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April 11, 2005
Today's sponsor: DATAIR Employee Benefit Systems, Inc.
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Software for 401(k), DB and Flexible Benefits DATAIR's IMPROVED BENEFIT ADMINISTRATION SOFTWARE for 401(k), Defined Benefit and Cafeteria/Flex plans. Designed for administrators and consultants. System modules include 5500s -- Proposals -- Administration -- Plan Documents -- Client & Task Manager. Training and support included. For free demo versions and pricing, contact sales@datair.com or call 1-888-328-2474.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
HIPAA Security Compliance Deadline Draws Near -- Links to Helpful Aids
Excerpt: "Health care payers and providers have [until April 20 when] security rules protecting electronic health information kick in. Accordingly, trade and government groups have released an array of tools to help them make sure they are complying with the law." (CIO Insight)
New/Updated Data in Trends and Indicators in 'Changing Health Care Marketplace' Online Chartbook
Excerpt: "The recently updated exhibits highlight national health expenditures, health care spending and costs, employer and retiree health coverage, HMO enrollment, hospital data, and public views on topics such as managed care, worries about health care, and medical errors and quality information. Exhibits in Trends and Indicators are updated on an ongoing basis. A list of New and Updated Exhibits is available athttp://www.kff.org/insurance/7031/trends_updates.cfm, ...." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Firms Clean Up Errors in Medical Claims Handling
Excerpt: "When a medical claim is handled incorrectly, employers can wind up losing hundreds or thousands of dollars in unnecessary costs. Health plan audits are one of employers' main defenses against that undesirable outcome." (Employee Benefit News)
Commentary: The High Cost of Clutching Your Chest
Excerpt: "What happens the next time my wife has chest pains? Or I do? Or do any of the people to whom we spilled our guts about this episode in sheer outrage? Will they weigh their response or their treatment too carefully because, as the insurance company seemed to suggest, this might be only their first episode of unstable angina or a heart attack?" (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Health Care Crossroads Part I: The Red Herring
Excerpt: "Health Care Tragedy Kills 120 On Tuesday; Another 120 Die Wednesday (But You Can Fix Your Short-Term Cost Control Problems): Reading the following will take some time. Explaining how 120 individuals die each day unnecessarily is complicated by what seems to be an even hotter topic, rising health care costs. So I'll begin somewhere in the middle, with two ideas with which we are all familiar: health care coverage is too expensive, and health savings accounts (HSAs) promise relief. " (Spencer Benefits Reports)
Containing Healthcare Costs -- Ten Strategies (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "It's not news that healthcare spending continues to rise. What is news is the rate of increase. Hay Group outlines ten strategies for taming rising medical costs." (Hay Group)
Ballooning Health Care Costs Spur Rise in Audits by Employers
Excerpt: "Companies that struggle with rising health-care costs are more frequently turning to formal audits to help balance the need to control costs while maintaining the quality of employees' coverage." (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
Discount Card Represents Alternative to Employment-Based Health Insurance
Excerpt: "When a business drops health benefits or puts new restrictions on eligibility, it's a pain in the wallet for employees and their dependents. With that in mind, some firms find ways to soften the blow without breaking the bank. One example is Alliance HealthCard, which offers discounts on an array of medical products and services. The discounts range from 10% to 55%, depending on the provider and the type of service or product." (Employee Benefit News)
Massachusetts May Bill Employers for Uncompensated Care
Excerpt: "Legislation proposed in Massachusetts would charge employers that do not provide health benefits for the state's costs of providing care to such companies' employees. The measure, which was introduced Thursday by Senate President Robert Travaglini, D-First Suffolk and Middlesex, would also charge individuals who are voluntarily uninsured but who can afford to purchase their own coverage, when they receive care through Medicaid." (Business Insurance)
Massachusetts Officials Announce Proposals to Lower Insurance Premiums
Excerpt: "Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) on Wednesday introduced a proposal that would expand health care coverage by lowering private insurance premiums, .... Romney said about 168,000 of Massachusetts' approximately 500,000 uninsured residents could afford private insurance if ... premiums were lower. Under his proposal, health plans would offer less-comprehensive coverage for about $200 per month, compared with the current average of $350 to $500 monthly for private health plan premiums." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Employers Taking Healthy Cuts at Health Care Costs Through Wellness Programs
Excerpt: "Specifically, the employers are narrowing the number of insurers offered to a single plan while actively improving employees' health status so they have less reason to seek expensive health-care services. Message to employees: Overweight? Lose it. Smoking? Stop. Inactive? Get moving." (Business First of Buffalo via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
White Paper: The Role of 'Access Management' in the New World of Consumer Directed Health Care
6 pages. Excerpt: "Forward-thinking healthcare executives know that one of the most success-critical initiatives in the coming years will be in transforming Administrative processes. High deductible health insurance, declining governmental reimbursements and market share challenges from other providers are propelling health leaders into preparing their institutions for the changes in service levels that will be required to be competitive in tomorrow's world of Consumer Driven Healthcare." (SCI Solutions)
Congressional Rivals Call for Catastrophic Health Program
Excerpt: "The Republican senator and the Democratic senator from Oregon say Congress should keep devastating illnesses from leaving families destitute. Sens. Ron Wyden, R-Ore., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., appeared on the floor of the Senate Thursday to talk about their shared legislative agenda." (National Underwriter)
Opinion: America's Ailing Health Care System
Excerpt: "Those of us who accuse the administration of inventing a Social Security crisis are often accused, in return, of do-nothingism, of refusing to face up to the nation's problems. I plead not guilty: America does face a real crisis - but it's in health care, not Social Security. Well-informed business executives agree. A recent survey of chief financial officers at major corporations found that 65 percent regard immediate action on health care costs as 'very important.'" (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Overview: Ruling Confirms HRA Cashout Prohibition and Allows Vacation/Sick Pay Contribution to HRA
Excerpt: "Many employers will be intrigued by the idea that an HRA can be designed to allow an employer contribution for unused vacation and sick leave. But we caution anyone considering this type of HRA design to pay careful attention to the nondiscrimination rules under Code Section 105(h)." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))
Additional CMS Part D Waiver Guidance for Employer/Union Retiree Coverage (PDF)
11 pages. Excerpt: "Although an employer or union-sponsored MA-PD may be offered to both retirees and active employees (and their dependents) who are Medicare beneficiaries, in accordance with section 1860D-22(b) of the Act, an employer or union-sponsored PDP may only be offered to retirees. In considering the extent to which it will exercise its waiver authority, CMS will consider a number of important goals, including: ...." (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services via American Health Lawyers Association)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
IRS Publishes April 11, 2005 Special Edition of Employee Plans News
Excerpt: "This Special Edition contains information regarding the EP Examination field structure being realigned from six areas into five areas. In addition, a special edition of the DOL Corner discusses an expanded and simplified Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program." (Internal Revenue Service)
Commentary: Changes to EBSA's Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program
Excerpt: "This week EBSA announced that it was amending and restating the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program ('VFC') which permits ERISA fiduciaries to correct certain violations that occur under ERISA. Generally, under the program, applicants are required to fully correct any violations, restore to the plan any losses or profits with interest, and distribute any supplemental benefits owed to eligible participants and beneficiaries." (Attorney B. Janell Grenier via BenefitsBlog.com)
Overview: DOL Revises VFC Program, Adds New Mistakes to List of Transactions that Can Be Corrected
Excerpt: "The DOL's Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFC Program) allows persons potentially liable for fiduciary breaches to voluntarily apply to the DOL and correct specific breaches in exchange for a 'no action' letter and relief from penalties under ERISA Section 502(l). This Notice contains numerous changes that update and revise the Program, ...." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc)
Overview: U.S. Supreme Court Extends Disparate-Impact Liability to Age Discrimination Claims
Excerpt: "Employers now face potential liability for harm stemming from unintentional age discrimination and need to tread especially carefully and seek the advice of employment counsel before implementing a policy that could adversely affect older employees." (Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C.)
Legal Decision Raises Bar for Effective Internal Communication -- E-Mail and Employee Rights
Excerpt: "When you communicate new or revised policies, procedures and benefits, your goals probably include clear, accurate and timely information. But are you double-checking to make sure your messages and delivery channels are effective and meet a new legal litmus test? A recent ruling in the Federal District Court of Massachusetts (Campbell v. General Dynamics Government Systems Corporation, D. Mass. Civ. No. 03-11848 2004-NG) may surprise you and influence you to put more thought ...." (Employee Benefit News)
Overview: New Law Affecting Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Effective January 1, 2005
Excerpt: "On October 11, 2004, Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act (the 'Act') and on October 22, 2004, President Bush signed it into law. The Act added Section 409A to the Internal Revenue Code ('Code'). Section 409A establishes new rules, obligations and penalties for employers and others sponsoring non-qualified deferred compensation plans for employees, independent contractors and others deferring compensation receivable for services." (Sanders, Schnabel & Brandenburg, P.C.)
Trucker Huss March 2005 Benefits Report (PDF)
9 pages. The report contains articles titled: CMS Issues Final Regulations on Medicare Part D and Use of an Administrative Committee to Address Fiduciary Obligations of a Retirement Plan Sponsor. (Trucker Huss, APC)
Welcome to the Club -- Costco Shows the Way with Above Average Wages and Benefits for Employees
Excerpt: "Costco pays generous wages and benefits in accord with CEO Jim Sinegal's maxim: 'Taking care of your employees and turning inventory faster than your people is good business.' .... In addition to offering some of the best wages and benefits in the retail industry, Costco rewards employees with bonuses and other incentives." (Workforce Management; one-time registration required)
Proposed Extension of Information Collection Request Submitted for Public Comment & Recommendation (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA 95)." (Federal Register via The ERISA Industry Committee)
Newly Posted Events
401(k) Plans: Managing Regulatory and Market Changes
Nationwide on April 21, 2005
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
WEB Atlanta's Winner of the 2004 Achievement in Corporate Excellent Award
in Georgia on April 21, 2005
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) - Atlanta Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases
International Foundation Honored as Best Trade Association Magazine
(International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
The National Business Coalition on Health and The Leapfrog Group Announce First Multi-Stakeholder Workshop on Incentive & Rewards
(National Business Coalition on Health)
HIPAA Security Rule: Prepare for Compliance
(Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLC)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Client Services Consultant 2 openings Cleveland & San Antonio
for American United Life Insurance Company/One America
in OH, TX
Compliance Specialist
for MassMutual Financial Group
in MA
Sales Consultant
for LPL Financial Services
in CA
Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for CBIZ Actuarial & Benefit Consultants
in AZ
FASCorp Account Administrator
for Great-West Corporate
in CO
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