BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter June 1, 2005 Today's sponsor: University of California Press (Click on company name or banner to learn more.) What's behind ERISA? In his new book, 'The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974: A Political History,' Professor James Wooten provides a revealing look at the politics behind ERISA. Drawing on extensive research in unpublished documents and interviews with legislators and congressional and agency staffers, Wooten provides a comprehensive and detailed account of ERISA's evolution and enactment. For professionals in the field of employee benefits, Wooten's book will be both an engrossing read and an invaluable resource. (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) California State Senate Votes 24-14 for Universal Health Care Excerpt: "The state Senate approved a bill Tuesday to create a universal health-care system overseen by an elected commissioner, although many of the details have yet to be worked out." (AP via Los Angeles Daily News) Employee Benefit News and JHA Find Better Absence Management Needed Excerpt: "Employers are slow to deal with absence management problems or invest in solutions, according to the 2005 Absence Management Survey .... More than a third of companies don't know the number of unscheduled absences, and only 12% of companies participating in the survey are actually tracking the cost of absenteeism. [Companies] were asked to estimate how much it costs them each day an employee is absent. The average cost was $260 per employee per day absent." (BenefitNews Connect) Employers Need to Examine Paid Leave Closely to Better Meet Workers' Needs Excerpt: "Strategic thinking about paid leave may help employers to better meet workers' needs and budget more wisely for paid leave expenses, experts say. Carol Sladek, a work/life practice leader at consulting firm Hewitt Associates, advises employers to look at paid leave holistically, piecing together elements like vacation, holidays, sick time, personal days, short-term disability and long-term disability." (BenefitNews Connect) Health Insurers Lose a Round: High Court Refuses to Throw Out Physicians' Class-Action Lawsuit Excerpt: "UnitedHealth Group Inc., WellPoint Inc. and five other health insurers lost a U.S. Supreme Court bid to derail a class-action lawsuit that alleges they systematically underpaid 600,000 doctors for treating patients. For the second time this year, the justices rebuffed an industry appeal in the case. The high court turned aside the latest petition without comment as part of a list of orders released in Washington." (Bloomberg News via The Hartford Courant; one-time registration required) GAO Report: Health Information Technology -- HHS Is Taking Steps to Develop a National Strategy 92 pages. Excerpt: "GAO was asked to provide an overview of HHS's recent efforts to develop a national health IT strategy for realizing the President's vision, and to identify lessons learned from DOD's, VA's, and other countries' experiences in implementing health IT. [Highlights of the report are at http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05628high.pdf.]" (U.S. Government Accountability Office) Good Economic Times Can Mean Health Risk Excerpt: "When the economy improves, the number of car and workplace accidents rise, as people are on the job and on the road more often. Deaths from heart attacks, flu and pneumonia increase, too. Cancer deaths do not change and suicides fall, but not by nearly enough to overcome the other increases in mortality. Smoking rises, as does obesity, during a boom. Physical activity falls. The part of the population that drinks remains the same, but some moderate drinkers become heavy drinkers." (The New York Times; one-time registration required) Overview: New Medicare Drug Benefit Requires Employer Planning (PDF) 4 pages. Excerpt: "With the new Medicare pres.cription drug benefit looming on the horizon, employers who provide retirees with health coverage have many issues to consider and tasks to perform. Besides determining how their plans stack up to the Medicare Part D benefit and deciding how to respond, employers must clearly communicate to their retirees regarding how the new Medicare pres.cription drug benefits will affect them." (Buck Consultants LLC) Employers Can Identify Employees' Problem-Drinking Costs Excerpt: " A free alcohol cost calculator (http://www.alcoholcostcalculator.org/business) can help employers boost their bottom lines by treating chronic alcoholics. The average 20,000-employee company yields some 1,800 problem drinkers costing the company $6.9 million annually in productivity and other costs, according to Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems, part of the George Washington University Medical Center." (BenefitNews Connect) Firms Try to Predict Health of Workers: Warding Off Employee Illnesses Cuts Costs Excerpt: "Big companies have seen per-worker health-care costs rise by more than 80 percent since 2000, according to benefits consultant Hewitt Associates. Struggling to get ahead of this curve, companies ... are turning to an emerging science called predictive modeling that promises to help them control spending by intervening before workers get seriously ill. They're analyzing claims data and information collected from employees about their lifestyles for clues ...." (Chicago Tribune; one-time registration required) Employees Achieve Health, Exchange Pounds for Cash under Nutrition and Recreation Goals Program Excerpt: "A workout a day keeps the doctor away - and health insurance costs, as well. That's a mantra adopted by Progressive Medical Inc., a Westerville-based health- care insurance coordinator. Progressive has implemented a health and fitness incentive program for its employees by giving them inexpensive memberships to local athletic clubs, access to health and fitness seminars and the potential to reduce their health insurance premiums." (Business First of Columbus via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required) High Deductibles Gain Acceptance: Workers Sign on As Health Insurance Burden Increases Excerpt: "For years, they were the kinds of health insurance plans one found at small businesses or among the self-employed, plans that had huge deductibles and required workers to pay a lot of medical bills themselves -- everything from allergy shots and chest X-rays to the cost of a new baby." (Los Angeles Times via Houston Chronicle) Connecticut Lawmakers Would Require Health Insurers to Cover Fertility Treatment Excerpt: "A bill approved by state senators Tuesday would require insurers to cover fertility treatment needed by an estimated 70,000 Connecticut couples unable to conceive children. By a 27-7 vote, the Senate approved a bill requiring individual and group health policies to cover infertility. Right now, this coverage is offered only to group plan sponsors, which may accept or reject it." (The Hartford Courant; one-time registration required) Reforming Employer Tax Code Important Part of Changing Health System, WSJ Columnist Writes Excerpt: "The 'real problem' with the U.S. health insurance system is that it 'has been turned into a financially crazy purchase for anyone who doesn't benefit from a big enough tax subsidy,' Wall Street Journal columnist Holman Jenkins writes. He continues, 'Policy could be helpful in honestly recognizing that the huge tax subsidy for employer-provided health insurance is the original engine of excessive spending.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation) Lawmaker, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., Proposes End to Employer-Owned Health Coverage Excerpt: "A Georgia Republican wants to get employers out of the business of buying health insurance for their employees. The lawmaker, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., has proposed a resolution, H.Res. 215, that calls for Congress to reshape the U.S. health care delivery system to give individuals direct ownership of their health insurance policies." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free one-time registration or paid subscription) Commentary and Links to Articles on Paying for Health Care Costs during Retirement Excerpt: "While the rising cost of health care is a big issue for those currently employed, the issue is also problematic for retirees and those approaching retirement, especially when coupled with the fact that many retiree health plans seem to be going by the wayside." (Attorney B. Janell Grenier via BenefitsBlog.com) Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General Application of an EITF Issue to Freestanding Financial Instruments Originally Issued as Compensation (PDF) 3 pages. Excerpt: "The Board directed the FASB staff to issue this FASB Staff Position (FSP) to clarify the application of EITF Issue No. 00-19, 'Accounting for Derivative Financial Instruments Indexed to, and Potentially Settled in, a Company's Own Stock,' to freestanding financial instruments originally issued as employee compensation that can be settled only by delivering registered shares." (Financial Accounting Standards Board) Audio: How Sarbanes-Oxley Has Affected Corporate Culture Excerpt: "Linda Thomsen, director of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, discusses how the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has changed corporate culture. The law is meant to protect investors by providing more accountability and transparency of investments." (Morning Edition via National Public Radio) Novel Ideas and Benefits at Borders Lure Older Workers Excerpt: "To further attract and retain these employees, Borders recently added medical and dental benefits for part-time workers. Now the firm is planning to add a corporate 'passport' program by which employees could work half the time in a store in one part of the country and the other half at a different store." (Workforce Management; one-time registration required) Joint Committee's Explanation of Tax Bills During 108th Congress: Links to Principal Benefits Laws (PDF) This 24-page document is the complete table of contents for the Joint Committee's 591-page document entitled 'General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in the 108th Congress' (May 2005); BenefitsLink has marked the principal employee benefits laws in red. Those red marks are clickable hypertext links to separate PDF documents we've prepared for you, containing the Joint Committee's explanations of each of those employee benefits laws. (U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Taxation) Reduced Price on Materials from 2003 ALI-ABA Conference: Representing the Closely-Held Business $49 direct from ALI-ABA; presentations included 'New Planning Opportunities for Defined Benefit Plans' by Bruce Temkin, 'New Planning Opportunities for Defined Contribution Plans' by Paula Calimafde and presentations by Roberta Casper Watson. (ALI-ABA) Newly Posted Events "Managing Migraine: The Employer's Role" Web cast in District of Columbia on June 7, 2005 presented by National Business Coalition on Health Newly Posted Press Releases Statement Of Executive Director Bradley Belt On Government Accountability Office Pension Study (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)) The Principal Financial Group Defined Benefit Statement Used as Best in Class Model to Improve Social Security Statement; Congress Asked to Make Changes Based on Review (Principal Financial Group) National Business Coalition on Health Partners with National Headache Foundation to Address Migraines in Employer Community (National Business Coalition on Health) U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor Ann L. Combs Commends GAO Report On Pension Funding Rules (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration) U.S. Department of Labor and Securities and Exchange Commission Issue Guidance Addressing Potential Conflicts of Interest of Pension Consultants (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration) The 412i Summit adds major corporate sponsors (412iCompany, The) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Associate Attorney - ERISA & Employee Benefit Funds for Blitman & King LLP in NY Director, New Business Programming for Well respected Philadelphia based Financial/Life Insurance Consulting Firm in PA Defined Benefit Pension Plan Administrator for PenSys, Inc. in NC Administrator/Operations Manager for Alliance Benefit Group of New England in NH Benefits Manager for Southern California Edison in CA Pension Administrative Consultant - Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) for Polycomp Administrative Services, Inc. in CA Pension Administration Manager - San Diego for Polycomp Administrative Services, Inc. in CA Benefits Analyst for Target in MN Enrolled Actuary for Pentec, Inc. in CT 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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