| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
October 19, 2005
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UAW Seeks Protection Against Unilateral Health Care Cuts for Retired Workers, Spouses, Dependents
Excerpt: "The United Auto Workers asked a federal court Tuesday to protect the rights of 500,000 retirees and their spouses and dependents from any unilateral health care cuts by General Motors Corp. The legal action brought in U.S. District Court in Detroit is an initial step in getting court approval of the tentative agreement between GM and the UAW to reduce the automaker's health care costs by $1 billion annually after taxes." (The Detroit News)
General Motors' Workers Dread Higher Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "General Motors Corp.'s breakthrough deal with the United Auto Workers not only will mean higher medical costs for 750,000 blue-collar GM workers, retirees and their families, but also is likely to trigger a wave of similar cutbacks across the auto industry." (The Detroit News)
Tax Advisers to Bush Prepare Two Overhaul Plans, Include Employer-Paid Health Insurance Premiums
Excerpt: "President Bush's tax advisory commission agreed on Tuesday to recommend two alternative plans, both of which would limit or eliminate almost all existing tax deductions, including those for state and local income and property taxes." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Massachusetts' Workers Get Time Off for Organ Donation
Excerpt: "At least one state is making it easier for its workers to give of themselves -- literally." (BenefitNews Connect)
Doctors and Patients Want Data on Cost, Quality, Study Finds
Excerpt: "Consumers and doctors are hungry for information that will enable them to compare the cost and quality of different healthcare providers, according to a study by Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, the not-for-profit health insurer in Wellesley. The survey found that both patients and doctors would use information on cost and quality to make better healthcare decisions." (The Boston Globe)
IBM Workers to Get Online Access to Health Records
Excerpt: "IBM's roughly 133,000 workers in the United States will have the option to enroll in the online information system, IBM said in a memo scheduled to be sent to employees early on Wednesday. They can also sign up their dependents." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Employers Are Pessimistic that Health Costs Tide Will Turn
Excerpt: "Employers have little confidence that medical cost containment strategies employed to date offer a significant solution for rising premiums, reveals a survey of more than 12,000 employer-sponsored health plans by the independent broker coalition United Benefit Advisors." (BenefitNews Connect)
Next Year's Health Benefit Packages Will Be Painful for Employees
Excerpt: "If you work for a company that starts its fiscal year on Jan. 1 -- and 70% of employers do -- the 2006 benefits package should soon hit your mailbox. Brace yourself for sticker shock: You may even feel a little sick when you see the combination of higher costs and reduced coverage." (BusinessWeek)
Employers Track Cost of Prematurity of Employees' Children
Excerpt: "As premature birth rates have risen steadily over the past two decades, the cost has become a growing concern for employers. Health care for a premature baby can cost as much as 15 times more than care for a healthy, full-term baby, and some companies are looking at ways to help employees have healthier babies." (Atlanta Business Chronicle via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Northwest Airlines' Smokers Face Health Insurance Surcharge
Excerpt: "Northwest Airlines plans to impose a health care premium surcharge on workers who use tobacco products and is joining a growing number of companies that won't provide health insurance if spouses or domestic partners have access to it at work." (Star Tribune; one-time registration required)
Gannett Smokers to Pay Extra $50 Monthly for Health Insurance
Excerpt: "The McLean-based publisher of USA Today and 98 other daily newspapers nationwide is the latest company to institute a smoking disincentive to encourage healthy lifestyles and curb rising health care costs." (The Washington Times via BlueCross BlueShield Association)
Single-Payer Health Care Advocates Push Cause in States; Challenges Likely
Excerpt: "From Vermont to California, proponents of single-payer health care have been busy introducing legislation, circulating ballot petitions and broadening their coalitions -- all with the hope that at least one state will enact legislation that can be used as a model for national health care reform." (AMNews via Physicians for a National Health Program)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Practical Accommodation to the Application of Grant Date as Defined in FASB Statement No. 123(R) (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "This FSP is in response to recent inquiries from constituents to provide guidance on the application of grant date as defined in FASB Statement No. 123 (revised 2004), Share-Based Payment." (Financial Accounting Standards Board)
Working Paper: Why Not Retire? The Time and Timing Costs of Market Work (PDF)
43 pages. Excerpt: "Retirement ages among older Americans have only recently begun to increase after their precipitous fifty-year decline. Early retirement may result from incentives provided by retirement systems; but it may also result from the rigidities imposed by market work schedules." (University of Michigan Retirement Research Center)
Palm Beach County to Offer G.ay Partner Benefits
Excerpt: "The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to offer the same employee benefits to its current and retired employees with domestic partners as it offers to married employees and retirees. The move makes the county one of only a handful of municipalities in Florida to offer domestic partner benefits to its workers." (365G.ay.com)
Overview: Proposed Section 409A Regs Provide Increased Flexibility for Nonqualified Deferred Comp (PDF)
11 pages. Excerpt: "Generally, the proposed regulations provide service recipients (i.e., plan sponsors) with a welcomed degree of flexibility in designing deferred compensation plans and arrangements that will comply with Section 409A; although several traps for the unwary do remain." (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP)
Overview: Proposed Regulations Clarify Application of Section 409A to Foreign Benefit Arrangements (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "The proposed regulations clarify, among other things, that certain non U.S. plans and arrangements and certain arrangements with non-U.S. residents are excluded from Section 409A's scope. The proposed regulations also set forth conditions for the exclusion of which stock options and stock appreciation rights to foreign stock." (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP)
Overview: Stock Compensation Provisions in Proposed Regulations under Section 409A (PDF)
5 pages. (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP)
CalPERS Board Opposes Payments to PacifiCare Executives
Excerpt: "The fund is the first institutional investor to weigh in on a proposed sale to UnitedHealth. Directors of California's giant public pension fund voted Monday to oppose $345 million in payments that top executives of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. would reap from the sale of the health insurer to UnitedHealth Group Inc." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
How Good Is the Economy at Creating 'Good' Jobs? (PDF)
17 pages. Excerpt: "The report defines a 'good' job as one that offers decent pay (at least $16 per hour or about $32,000 per year), employer-paid health insurance, and a pension. In 2004 (the most recent year for which data are available), only 25.2 percent of American workers had a job that met all three criteria." (Center for Economic and Policy Research)
Newly Posted Events
Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Retirement Plan Distributions and Options; Communications to Retirement Plan Participants and Improving Plan Communications for Health and Welfare Plan Participants; Notice of Meeting
in District of Columbia on November 2, 2005
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration
Code Section 409A
in North Carolina on November 16, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Code Section 409A
in Georgia on November 17, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Code Section 409A
in Texas on November 17, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Code Section 409A
in Texas on November 18, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Distributions and Taxation Workshop
Nationwide on December 6, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Employee Benefits Security Administration 132nd Plenary Meeting; Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans; Notice of Meeting
in District of Columbia on November 3, 2005
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration
Estate Planning Considerations for Qualified Plans and IRAs
in North Carolina on November 15, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Estate Planning Considerations for Qualified Plans and IRAs
in Georgia on November 16, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Estate Planning Considerations for Qualified Plans and IRAs
in Texas on November 17, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Ready for Roth?
Nationwide on December 6, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Retirement Plans: What Every Employer Must Know
in Kansas on November 16, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Retirement Plans: What Every Employer Must Know
in Illinois on November 17, 2005
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
Two Letters, One Issue: Pension Reform - Council Urges HELP Panel To Reject Extreme PBGC Premiums; Encourages Full Senate To Continue Work On Pension Reform
(American Benefits Council)
Great-West Healthcare First Employee Benefit Provider to Offer Payroll Deduction Credit Card Solution
(Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company)
Bidwell Consulting Services, Inc. Adds Experienced Pension Professional
(Bidwell Consulting Services, Inc.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Benefits Project Manager
for Publix Super Markets, Inc.
in FL
Pension Administrator
for Long Island Pension Consulting Firm
in NY
Retirement Services Specialist
for Administaff
in TX
Sr. Account Manager
for CitiStreet
in NJ
Retirement Plan Consulting Supervisor
for Kibble & Prentice
in WA
Retirement Plan Analyst/TPA
for Fifty year old firm specializing in the healthcare industry
in NC
Junior Pension Plan Administrator
for Robin S. Weingast & Associates, Inc.
in NY
Benefit Implementation Specialists - TJBIS1018
for The Rosen Group
in CA, CT, MA, ME, NC, NJ, NY, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV
Manager 401(K) Recordkeeping
for NRECA
in VA
Manager, Benefits Compliance
for NRECA
in VA
Participant Education Consultant
for The Vanguard Group
in PA
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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