| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
September 13, 2005
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America's Health Insurance Plans' Response to the Hurricane Disaster -- Specific Plan Information
Excerpt: "[The target page] is a listing of news updates and services being provided by AHIP member plans in response to hurricane Katrina. This site is meant to serve as a resource center providing the latest news and contact information from America's health insurance plans." (America's Health Insurance Plans)
Government Suspends Certain Health Care Laws in Response to Hurricane Katrina (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "[B]oth the Federal and the Louisiana State governments have suspended the application of certain healthcare laws to the extent necessary, ... 'to ensure that sufficient health care items and services are available to meet the needs of individuals enrolled in Medicare,Medicaid and SCHIP programs, and to ensure that health care providers that furnish such items and services in good faith, but are unable to comply ....'" (Powell Goldstein LLP)
Overview: IRS Increases Mileage Rate for Last Third of 2005
Excerpt: "In response to the spike in gas prices, the Internal Revenue Service has increased the optional standard mileage rates to 48.5 cents per mile for business miles traveled between September 1 and December 31, 2005." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Overview: IRS Issues Guidance for the Donation of Employee Leave for Hurricane Katrina Relief (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "IRS Notice 2005-68 provides guidance for employers who have adopted or may be considering adopting employee leave-based donation programs to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. Under these programs, employees elect to donate vacation, sick or personal leave in exchange for cash payments that their employers make to organizations described in Code Section 170(c)." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
FEHBP Open Season Guide 2006 at GovExec.com Web Site
Excerpt: "GovExec.com's guide to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program Open Season for federal managers, employees and their families." (GovExec.com)
Ex-Wife Not Entitled to Disability Benefits, Rules Pennsylvania High Court
Excerpt: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a man's disability benefits are not pension benefits his ex-wife is entitled to per their property settlement." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Five Ways to Make Sure Your HIPAA Compliance Remains Effective
Excerpt: "No amount of preparation is likely to insulate your organization from the damage that can be done by disgruntled employees who post PHI on a Web site, or thugs who break into your facility at night to steal personal information. No matter how hard you try, you could someday face one of these types of privacy-related PR nightmares." (REPORT ON PATIENT PRIVACY via AISHealth.com)
Providers Say Strong DM Capabilities Yield Better Performance on P4P Efforts
Excerpt: "The growing popularity of pay-for-performance (P4P) programs is helping to reshape the economics of physicians' disease management programs. Not only are providers finding that internal DM programs help them perform better in P4P initiatives -- but these medical groups also are able to use the bonus payments to offset the costs of developing DM program infrastructure and capabilities." (INSIDE DISEASE MANAGEMENT via AISHealth.com)
Lost in Translation: Consumer Health Information in an 'Interoperable' World (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Each day, more people seek information from online sources than from their own physician. But availability of information does not necessarily translate into understanding or taking appropriate actions. While momentum builds for a National Health Information Network infrastructure, it remains unclear what role patients will play in the interconnected world of providers." (California HealthCare Foundation)
Free Electronic Health Record Software Is on Hold
Excerpt: "VistA-Office, based on the EHR system that the Department of Veterans Affairs developed for use in VA hospitals and clinics, was supposed to be released in July and then in August." (Government Health IT)
The State of Managed Care Reinsurance (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "An important trend in the HMO reinsurance market is the continued consolidation of the HMO industry. The merger-and-acquisition activity of the major chains continues to shrink the size of the commercial and Medicaid reinsurance opportunities as these publicly held corporations strive for growth. They do this to achieve economies of scale, expand their market penetration in various geographic areas, and demonstrate revenue/earnings growth to their shareholders." (Contingencies)
Employers Predict Average Health Cost Hike of 6.4%
Excerpt: "Employers are predicting that their health care plan costs will increase by an average of just 6.4% in 2006, according to a survey released Monday by Mercer Human Resource Consulting." (Business Insurance)
Overview: Part D Pres.cription Drug Benefits/Subsidies for Employer-Sponsored Retiree Drug Coverage (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "In responding to the new Part D program, employers have the following options for providing pres.cription drug coverage to Medicare-eligible retirees: 1) Provide an 'actuarially equivalent' pres.cription drug plan and receive a tax-free federal subsidy; 2) Provide separate drug coverage that supplements or 'wraps around' Medicare Part D;3) Coordinate drug coverage through Medicare Pres.cription Drug Plans (PDPs); 4) Sponsor an employer PDP through a waiver process with ...." (Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company)
Innovation Needed to Sustain Momentum of Consumer Directed Health Plans, Experts Say
Excerpt: "Before CDH can succeed, health plans must reinvent themselves so that members see them as health advocates rather than merely insurance carriers, according to Craig Swanson, a partner with the Sequoi Group, a Minneapolis-based CDH consulting company founded by four former Definity Health officials." (INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE via AISHealth.com)
Considerations and Design Options for a Government-Sponsored Medical Reinsurance Program (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Policy-makers are considering offering government-provided reinsurance to health plans as part of an overall solution to address some of the problems in the health insurance system. .... This backgrounder provides further insight on the various considerations and design options that would need to be addressed when developing such a program." (American Academy of Actuaries)
Overview: New Proposed Health Savings Account Comparability Rules Could Limit Employee Incentives
Excerpt: "New health savings account (HSA) regulations proposed by the Treasury Dept. Aug. 25 could make it difficult for employers to reward employees who participate in wellness programs and health risk appraisals." (INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE via AISHealth.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
FEI Summary: SEC Statements on Use of Market Instruments to Value Stock Options for FAS 123R
Excerpt: "On September 9, 2005, the SEC issued statements of Chairman Christopher Cox and Chief Accountant Don Nicolaisen regarding use of market instruments in valuing employee stock options for purposes of Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123R, 'Accounting for Share-Based Payment' (FAS123R or Statement 123R). A related memo of the SEC's Office of Economic Analysis (OEA) was also issued." (Financial Executives International)
Benefits Industry News Summaries for Benefit Professionals (PDF)
6 pages. This News Scan includes articles on the following: Senate Finance Committee Approves Pension Reform Bill; CRS Report Compares Proposed Pension Reform Legislation; IRS Rules Indian Tribal Police Department Constitutes Governmental Plan; and, Social Security Bill to Establish Individual 'GROW' Accounts. (Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company)
Number of Centenarians in Japan over 25,000, and Growing
Excerpt: "Japan's population of centenarians has doubled in just five years, lending urgency to government efforts to shore up its overburdened public pension system as the country's population rapidly grays. Japan is expected to have nearly 1 million people aged 100 and over by 2050 -- the highest number in the world, according to the United Nations." (AP via The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Managing ERISA Risk Series Finale: Derivatives for Pension Plans
Nationwide on September 15, 2005
presented by Financial Executives International and Denali Fiduciary Management Corporation
Retirement Plans: What Every Employer Must Know
in North Carolina on October 26, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Retirement Plans: What Every Employer Must Know
in Georgia on October 27, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Tales from the Audit Front: Managing ERISA Retirement Plan Risk
Nationwide on September 14, 2005
presented by Denali Fiduciary Management
The Roth 401(k)
in Maryland on October 6, 2005
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (WEB) - Baltimore Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases
Financial Services Firm CEO Calls For Public and Private Sectors To Unite Crisis Looms: Americans' Savings Practices Must Change
(ICMA Retirement Corporation)
Who Are the Uninsured? Study Offers Clues
(Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))
Two Step Software Announces the First Browser-Based Utility to Convert Excel Spreadsheets to Capitalization Tables
(Two-Step Software, Inc.)
Crisis Looms: America's Savings Practices Must Change
(ICMA-RC)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Professionals
for Associated Pension Consultants
in CA
2nd Vice President, Plan Administration
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
Operations Manager
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
Sales Manager
for ING US Financial Services
in CT
Retirement Services Trust Sales Administrator
for Regions Financial Corporation
in IA, KY, MS, TN
Senior Pension Administrator/ Conversions Management Specialist
for American Pensions, Inc.
in SC
Sales Consultant (New Position)
for Miami Valley Pension, A Brady Ware Company
in OH
Manager of Executive and Institutional Benefit Design
for GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention
in TX
Actuarial Valuation Specialist
for Actuarial Designs & Solutions, Inc.
in ME
Compliance Analyst
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
OmniPlus Training Development and Implementation
for Chesapeake Benefit Partners
in ANY STATE
Retirement Actuarial Associate
for Towers Perrin
in CO
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