| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
April 25, 2005
Today's sponsor: William J. Stecker, CPA
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| A Practical Guide To Substantially Equal Periodic Payments and Internal Revenue Code §72(t) |
| New 4th edition by William J. Stecker, CPA with all of the updates needed to reflect the issuance of Revenue Ruling 2002-62 in October, 2002 as well as all Private Letter Rulings issued subsequently.
This text is a must read for anyone under age 60 who is contemplating early retirement and has substantial 401(k) or IRA assets. This text will teach the reader everything they need to know about avoiding the 10% surtax on early withdrawals as defined in IRC 72(t). All computational methods are covered and how to plan and properly execute substantially equal periodic payments. This is the definitive text on IRS 72(t) including more than 190 footnotes citing all of the relevant legal authorities. Click above to purchase now. |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
During Congressional Testimony, Researcher Says Regional Health Pools Beat AHPs
Excerpt: "Improving state and regional small business health insurance purchasing pools for small businesses might work better than enacting an association health plan bill. Len Nichols ... presented that argument ... at a hearing on small group health insurance organized by the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The ... Committee has posted a copy of Nichols' testimony and other hearing witnesses' testimony on the Web at http://sbc.senate.gov/hearings/109hrgs.html" (The National Underwriter Company)
New Jersey Sees Healthy Way to Cut Costs: Will Urge Better Habits to Reduce Health Insurance Bills
Excerpt: "New Jersey hopes to help keep health-insurance costs in check by encouraging its 78,000 state government workers to lead healthier lives. With the state's cost for health benefits topping $1 billion, the wellness campaign spearheaded by Personnel Commissioner Rolando Torres Jr. is seen as the ounce of prevention versus the pound of cure for a workforce whose average age is 45, a point when the risks for cancer, heart disease and diabetes increase." (AP via The Philadelphia Inquirer; one-time registration required)
Editorial: The City of Buffalo's Generous Health Plan Unusually Costly, Study Says
Excerpt: "Cosmetic surgeries are driving up Buffalo's health insurance costs by at least $1 million a year as many uniformed employees, their relatives and retirees get tummy tucks, hair transplants, nose jobs, breast implants and other elective surgeries." (The Buffalo News)
Colorado State Health Care Bills to Help the Uninsured Are Nearing the Wire
Excerpt: "With less than three weeks to go in the 2005 session, state lawmakers are increasing funding to help uninsurable Coloradans but leaving some other big health care proposals up in the air." (The Denver Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Maine Considers Health Insurance Premium Tax to Fund Health Reforms
Excerpt: "State officials in Maine are proposing an assessment of 3% on the premiums collected by health insurers and the premium equivalents of self-insured health plans to help pay for the state's 2003 health reforms." (Business Insurance)
Study: Providers Come Up Short on HIPAA Privacy Compliance
Excerpt: "Most health care providers are mostly compliant with the privacy rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, but fewer than half of them are fully compliant, according to a survey released ... by the American Health Information Management Association. The deadline for compliance passed about two years ago." (CIO Insight)
Proposed Civil Money Penalty Enforcement Rule Covers All HIPAA Admin. Simplification Provisions
Excerpt: "The proposed enforcement rule treats sins of omission and sins of commission the same. In addition, because a penalty can be imposed for a violation of any requirement or prohibition, the number of provisions that could be violated is far greater than the number of standards and implementation specifications found in the regulations." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))
In Search of the 800-Pound Gorilla for Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) Management
Excerpt: "There is no shortage of well-meaning stakeholders in RHIOs. From local hospitals and medical groups, to the state and federal government, there is growing consensus on the value of RHIOs. But due to the very collaborative structure comes a key roadblock: Who takes the lead?" (HealthLeaders News)
Insurers Seek to Rein in Fast-Growing Use of Pricey High-Tech MRIs and CTs
Excerpt: "Medical imaging is one of the fast-growing pieces of the health care bill, with spending approaching $100 billion a year. There is a growing movement among insurers and health care planners to try to rein in expenses associated with high-tech scans such as CTs, short for computerized tomography, and MRIs, or magnetic resonance imaging." (San Francisco Chronicle)
IBM to Test Electronic Medical Data Sharing
Excerpt: "Hoping to prove that automation will improve health care and cut costs, International Business Machines Corp. said Monday it's developing a test system for sharing electronic medical data among hospitals, agencies and patients. The Interoperable Health Information Infrastructure test project, which is expected to be operational by year end, will connect IBM sites in San Jose, Calif., Rochester, Minn., and Haifa, Israel. Researchers will use a variety of real and doctored data." (AP via The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Overview: Court Holds Maine's Law Regulating Pharmacy Benefit Managers Not Preempted by ERISA
Excerpt: "A trial court has rejected an ERISA preemption challenge to a Maine law regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). (PBMs may provide claims processing and other services to clients--including ERISA group health plans--that offer pres.cription drug benefits.) The law requires PBMs to disclose certain conflicts of interest and information requested by clients, as well as all financial arrangements between the PBMs and drug companies." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))
Congressional Research Service Report for Congress: Health Savings Accounts Updated March 23, 2005 (PDF)
36 pages. Excerpt: "This report will be updated as more information becomes available and for legislative activity. The President's FY2006 budget included several proposals to increase the attractiveness and availability of HSAs." (Congressional Research Service)
Opinion: Vouchers for All Medical Care?
Excerpt: "Health-care reform is in the air. Unanimous dissatisfaction with the current system on the part of patients, business, insurers and physicians has placed the U.S. health-care system on the front pages. Most worrisome, much discussion centers on more government control and bigger bureaucracies to satisfy an attitude of entitlement -- that health care should be highly advanced, fully accessible for all and paid for by 'someone else' -- regardless of who." (The Washington Times)
Group Long-Term Care Coverage: A Design for the Final Piece in the Employee Benefit Safety Net (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "[G]roup long-term care insurance fails to provide many of the features and advantages of a true group benefit. .... What if insurers approached the design of long-term care insurance products more like the design of other group products? What might such products look like, and what would be their advantages over currently available group products? .... [First published in National Underwriter in March, 2005]" (National Underwriter via Milliman)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: Court Refuses to Enforce Provision Included in SPD but Not in Plan Document
Excerpt: "As the court in this case pointed out, confusion as to what is an ERISA plan document and how it differs from an SPD is common in 'ERISA land.' This case serves as a reminder that an SPD and a plan document are not necessarily the same and that a court may decline to enforce SPD terms that are not incorporated into the formal plan document." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))
Employer's Enrollment Requirement Communication Makes Failure to Provide SPD 'Harmless Error'
Excerpt: "Although the employer succeeded in defending this claim, we encourage employers and plan administrators to provide SPDs as soon as possible, and in any event within the timeframes provided by ERISA. Some employers and plan administrators provide SPDs along with enrollment materials so that employees can make informed decisions about whether to enroll." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA))
District Court Dismisses Reduction-in-Force ERISA Suit Brought Against PPL Electric Utilities Corp
Excerpt: "The employer of an employee who received an e-mail about a reduction-in-force program but was not selected for the program did not violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), a federal judge has ruled. Judge Juan Sanchez of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has granted summary judgment in favor of the employer, PPL Electric Utilities Corp, ruling that 'ERISA is not offended when a plan reserves to the company the discretion to pick ....'" (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Washington Regulatory Wrap Up, 2005, As of April 21, 2005 (PDF)
2 pages. The chart of federal regulatory proposals concerning employee benefits of interest to NCTR members has been updated to be current as of April 21, 2005. The federal updates referenced in the chart are available at http://www.nctr.org/federal/index.html. (National Council on Teacher Retirement)
A Chart for Benefits Comparisons for Merging Companies
Excerpt: "Benefits is often a major clashing point for merging companies. Use this chart to help you summarize the major differences between the two organizations." (The M&A Transition Guide via Workforce Management; one-time registration required)
Recordkeeper Misconduct Claim Not Appropriate for Federal Court, District Court Rules
Excerpt: "Just because a plan recordkeeper worked on a plan regulated by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), it does not give a dissatisfied client the right to sue the provider in federal court, a judge has ruled. US District Judge Cynthia Rufe of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said that plaintiffs Milkis Enterprises and owner Howard Milkis did not seek 'benefits due' them under an ERISA plan." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Text: JCT Report: Options to Improve Tax Compliance and Reform Tax Expenditures (PDF)
435 pages. Excerpt: "This report, prepared by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation ('Joint Committee staff'), presents various options to improve tax compliance and reform tax expenditures. This report is prepared at the request of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley and Ranking Member Max Baucus. A copy of their letter follows this Introduction and Summary. [The report was originally published January 27, 2005.]" (Joint Committee on Taxation)
Newly Posted Events
Retirement Plan Insights - Strategic Retirement Planning Seminars
in Nevada on September 27, 2005
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
Sentinel Benefits Hosts 5th Annual Educational Exchange
(Sentinel Benefits)
Assistant Secretary of Labor Ann L. Combs Visits Kansas City To Highlight President’s Plan for Retirement Security
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
COBRA Administrator
for Morneau Sobeco
in PA
Internal New Business Assistant
for Leggette Actuaries, Inc.
in TX
Fixed Income Trading Specialist
for Vanguard
in PA
Account Manager - Small Group
for Melita Group
in CA
401(k) Consultant
for Pension Consulting/Services Firm
in MI
401(K) Plan Administrator
for Turning Point Associates, Inc.
in NJ
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