May 19, 2005 Today's sponsor: IQPC/Healthcare IQ (Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Workers Given Extended Time on Accounts Excerpt: "The Treasury Department said on Wednesday that companies could give workers an additional 2.5 months to spend untaxed wages that they set aside in flexible spending arrangements for health care and child care expenses. The old rules required workers to spend the savings within a year or forfeit the unspent money. Under the new rules, if workers must now empty their accounts by the end of December, they could get until mid-March to spend the money, the agency said." (The New York Times; one-time registration required) Nevada Senate Considers Eliminating Subsidized Health Coverage for Future State Retirees Excerpt: "The Nevada Senate on Thursday is expected to vote on a bill (SB 484) that would eliminate a subsidy for state-funded health care coverage for future retired state employees but would allow such individuals to buy into the health plan, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. The bill would affect state employees who are hired after July 1, 2006." (Kaiser Family Foundation) Valuable Lessons Learned Along the Road to HIPAA Security Compliance Excerpt: "In an interesting paradox, noncompliance in certain areas initially increased when Gila River Health Care Corporation implemented solutions to problems identified during its HIPAA security risk assessment. The health system would tell employees not to do something and, people being people, sometimes they took a bite of the forbidden fruit. Of course, shortly after, employees rectified their behavior and compliance improved, but the experience was an important reminder to ...." (REPORT ON PATIENT PRIVACY via AISHealth.com) Disease Management, with Its Patient-Coaching Approach, Has Fully Integrated Into Healthcare Excerpt: "Call it the kind of managed care that has a shot at success. Had it come of age in an earlier era, disease management might have suffered comparisons with other forms of managed care, which, while achieving the goal of lowering healthcare costs, often failed to deliver quality care, leading some wags to dub it 'managed cost.'" (HealthLeaders) Opinion: What to Do About Health Care Costs? Views of Health Care Leaders Excerpt: "A month ago, I outlined 10 ideas for controlling health care costs. That column triggered more e-mail responses than anything I've ever written. Most writers found that the ideas resonated with their own experience. Many offered additional thoughts. And, of course, some felt my ideas were impractical. This month's Commonwealth Fund Health Care Opinion Leader Survey also addresses the issue of health care costs and finds surprising consensus on the most promising ways to control them." (The Commonwealth Fund) Pharmacy Benefit Managers Who Drove Up Costs Are Replaced Excerpt: "The University of Michigan has discovered a startling fact: The companies that tens of thousands of employers have hired to help them hold down the ever-rising cost of pres.cription drugs, can actually drive them up. U-M, like many employers, had hired companies called pharmacy benefits managers to encourage the use of lower-cost drugs and negotiate with drug companies and pharmacies to get the best price possible for the pres.criptions of the university's 80,000 employees, ...." (Detroit Free Press) Minnesota Senate OKs Bill Allowing Pared-Down Health Plans Excerpt: "Small employers frustrated by high health care costs might soon be able to stop covering mammograms, emergency care, maternity care and other benefits under a measure approved by the Minnesota Senate on Wednesday. The proposal, which was an amendment to an insurance bill on the Senate floor, resurrects a long-standing effort to let health insurance companies offer less-costly policies that are stripped of Minnesota's 62 benefit mandates." (Star Tribune; one-time registration required) Insurers and Consumers Show Little Interest in State 'Mandate-Light' Health Insurance Laws Excerpt: "Lawmakers in several states are working to enact 'mandate-light' benefit design laws in an effort to reduce the number of uninsured. But in several states where such products already are available, few enrollees have signed up -- and in some cases only a few carriers have decided to offer the plans. The laws allow insurers to bypass benefit mandates and offer bare-bones packages to consumers at a lower premium." (MANAGED CARE WEEK via AISHealth.com) Maryland Governor to Veto Bill Requiring Large Employers to Provide Health Insurance to Workers Excerpt: "Maryland's governor has announced plans to veto landmark health reform legislation that would have required large employers to provide health insurance to their workers." (Business Insurance) Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General Domestic Partner Benefit Offerings Continue to Spread Excerpt: "More than half of employers surveyed offer domestic partner benefits to their employees, according to Hewitt Associates. A Hewitt announcement said that its survey of 281 US employers, Benefit Programs for Domestic Partners and Same-Sex Spouses, found that 56% of responding employers gave such benefits to at least some of their workers - a whopping 34% hike over the past five years." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required) Overview: Action Required to Avoid 409A Penalties Excerpt: "New §409A of the Internal Revenue Code has the snappy title 'Inclusion in gross income of deferred compensation under nonqualified deferred compensation plans.' The statute lists four types of 'plan failures', any of which will trigger taxation, penalties, and late payment interest. Two additional requirements apply if trusts are involved. 'Deferred compensation plan' does not just mean a SERP or an elective deferral program. The term may include bonuses, severance, ...." (Rackemann, Sawyer & Brewster) Brief of the Secretary of Labor as Amicus Curiae in Roland H. Bickley v. Caremark, Inc. (PDF) 28 pages. Excerpt: "Questions presented: 1. Whether a plan participant has standing under sections 502(a)(2) and 502(a)(3) of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1132 (a)(2) and 1132(a)(3), to bring an enforcement action for a breach of a fiduciary duty. 2. Whether a plan participant must exhaust internal administrative remedies applicable to benefit denials before bringing suit under sections 502(a)(2) and 502(a)(3) of ERISA to remedy fiduciary breaches." (U.S. Department of Labor) Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated as of May 17, 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 ASPPA Summer Conference and Western Pension & Benefits Conference Annual Conference in Nevada on July 16, 2006 presented by ASPPA (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries) Taking Care of Our Troops on the Home Front: New USERRA Guidance Nationwide on June 16, 2005 presented by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits Newly Posted Press Releases EBRI President Dallas Salisbury Outlines Americans' Reliance On and Use of Various Retirement Options (Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)) Treasury and IRS to Provide More Time to Spend FSA Funds (U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Daily Valuation Administrator for Pension Consulting Firm in NJ Wealth Management Consultant for Phoenix Life in MA 401(k) / Defined Contribution Administrator for E.R.I.S.A., Inc. in IL Compliance Coordinator for Fred S. Shapiro & Associates, Inc. in MD Sales Consultant for Benetech, Inc. in ANY STATE Remittance Services Specialist for ICMA-RC - Building Retirement Security in DC Client Solutions Associates for ICMA-RC - Building Retirement Security in DC Enrolled Actuary / Pension Consultant for Madison Pension Services, Inc. in NY Senior Manager, Treasury for Computer Associates in NY Handy Links:
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