduce health insurance premiums for employers while enabling employees to obtain catastrophic medical insurance coverage at affordable cost." (Pittsburgh Business Times via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Minnesota HMO Enrollment Dropping
Excerpt: "Enrollment in Minnesotan state-regulated HMO products is dwindling, a sign of both over regulation and more flexible alternatives, according to the Minnesota Council of Health Plans (MCHP)." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Bill Could Allow More Employers to Dodge State Health Insurance Parity Laws
Excerpt: "A measure under consideration in Congress could allow small employers to exempt themselves from state insurance laws, including those mandating parity coverage for addiction and mental health." (Join Together)
Projections of the Uninsured Through 2013: Number to Increase by Eleven Million in the Coming Decade
Excerpt: "Here we examine whether the model we presented adequately accounts for the observed changes in health insurance coverage from 1999 through 2002, and we show that the model accurately predicted the increase in uninsured people during that time period. Using the model and projections for national health spending, we project that the number of nonelderly uninsured Americans will grow from forty-five million in 2003 to fifty-six million by 2013." (Health Affairs)
Regulation Allowing Cuts in Retiree Health Benefits Rejected
Excerpt: "In a ruling that directly affects millions of retirees, a federal judge has struck down a proposed regulation adopted last year by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that would have allowed employers to reduce health care benefits for retirees as soon as they become eligible for Medicare." (The Legal Intelligencer via Yahoo! News)
Federal Court Decision Darkens Outlook for Group Retiree Benefits
Excerpt: "A federal court judge's decision last week to block a rule aimed at making it easier for employers to provide retiree medical benefits likely won't result in a mass exodus from such plans -- yet. But the case likely will add to companies' doubts about providing retiree health plans, say employee benefits experts, who offer a grim long-term outlook for such coverage." (MANAGED CARE WEEK via AISHealth.com)
Banks: The New HMOs
Excerpt: "[Instead of HMOs and PBMs,] millions of consumers [could be] linked by their financial services companies to accounts. These new accounts will allow them to manage their full range of medical benefits in the same fashion that they direct their 401(k)s. The impetus for this change is a Trojan horse buried inside the new Medicare law. Explicit language in the new law enables a health plan and drug plan to be offered by any well-capitalized outfit adept at marketing and able to bare ...." (Forbes.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
An Actuarial Perspective on the 2005 Social Security Trustees Report (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "This issue brief provides an actuarial perspective on the most recent report, together with sufficient background mate-rial for readers to obtain a good understanding of (1) what the trustees are saying about the future financial condition of Social Security and (2) the limitations of the trustees' assessment. The debate over Social Security's financial condition has raised many important questions." (American Academy of Actuaries)
Overview: Disparate Impact Claims Available Under ADEA, Supreme Court Rules
Excerpt: "The Court's ruling, which is consistent with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's interpretation of the ADEA, makes it easier for older workers to bring federal age discrimination claims against their employers, and this could include offering new grounds for challenges to the adoption of cash balance plans." (Deloitte)
Overview: U.S. Supreme Court Recognizes ADEA Disparate Impact & Title IX Retaliation Cases as Viable (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "In Smith v. City of Jackson, the Supreme Court held the disparate impact theory of recovery was cognizable under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ('ADEA'). In a disparate impact case, plaintiffs need not show discriminatory intent but, rather, that an employment practice or policy that is facially neutral has an adverse impact on a protected class." (Winston & Strawn LLP)
Companies' Need for Workers and Older Workers Wish for Part-Time Work Is a Fit
Excerpt: "Older Americans are reinventing retirement. As they do, they're prompting federal regulators and human resources departments to change the rules. 'Retirement used to be 'all or nothing' -- you were either retired or employed,' Dallas human resources consultant Barbara O'Neal said. Now, 'more people are trying some combination of retirement and work.'" (The Dallas Morning News via The State.com)
Monthly Benefit News and Developments, April 2005 Edition (PDF)
2 pages. Milliman's Monthly Benefit News and Developments provides a summary of the previous month's legislative, regulatory, and judicial information on employee benefits. (Milliman)
Newly Posted Events
The 3rd Chronic Disease Management Strategies - East
in Massachusetts on June 21, 2005
presented by International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)
Newly Posted Press Releases
Deloitte CONSULTING 401(k) Benchmarking Survey Uncovers Tremendous Scrutiny Around Plan Investments
(Deloitte)
Labor Department Proposes Expansion of Voluntary Compliance Program
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))
2005 Retirement Confidence Survey: How To Increase Worker Savings? 401(k)s Provide Ideas 5 Percent Employer Match Proves Very Popular Among Workers
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))
ACLI Comments on Supreme Court's "IRA" Ruling Today
(American Council of Life Insurers)
National Employee Benefits Day Today - Prime Minister Paul Martin Congratulates Celebrants
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
OnlineBenefits Launches the Real Value Statement
(OnlineBenefits, Inc.)
Employers Concerned with Increasing Utilization of High Cost Injectable Medications
(Health Industries Research Companies (HIRC))
Houghton Mifflin Announces New 'Master Student' Textbook to Better Prepare College Students for the Workplace
(Houghton Mifflin Company)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Benefits/Compliance Manager
for Established boutique TPA and RIA in E. Montgomery County, PA
in PA
Employee Benefits Associates
for Ice Miller
in IN
Defined Contribution Analyst
for Standard Insurance Company
in OR
Pension Administration Analyst-Entry
for Hewitt Associates
in GA
Employee Benefits Account Representative III
for Brown & Brown of Washington - Tacoma
in WA
Defined Contribution Administrator
for Howard Simon & Associates, Inc.
in IL
Manager, COBRA Administrative Services
for Employee Benefits Firm in Maryland
in MD
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