| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
May 18, 2005
Today's sponsor: IQPC
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| IQPC presents the 2nd annual Curbing Obesity through Workplace Wellness Programs |
| Learn from leading wellness experts at companies such as Campbell Soup Company, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, The Home Depot and PepsiCo Health Enhancement Program on how to best implement, run and maintain your wellness initiatives and programs. The early bird expires soon so register today with CODE: B156.
Register by calling 1-800-882-8684. September 26-28, 2005 | San Diego | Hyatt Regency La Jolla |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
Notice 2005-42: IRS Allows Grace Period Exception to 'Use It or Lose It' Rule for Cafeteria Plans (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "This notice permits a grace period immediately following the end of each plan year during which unused benefits or contributions remaining at the end of the plan year may be paid or reimbursed to plan participants for qualified benefit expenses incurred during the grace period." (Internal Revenue Service)
Working Paper Abstract: Employee Cost-Sharing and the Welfare Effects of Flexible Spending Accounts
Excerpt: "In recent years, employees have been shouldering an increasing share of the costs of employee-provided health care. At the same time, more and more employers have been allowing employees to pay their out-of-pocket health care costs using pre-tax earnings, through tax-subsidized flexible spending accounts (FSAs). We use a cross-section of firm-level data from 1993 to show empirically that these FSAs can explain a significant fraction of the shift in health care costs to employees, ..." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Panel Backs Bills Affecting Employees From Beginning to Retirement
Excerpt: "The House federal workforce subcommittee yesterday approved three bills that subcommittee Chairman Jon Porter (R-Nev.) said 'represent the full range of a federal employee's career.' The bills would provide government employees with tax-free reimbursements for student loans, expand subsidies to encourage use of mass transit and van pools, and permit employees when they retire to continue paying health insurance premiums on a pretax basis." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required)
Working Paper Abstract: Employment-Contingent Health Insurance, Illness, and Labor Supply of Women
Excerpt: "We examine the effects of employment-contingent health insurance on married women's labor supply following a health shock. First, we develop a theoretical model that examines the effects of employment-contingent health insurance on the labor supply response to a health shock, to clarify under what conditions employment-contingent health insurance is likely to dampen the labor supply response. Second, we empirically evaluate this relationship using primary data." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Questions and Answers on Minnesota's Proposed 'Bureaucrats at the Bedside' Plan - - HF 1422 (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "A: If the 'evidence-based health care' proposals becomes law, Minnesota government officials will be authorized to set the standard of care for Minnesota and direct the practice of medicine. Government bureaucrats working with HMOs and politically minded groups and individuals, will tell doctors how to practice medicine. Micromanagement of medical decisions (managed care and health care rationing) will be supported by law." (Citizens’ Council on Health Care 2005)
Toyota Adds Four More On-Site Pharmacies
Excerpt: " Toyota has expanded the on-site pharmacy at its plant in Georgetown, Ky., and plans to add them at four more locations, according to CHD Meridian Healthcare, which manages the pharmacies for Toyota and other employers." (BenefitNews Connect)
An Update on Americans' Access to Pres.cription Drugs (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The proportion of American adults reporting problems affording pres.cription drugs ticked up between 2001 and 2003, increasing from 12.0 percent to 12.8 percent, according to HSC's nationally representative Household Survey (see Data Source). This small but statistically significant increase in affordability problems likely resulted from higher prescribing rates and increased patient cost sharing." (Center for Studying Health System Change)
HHS Will Publish Proposed Rules for E-Script Technology
Excerpt: "The Department of Health and Human Services expects this month and in August to publish proposed rules that would enable outside organizations to assist physicians in adopting electronic pres.cription technology to use in the Medicare Part D drug benefit program. The rules are part of several affecting health care information technology that HHS is preparing, according to the department's semiannual regulatory agenda, published on May 16." (Health Data Management)
Eight in Ten Internet Users Have Looked for Health Information Online, According to Survey (PDF)
22 pages. Excerpt: "When it comes to online health searches, specific diseases and treatments continue to be the most popular topics. But the greatest growth is in seeking information about doctors and hospitals, experimental treatments, health insurance, medicines, fitness, and nutrition." (Pew Internet & American Life Project)
Is the New Wave in Health Insurance, HSAs and High-Deductible Insurance Plans, for You?
Excerpt: "Health Savings Accounts pair high-deductible insurance with tax-free savings that participants can use to stay healthy or to retire someday. The plans fit self-employed people well. Do they fit you?" (MSN Money)
Opinion: Waiting for C.E.O.'s to Go 'Nuclear' and Jump Start Health Care Reform
Excerpt: "Here's the logic. Washington will offer zero leadership on health reform until 2009. The only way we'll get serious then is if the campaign in 2008 centers on health. The only way that will happen is if groundwork is laid in advance. And the only way this groundwork will get traction is if America's C.E.O.'s make it their mission." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Questions & Answers: Tech Session between SEC Staff and ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "The following questions and answers are based on informal discussions between private sector representatives of the JCEB and SEC staff members. The questions were submitted by ABA members and the responses were given at a meeting of JCEB and government representatives. The responses reflect the unofficial, individual views of the government representatives as of the time of the discussion, and do not necessarily represent the position of the agency." (American Bar Association)
Federal Appeals Court Throws Out Workforce-Wide COLI Purchase Citing Lack of Insurable Interest
Excerpt: "A federal appeals court has ruled that corporations cannot buy corporate-owned life insurance policies (COLIs) for all of their full-time workers because they don't have an insurable interest in their whole workforce. In overturning the decision of a lower court, the US 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said that an employer has to have a 'substantial economic interest' in the employee in order to be an insurance beneficiary." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
State Officials Continue Legislative and Political Deliberations on Pensions and Benefits
Excerpt: "State governments around the country continue grappling with often-severe employee pension and benefit woes, including recent actions in states such as West Virginia, New Jersey and Louisiana." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Economists Shovan and Orszag Say Medicare a Bigger Crisis than Social Security
Excerpt: "Despite the Bush administration's active lobbying efforts to reform Social Security, two economists at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) warned that health-care reform remains a much more serious -- and fundamentally unaddressed -- challenge." (Stanford Report)
Newly Posted Press Releases
PSCA's Signature Awards Deadline Extended to July 5, 2005
(Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA))
Assistant Secretary Ann L. Combs Calls for Reforms To Strengthen Workers’ Retirement Security
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))
IRS, Treasury Clarify Circular 230 Written Opinion Standards
(U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service)
SEC Report on the Pension Consulting Industry
(Segal Advisors)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Administration Project Manager
for Hewitt Associates
in IL
Account Manager, Employee Benefits
for The Protector Group Insurance Agency, Inc.
in MA
Plan Consultant
for Weaver Partners, Inc.
in ANY STATE
Sr. Sales Representative
for ING U. S. Financial Services
in FL
FSA/Cobra Sales Rep
for Primark Benefits
in CA
Qualified Plan Administrator
for Crowe Chizek
in IL
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- 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.
Published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
https://benefitslink.com/about.html
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
Editor and Publisher: David Rhett Baker, J.D.
Housekeeping: