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April 26, 2006
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Massachusetts House Overrides Governor's Veto of Charge on Employers; $295 per Employee
Excerpt: "The Massachusetts House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to override Gov. Mitt Romney's veto of a provision in a landmark universal health care reform law that would impose an assessment on employers that don't provide health insurance." (Business Insurance; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Override of Romney's Veto of Charges on Employers Makes a Bad Bill Worse
Excerpt: " The Legislature overrode the governor's veto of the controversial per-person business 'assessment' (read: tax) on firms not offering insurance and the veto on some of the Medicaid expansions." (Council for Affordable Health Insurance)
Integrated Health and Productivity: An Essential (Winning) Strategy
5 pages. Excerpt: "The answer [to high medical costs for employers] lies in adopting a new approach to health care expenditures that promises to deliver better value and improved return on investment.... In short, plan sponsors need to tackle the root causes of high medical costs if they are to win the financial battle." (Aon)
New York State Businesses Wary of Bills Mandating Health Care Coverage
Excerpt: "Employers would be required to provide workers with coverage or pay $3 for every hour a non-insured employee works into a special fund for coverage." (The Business Review via bizjournals.com; one-time registration required)
California Proposal for Mandatory Health Insurance Approved by Legislative Committee
Excerpt: "[The committee-approved] bill would create a benefits fund that would be financed by employers that do not offer health insurance to their workers, individual premiums and state-appropriated dollars." (BCBSHealthIssues.com)
Attorneys General Protest Health Bill
Excerpt: "A group of 39 state attorneys general told federal lawmakers Tuesday that they oppose legislation soon to be considered in the Senate that would let small businesses buy insurance policies that bypass state coverage requirements." (AP via New York Times; one-time registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Aon Consulting's 2006 National Employee Benefits Trends Survey: Key Findings (PDF)
Excerpt: "In 2006, the most commonly implemented cost-control features include: disease management (37%); conducting a vendor search to ensure competitive rates (36%); enabling Internet- or Intranet-accessed health care tools (36%); and developing wellness communication campaigns (32%)." (Aon)
2nd Circuit Clarifies ERISA Notice Requirements for Benefit Plans
Excerpt: "Workers who are required to provide proof of work performed in order to receive the appropriate credit under a benefit plan must get notice of this requirement in the plan description, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled." (Law.com)
Deferred Compensation Planning Opportunities For Executives of Tax-Exempt Entities
Excerpt: "[C]hanges in the Code, which became effective in 2002, eliminated the offset of amounts deferred under an eligible Code Section 457 plan against deferrals that the executive may make under a tax-sheltered annuity or a 401(k) plan, thereby permitting an executive to 'double up' his or her pre-tax deferrals." (Buchanan Ingersoll)
Deferred Compensation Planning Opportunities For Physicians Employed by Hospital-Controlled Entities
Excerpt: "[B]y carefully tying additional deferrals to the physician's targeted retirement date and inserting appropriate provisions in the physician's employment agreement, the physician can effectively defer significant additional compensation, subject only to a risk of forfeiture in the event that the physician elects to voluntarily terminate employment prior to the targeted retirement date." (Buchanan Ingersoll)
Newly Posted Events
Code Section 409A Workshop
Nationwide on June 7, 2006
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
Gilsbar, Inc. Announces New Product Developer to Launch Innovative Health Plan Services
(Gilsbar, Inc.)
Actuaries: How will Boomers Pay for Retirement?
(American Academy of Actuaries)
Patients With Over $680K In Medical Bills Call For Ban On Junk Health Insurance
(Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
2006 Environmental, Social Shareholder Proxy Resolutions Up From 2005, With Emphasis on Global Warming, Toxics and Political Donations
(Social Investment Forum)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Employee Benefits Administration
for Primary Consulting, Inc.
in ANY STATE
Plan Administrator
for Alliance Pension Consultants, LLC
in IL
401(k) Coordinator
for Beneco, Inc.
in AZ
Relationship Manager
for Principal Financial
in IL
Operations Delivery Director
for Fidelity Investments
in NC
401(K) Plan Administrator
for Fringe Benefit Administrators, Ltd.
in LA
Pension Administrator
for The Bay Ridge Group
in NY
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
Copyright 2006 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you may reprint this newsletter in full (including this sentence) without obtaining our permission.
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