BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter May 31, 2005 Today's sponsor: NCEO (Click on company name or banner to learn more.) NCEO publications in the BenefitsLink Bookstore! 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). (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) How Health Savings Accounts May Affect Payers: Lessons from the 401(k) Experience Excerpt: "The advent of health savings accounts ... portends dramatic changes for the health insurance industry in coming years. The new element of tax-advantaged personal savings means that today's vertically integrated value chain will expand to provide investment and cash management services, consumer information and advice, and new payment processing capabilities. But are current health plan leaders the best-positioned players to provide these new services and capture the economic upside?" (MANAGED CARE WEEK via AISHealth.com) Health Practice Note, April 2005, Statutory Reserves for Individual Disability Income Insurance (PDF) 34 pages. Excerpt: "This practice note represents a description of practices the work group believes to be commonly employed by individual disability income actuaries in the United States in 2005. The purpose of this practice note is to assist actuaries who are faced with the requirement of preparing statutory reserves or a statement of opinion for individual disability insurance products by providing examples of some of the common approaches to this work." (American Academy of Actuaries) Overview: TPA with Check Writing Authority over Plan Contributions in TPA's Account Is a Fiduciary Excerpt: "Some courts gloss over the distinction between exercising any authority or control over plan assets, and exercising discretionary authority or control over plan management and administration. As this TPA found out, while management and administration of a plan require discretionary authority to make a TPA a fiduciary, a TPA with any control over plan assets (including signatory authority over plan funds) may be a fiduciary, whether or not the TPA exercises any discretion." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.) Overview: What Portion of an Insurer's Distribution to a Group Policyholder Constitutes Plan Assets? Excerpt: "In this advisory opinion, the DOL addressed a proposed distribution from an insurance company's excess surplus to employers named as policyholders on the insurer's group health policies. (The excess surplus resulted from the insurance company's settlement of tobacco litigation.) The insurer proposing the distribution asked the DOL whether the amounts paid to the employers would be plan assets subject to ERISA's trust and fiduciary requirements." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.) Turning a Sabbatical from a Dream to Reality Is the Worker's Responsibility Excerpt: "Workplace experts recommend taking a sabbatical or extended break every few years, if not annually, as a way to truly refresh and maintain a balanced life. Doing that, however, requires careful planning and, for many, the ability to overcome the fear that an extended break is just not possible." (The Baltimore Sun via The Detroit News) Wall Street Journal Articles Examine Individual Insurance Market Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal on Monday [May 30, 2005] published four articles addressing individual health insurance plans. Summaries appear [on the target page]." (Kaiser Family Foundation) Humana Center to Study Health Insurance Practices Excerpt: "Humana has opened a research center at the University of Miami in a $2.5 million to $3 million commitment that could change how the health insurer handles its patient population of 7 million." (South Florida Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required) Fed Up Doctors Suing Health Insurers Excerpt: "Triad physicians, fed up with health insurance companies that they say don't return phone calls, require piles of paperwork and make payments late or not at all, have joined their peers nationally in taking the alleged offenders to court." (The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required) Opinion: Change or Die? I'd Rather Die, Most Say; Some Useful Insights for Wellness Programs Excerpt: "'Providing health information is important but not always sufficient,' [Professor Dean Ornish of the Preventative Medicine Research Institute] says. 'We also need to bring in the psychological, emotional, and spiritual dimensions that are so often ignored.'" (Fast Company) Abstract: Five Years After 'To Err Is Human' -- What Have We Learned? Excerpt: "Five years ago, the Institute of Medicine ... issued its landmark report on medical errors, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. .... Two authors of the IOM report ... endeavor to answer [questions on whether our health care is any safer now] in 'Five Years After To Err Is Human: What Have We Learned?' (Journal of the American Medical Association, May 18, 2005)." (The Commonwealth Fund) Kaiser's Pres.cription for Medicine Is Digital: The HMO Is Computerizing All of Its Patient Records Excerpt: "Eventually all of Kaiser's 8.3 million members nationwide will find their records available electronically. Nowhere is the conversion moving more aggressively than in Southern California, where a new leader has made the project a priority." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required) No Cure, No Pay May Be New Medicine Model Excerpt: "Not satisfied with your pres.cription medicine? Then demand a refund. Unlikely as it may sound, money-back guarantees could be the next big thing in marketing pharmaceuticals, according to some experts. Professor Claus Moldrup of the Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Copenhagen, thinks that a system of not paying for a drug unless it works would be good news, not only for patients and healthcare funders, but also manufacturers." (Reuters via The Boston Globe) States Hit Public Employees with Smoking Surcharge Excerpt: "From breathalyzers and urine tests to monthly cash penalties, employers are using an array of tactics on tobacco users to curb group health insurance costs. As private- and public-sector employers increasingly target smoking as a key contributor to rising health care costs, some states are telling their workers to kick the habit or pay the price." (Workforce Management; one-time registration required) Health Savings Accounts Tied to High-Deductible Policies Transforming Insurance Business Excerpt: "In recent years, insurance companies have introduced consumer driven plans tied to Health Reimbursement Accounts -- all in an effort to help drive down costs of insurance for employers. Next year promises to be no different as employers face even more options, and details of existing plans change. Last year, the federal government introduced Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and many insurers were ready with consumer driven plans that could be used in conjunction with the HSA." (San Antonio Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required) Is Siebel Systems a Kind Employer or a Fortress Builder? Excerpt: "Corporate governance experts can't decide whether Siebel Systems should be commended or condemned for adopting a plan that would give virtually all of its employees three to 18 months' worth of severance pay and health benefits if they lose their jobs because of a change in control." (San Francisco Chronicle) Opinion: An Urgent Case for Fixing Health Care Excerpt: "[T]he National Coalition on Health Care released a report on the potential savings to business, individuals and government from comprehensive reform of the beleaguered medical-insurance-hospital system. The figures are startling -- a projected saving of anywhere from $320 billion to $1.1 trillion in the first 10 years, even while insurance coverage is extended to every American and stronger quality measures are put in place." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required) Health Leaders Seek Consensus over Uninsured Excerpt: "At a time when Congress has been torn by partisan battles, 24 ideologically disparate leaders representing the health care industry, corporations and unions, and conservative and liberal groups have been meeting secretly for months to seek a consensus on proposals to provide coverage for the growing number of people with no health insurance. The participants, ranging from the liberal Families USA to the conservative Heritage Foundation and the United States Chamber of Commerce, ...." (The New York Times; one-time registration required) The Second Edition of HSA Road Rules It is necessary to fill out a personal data form at the target page in order to download the Second Edition of HSA Road Rules. (The HSA Insider) Fidelity Investments Identifies Keys to Successful Health Savings Account Rollout by Employers Excerpt: "Fidelity Investments says employers that make sweeping changes to their health plan designs, require an 'active' enrollment and launch extensive communication and education programs prior to open enrollment see higher enrollment in HSA-based plans than do employers that take a less aggressive approach." (INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE via AISHealth.com) LTC Tax Break Bill Returns to Congress Excerpt: "Efforts to create an 'above the line' tax deduction for consumer long term care insurance premium payments are back on the agenda in the U.S. House of Representatives. Reps. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., and Earl Pomeroy, D-N. D., have introduced 'The Long-Term Care and Retirement Security Act of 2005,' H.R. 2682, an LTC tax break bill based on a similar bill introduced in 2003." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free one-time registration or paid subscription required) Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General Employee Benefits Administration: Common Errors to Avoid Excerpt: "It happens all the time. An employee misses an intended benefit because of some oversight. If it is your fault, there can be huge liability. Even if it is the employee's fault, he or she will suffer. Know the 'cracks' that benefits can fall through and seal them: ...." (Washington Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required) DOL's Wirtz Labor Law Library Lists Labor & Employment Blogs Excerpt: "Blogs are chronologically ordered online journals. They can be a useful source of current information for a particular area of law. The blogs [on the target page] are written by a lawyer and a law professor who specialize in labor and employment law." (U.S. Department of Labor) Newly Posted Events College for Advanced Management of Health Benefits in Illinois on July 25, 2005 presented by National Business Coalition on Health Newly Posted Press Releases PenChecks, Inc. Announces the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits (Pension Group, Inc., The) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Benefits Administrators for Coty & Bruce Benefits, Inc. in CA Compensation Analyst for Giant Eagle in PA Account Executive for Transamerica in MD Contract Analyst for Transamerica in CA Client Administration for M Benefit Solutions in OR Regional Service Coordinator for Standard Insurance Company in TX Mutual Fund Analyst/Asst Portfolio Manager for Kravitz, Davis, Sansone in CA Relationship Manager for Morningstar Inc. in IL, IN, MI Defined Contribution Plan Administrator for Suburban Philadelphia Pension Consulting Firm in PA Associate Attorney for Blitman & King LLP in NY Pension Administrator for A & S Shapiro Pension Consultants, Inc. in MD ERISA Associate for Edwards & Angell, LLP in MA 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. 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