December 30, 2005 Today's sponsor: Health Benefits Conference & Expo (HBCE) (Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Boomers to Overload Health System Excerpt: "The nation's health care system is in for a shock as the baby boomers move into their retirement years. Geriatric care specia.lists agree that medical resources will be inadequate for the burgeoning senior population, expected to double from 35 million to 70 million in less than 20 years." (The Washington Times) Disability Administrative Panel Upheld in Benefits Denial Excerpt: "A federal appellate court panel has cleared a disability pension benefit plan's administrative committee of any wrongdoing by denying benefits to a woman who hadn't yet met an age minimum before becoming disabled." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required) List of Hospital Rates Largely Meaningless Excerpt: "Each year, typically in December or May, hospitals run newspaper advertisements announcing their price increases for the coming year and listing a sampling of their prices. The ads, required by state law, are largely an anachronism - a meaningless one at that. The rate increases and the prices in the ads generally have no relationship to what private and government health plans pay or, for that matter, which hospitals have the best prices." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; one-time registration required via BlueCross BlueShield Association) Overview: Avoiding Double Charges Due to the Introduction of the New Dutch Health Care Insurance Act Excerpt: "Effective 1 January 2006, you are not only required to pay an annual contribution of up to EUR 1,950 for every employee, you must also continue your current contractual contribution towards the costs of private health insurance." (Baker & McKenzie) HealthLeaders Magazine December Cover Story: The Employers' Last Stand? Excerpt: "Two trends emerge. First, American employers are no longer going to play the role of passive consumer. Whether through participation in Leapfrog or other cooperative efforts to drive quality, employers are willing to dirty their hands in the push to improve the healthcare system." (HealthLeaders News) State Profiles: Reforming the Health Care System 2005, 13th Edition Excerpt: "This 13th edition of the AARP Public Policy Institute data book is a compilation of data on many dimensions of health in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Published annually since 1990 and biennially since 2001, the State Profiles series was developed to help inform policy discussions among public and private sector leaders in health care throughout the United States." (AARP) Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General Opinion: How Bedrock Promises of Security Have Fractured Across America Excerpt: "Companies are discarding traditional pensions -- or making government foot the bill. Delphi workers struggle with the changing landscape." (Los Angeles Times via KTLA) Overview: Hurricane Relief Bill, Including Pension Provisions, Becomes Law Excerpt: "On December 21, 2005, President Bush signed the Gulf Opportunity Zone (GO Zone) Act of 2005 (H.R. 4440). The hurricane tax relief bill codifies and expands the pension-related relief provided under the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005 (KETRA) (P.L. 109-73) to include victims of Hurricanes Rita and Wilma." (CCH INCORPORATED) Anchorage to Offer Domestic Partner Benefits Excerpt: "The city of Anchorage is planning to offer benefits to same-sex partners of public employees to comply with a recent Alaska Supreme Court ruling -- and advocates said Thursday the state would be wise to do the same." (Southern Voice) Additional Guidance on Code Section 409A: Strategies for Dealing with Discounted Stock Options Excerpt: "This is the third installment in [Orrick's] series of articles concerning the impact of new Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code ('Section 409A'). .... This installment concerns 'fixes' for discounted stock options. Please note, while the focus of this article is on discounted stock options, the same basic principals would apply to discounted stock appreciation rights as well." (Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP) Valuing Private Company Stock for Compensation Purposes -- Practical Guidance Excerpt: "Internal Revenue Code Section 409A, along with recent changes in financial accounting rules, has significantly increased the focus of private companies on accurately valuing their common stock for purposes of granting options and other equity incentive awards. Section 409A has upped the ante by imposing severe tax consequences on individuals for certain stock-based compensation that does not comply with the new deferred compensation tax rules, ...." (Perkins Coie) Audio: SEC May Call for Disclosure of Executive Benefits Excerpt: "Security and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris Cox has a plan for corporations to publicly reveal executive benefits and pension valuations. Nell Minow, a stockholder activist and co-founder of the Corporate Library, discusses Cox's new plan." (All Things Considered via National Public Radio) 2006 Government Benefits Update for Can.ada (PDF) 35 pages. Excerpt: "In addition to the annual updating of numerical tables, there have been some significant changes to benefit plans in the past year. The greatest change involves the pending introduction of the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, which has necessitated changes to employment insurance rates and premiums, and to maternity, parental and adoption benefits in Quebec." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide) Future of Employment-Based Retiree Health and Pension Benefits Looks Cloudy Excerpt: "When Verizon Communications announced this month that it would freeze pension and retiree medical benefits for about 50,000 management employees, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg raised retirement insecurities of workers everywhere. 'This restructuring reflects the realities of our changing world,' Mr. Seidenberg said. 'Companies today, including many we compete with, are not adopting defined benefit pension plans or subsidized retiree medical benefits.'" (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via Insurance Newsnet) Newly Posted Events Cash Balance and Other "Hybrid" Plans: Will They Survive? in Ohio on January 19, 2006 presented by WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefits Network) Cleveland Chapter Newly Posted Press Releases Bankers Form Health Savings Account Council (American Bankers Association) Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Retirement Compliance and Administration Associate for Towers Perrin in NJ Chief Operating Officer for The MGIS Companies, Inc. in UT Administrative Assistant / Paralegal for National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) in VA Account Executive Director for The Principal Financial Group in MI Retirement Plan Administrator for Alliance Benefit Group of New England in NH Handy Links:
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