| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
April 28, 2005
Today's sponsor: NCEO
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| The National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), a nonprofit membership and research organization that provides information on broad-based employee stock plans, now has over a dozen of its most popular publications available for purchase in the BenefitsLink bookstore. Topics range from employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) to stock options to employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs). |
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Association Health Plans Edge Closer to Existence for Small Businesses
Excerpt: "For years, small business owners have asked to be able to unite across state lines to buy health insurance for their employees. Now they finally may get their chance. Legislation to establish ''association health plans'' and exempt them from state insurance mandates could move through Congress this year, supporters say, after years of being blocked in the Senate." (tennessean.com)
California Health Insurance Requirement for Residents Fails in Committee
Excerpt: "The California Assembly Health Committee has rejected a measure that would have required all individuals in the state to purchase health insurance. However, a companion measure, S.B. 840, which would replace private health insurance in the state with a government-run system, is still alive and scheduled to be heard today by a Senate Health Committee." (Business Insurance)
Rising Health Insurance Premiums Push Health Plans to Enter Limited-Benefits Market
Excerpt: "As more individuals get priced out of the traditional health insurance market because of rising premiums, some mainstream health insurers better known for comprehensive benefit packages are entering the limited-benefits market. These products typically provide coverage for physician visits, tests and hospital stays, but limit coverage to a certain number of visits, days or dollar amounts." (MANAGED CARE WEEK via AISHealth.com)
Opinion: A Housekeeper's View of the General Motors Health-Care Crisis
Excerpt: "To General Motors Corp., paying almost $5.6 billion this year for the medical bills of 1.1 million workers, retirees and their families in the U.S. is a burden that threatens to sink the company. To Flora, a 70-year-old retired GM worker, our family's friend and occasional housekeeper, and the woman we met when she came to baby sit for our youngest son 17 years ago, GM health- care insurance benefits are the slim reed that keeps her family healthy and financially stable." (Bloomberg News)
Opinion: We Must Address the Systemic Problem of Unsustainable Health Care Cost Increases
Excerpt: "The benchmark in today's U.S. health-care debate could unnecessarily create winners and losers, without curbing escalating costs that threaten our global competitiveness. The standard for measuring all reform efforts is how many uninsured individuals could be covered. No one doubts that is important. But it does nothing for the large majority who have health insurance but still feel the brunt of our health-care system's underlying problem: excessive cost escalation." (The Washington Times)
WSJ Examines Federal Bailout Possibility for General Motors, Ford in Response to Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday examined the financial problems faced by U.S. automakers General Motors and Ford because of health care costs and other issues and how, 'in a sign of a changed political climate, nobody in Washington is talking about bailing them out' ...." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
CBO Testimony: The Cost and Financing of Long-Term Care Services, April 27, 2005 (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Currently, elderly people finance LTC services from various sources, including both private resources and government programs. Incentives inherent in the current financing structure have led to increased reliance on and spending by government programs and may have discouraged people from relying on private resources (savings, private LTC insurance, and donated care) to prepare for potential future impairment." (Congressional Budget Office)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Testimony: Redefining Retirement: Options for Older Americans, Senate Special Committee on Aging
17 pages. Excerpt: "The Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging asked GAO to discuss demographic and labor force trends and the economic and fiscal need to increase labor force participation among older workers. This testimony will address those factors making it important to encourage those who want to work to continue doing so, as well as factors affecting older Americans' employment decisions. [Highlights are at http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05620thigh.pdf]" (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
Overview: Bankrup.tcy Reform Legislation Affects Employee Benefit Plans and Executive Compensation (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "This Client Alert highlights the most significant provisions of the Act affecting employee benefit plans and executive compensation. These include amendments providing additional protection from creditors for employee contributions to and interests in retirement plans and education savings plans, facilitating employees' repayment of plan loans, and placing significant additional restrictions on pre- and postpetition payments to insiders and on prepetition modifications ...." (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP)
Overview: Benefits and Compensation Features of the Consumer Bankrup.tcy Act
Excerpt: "On April 20, 2005, President Bush signed the Bankrup.tcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (the 'Act'), a measure long sought by the banking and credit card industries to tighten the rules for personal bankruptcies. The Act also makes a limited number of changes in the rules for corporate bankruptcies. Several of the Act's provisions are relevant for employee benefit plans. This Compliance Alert highlights the principal changes." (The Segal Company)
Judge Orders NFL to Pay Pension, Disability Benefits to Estate of Hall of Famer Mike Webster
Excerpt: "A federal judge has ordered the NFL to pay the estate of Hall of Fame center Mike Webster disability benefits for injuries caused by his football career. U.S. District Judge William Quarles Jr. granted the request by Webster's estate that the NFL Player Retirement Plan and the NFL Player Supplemental Disability Plan pay all benefits owed under the plan retroactive to March 1991, when Webster became totally and permanently disabled." (AP via The Contra Costa Times; one-time registration required)
Worker Ignorance of Employee Benefit Offerings Is No Benefit to Employers
Excerpt: "A survey of 1542 workers by MetLife shows that while employees recognize the importance of healthcare insurance, pension plans and disability insurance, the benefit they value most is paid vacations." (California Job Journal)
Is the Worst Yet to Come with Number of Uninsured Increasing and Fewer Employers Covering Workers?
Excerpt: "Industry observers say national coalitions have played a key role in generating a renewed debate around the uninsured problem. But for all the extra lip service, the nation may be no closer to a workable solution than it was a decade ago, when President Clinton's sweeping healthcare reform plan sank amid skepticism, said professor Richard Kronick, chief of the healthcare-sciences division at the University of California at San Diego." (modernhealthcare.com)
Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated as of April 26, 2005
Excerpt: "Hewitt's Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding health and welfare benefit plans, retirement plans, and human resources and employment law." (Hewitt Associates)
Newly Posted Events
Fundamentals of 401(k) Plans
Nationwide on June 2, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Fundamentals of Qualified Plans
Nationwide on June 29, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Plan and Corporate Governance: Rethinking the Roles of Officers and Directors
Nationwide on May 10, 2005
presented by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits
Newly Posted Press Releases
IRS Offers Small Businesses New Retirement Plan Resource Guide IR-2005-50
(Internal Revenue Service (IRS))
Newkirk Updates OnTrack Participant Newsletter
(Newkirk Products, Inc.)
District Of Columbia Insurance Agent Convicted Of Stealing More Than $1 Million From Thirty-Two Employee Benefit Plans And A Charity
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Spokane, WA – “Hotbed” Of Governmental HRAs
(HRA Consultants, a division of VEBA Service Group, LLC)
The 412i Company releases new CD on 412i Plans.
(The 412iCompany)
Roger T. Weitkamp, Esq. Joins the Board of the ASPPA Benefits Council of Atlanta
(ASPPA Benefits Council of Atlanta)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Communications Specialist
for Pitney Bowes
in CT
HR Generalist
for Major Midtown Union Health Plan
in NY
Single System Deployment Manager
for Great-West Healthcare
in CO
Retirement Education Specialist
for Nationwide Insurance
in AZ, CA, NV
Enrolled Actuary for Qualified Retirement Plans
for First Actuarial Corporation
in MI
Retirement Services Relationship Manager
for SunTrust
in VA
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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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