| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
November 8, 2005
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Companies Smoke Out Health Care Savings
Excerpt: "Besides being one of the nation's largest pork providers, Premium Standard Farms Inc. provides self-funded health insurance to about 4,400 employees. Soon, tobacco users among that work force will be bringing home less bacon because more will be deducted for insurance." (Kansas City Business Journal via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
Childhood Obesity: Physical Activity and the Use of Best Practices as Key to Successful Programs
78 pages. Excerpt: "[GAO was asked] to provide information on program strategies and elements experts have identified as likely to contribute to success in addressing childhood obesity. [GAO was also asked] to provide information on how those strategies and elements have been implemented." (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
Overview: 2006 Minimums and Maximums for High-Deductible Health Plans, HSAs, and Archer MSAs
Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released Revenue Procedure 2005-70, which announced various inflation-adjusted amounts for 2006 for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Archer medical savings accounts (MSAs). The new numbers are shown in the first of the two charts .... The second chart notes the maximum annual HSA contributions for 2006." (The Segal Company)
Tiered Consumer Directed Health Care Plan Product Prompts Utilization Drop, Great-West Says
Excerpt: "Colorado-based Great-West Healthcare says its CDH plan led to a 9% reduction in medical services between January and November 2004 compared with expected utilization under a more traditional PPO." (INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE via AISHealth.com)
From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor: Lost in Transition
Excerpt: "The committee's findings and recommendations in this report are directed to cancer patients and their advocates, health care providers and their leadership, health insurers and plans, employers, research sponsors, and the public and their elected representatives. [A Fact Sheet on Employment and Health Insurance Concerns is at http://www.iom.edu/file.asp?id=30884.] " (National Academy of Sciences)
National Academy of Sciences' Study Faults Follow-Up for Cancer Patients
Excerpt: "The number of cancer survivors is growing rapidly, but their care is often haphazard and disjointed, so no one notices a recurrence of cancer or side effects that can occur months or years after treatment, the academy said in a new report. One reason for the lack of appropriate follow-up care, it said, is that in many cases, insurance companies and health plans do not cover the necessary tests and examinations." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
Largest Health Plan Survey Provides Information and Bargaining Power to Employers
Excerpt: "United Benefit Advisors, a national benefits advisory association, recently released the results of the 2005 UBA/Ingenix Health Plan Survey, the largest survey of employer-offered health plans ever done. Performed during the second quarter of this year, the survey compiled responses about the cost and structure of 12,176 employee health plans sponsored by more than 8,700 employers across the country." (Inside Tucson Business)
Opinion: Behind the Wal-Mart Memo
Excerpt: "Our health care system is at a crossroads, and it is hard to see how Corporate America can continue to foot so much of the bill." (Workforce Management; one-time registration required)
Placing a Value on the Health Care Benefit for Active-Duty Personnel (PDF)
70 pages. Excerpt: "Using conservative estimates, the authors find that the value of military health care benefits can be quite considerable, ranging from hundreds of dollars per year for healthy single members, who use little health care but would face health insurance premiums in the civilian sector that they do not face in the military, to thousands of dollars for military families." (RAND)
Michigan State Lawmakers Propose Bills to Lower Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "Two Republican state lawmakers are touting legislation they say would help lower the costs of health care for individuals and businesses. While the two packages, introduced in recent weeks, are unrelated, they could come as welcome relief to a state staggering under the economic burden of spiraling health care costs." (The Oakland Press)
The Effects of Pres.cription Drug Cost Sharing: A Review of the Evidence
Excerpt: "Conclusions: Cost sharing reduces the consumption of pres.cription drugs but may have unintended effects on the process and outcomes of therapy. Further research is warranted in this area. The central question for health plan managers and policy makers is whether we will continue to use cost sharing as is or make modifications to reduce unintended effects." (The American Journal of Managed Care)
Private Health Insurance: Number & Market Share of Carriers in 2004 Small Group Health Ins. Market
7 pages. Excerpt: "As a follow-up to [GAO's] 2002 report on the competitiveness of the small group health insurance market, [GAO was requested to provide] updated information on each state and the District of Columbia. Specifically, [GAO was asked] to identify -- for each state -- the number of carriers licensed in the small group market, the largest carriers, and their market share." (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
Physicians Push for Universal Health Coverage in Indiana
Excerpt: "[The Indiana doctors] want to ditch private health insurance provided by companies like Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. and adopt a government-funded, privately administered system that covers every Hoosier. They envision massive cuts in bulky overhead costs that come with private insurance, generating more money to provide care under the so-called single-payer plan." (Indianapolis Business Journal)
Opinion: Health Care Plan Proposed by Tax Reform Panel Unfairly Shifts Burden
Excerpt: "The Bush panel ... takes what could become the official first step toward dismantling the employer-based insurance system. It shifts ever more costs to workers. It assumes that people will just stop buying health care if it's too expensive. Roughly put, it expects the sick to do a cost-benefit analysis before buying the care that might make them well." (Newsday via BlueCross BlueShield Association)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Surviving Spouse Rights Supercede Named Beneficiaries
Excerpt: "The US District Court for the Southern District of Texas has ruled that the surviving spouse of a participant is entitled to the participant's benefits though the participant's ex-wife and sons were originally named as beneficiaries." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Court Approves Colorado Firm's COLI Purchases
Excerpt: "A Minnesota federal judge has blessed a move by a Colorado utility company to carry corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) policies on almost 2,500 employees. US District Judge Donovan Frank of the District Court for the District of Minnesota asserted that the corporation has an insurable interest in the life of those employees and, therefore, can be the named beneficiary on the policies." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Hay Benefits Reference Guide, October 2005, Limits & Other Numbers Affecting Retirement Plans (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Plan administrators must concern themselves with a broad array of annual limits that affect participants' retirement benefits. This Hay Benefits Reference Guide consolidates these limits to give plan administrators quick access to this information, including: ...; Current and historical data for a broad range of maximum annual limits applicable to retirement plans; and, Social Security covered compensation tables." (Hay Group; one-time registration required)
Comments on Tax Reform Panel Report
Excerpt: "The president's tax reform panel did what advisory commissions are supposed to do: Think big and offer bold ideas that force a new conversation over policy changes. And they did just that regarding health insurance." (Galen Institute)
Plan with No Employees Not Governed by ERISA
Excerpt: "The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has ruled that a pension plan that covered only the owner of the firm that sponsored it is not governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)." (PLANSPONSOR.com: one-time registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Tackling Benefit Issues From a Total Rewards Perspective
in Pennsylvania on November 16, 2005
presented by Central Pennsylvania Chapter - ISCEBS
Benefits Chicago
presented by Employee Benefit News
Benefits Philadelphia
presented by Employee Benefit News
Newly Posted Press Releases
Spencer Survey Finds That Salaries For Benefits Managers Averaged $83,743
(Spencer Benefits Reports)
SHPS Deploys Fair Isaac Blaze Advisor to Revolutionize Healthcare Spending Accounts Through Automated Business Rules Decisions
(SHPS)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Health & Welfare Associate
for Towers Perrin
in CA
Senior 401(k) Administrator -Great Workplace & Team!
for The Pension Group, Inc.
in CA
Retirement Plan Sales Consultant
for Invesmart, Inc.
in WA
Assistant Vice President/Chief Operating Officer
for MassMutual Financial Group
in MA
Defined Benefit Pension Administrator
for RSM McGladrey Inc.
in AZ
Health and Welfare Communication Analyst - Temp. to Perm.
for Constantin Control Associates
in NJ
Professional Plan Administrator
for Qualified Plan Services
in OR
Testing & Reporting Analyst
Fidelity Investments
in MA
Director - Pension Consulting Services
for RSM McGladrey Inc.
in AZ
Retirement Plan Specialist
American Funds
in VA
Employee Benefits Tax Manager
for Deloitte Tax LLP
in PA
Testing & Reporting Consultant
for Fidelity Investments
in TX
Employee Benefits Tax Associate (Staff)
for Deloitte Tax LLP
in MI, OH
Employee Benefits Tax Senior
for Deloitte Tax LLP
in OH, PA
Retirement Plan Consultant
forIndependent Benefit Services
in MD https://employeebenefitsjobs.com/job/H44437
Annual Plan Reporting Services Manager - PA
for Vanguard
in PA https://employeebenefitsjobs.com/job/H43810
Annual Plan Reporting Administrator
for The Vanguard Group
in PA https://employeebenefitsjobs.com/job/H42010
Pension Administrator
for Retirement Planners
in VA
Pension Analyst/Administrator
for Snyder Cohn
in MD
Pension Assistant
for Preferred Pension Planning Corporation
in NJ
Retirement Planning Producer
for ALCOS
in MI
401(k) Plan Administrator
for Third Party Administration Firm
in NY
Pension Administrator
for G.M. Pensions, Inc.
in CA
Product Development
for John Mulligan & Associates
in NY
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