| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
January 10, 2007
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Overview: Friendlier Family Legislation for the UK (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Employees whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 1 April 2007 will be entitled to 52 weeks' maternity leave, during 39 weeks of which statutory maternity pay would be payable." (Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP)
Massachusetts Plan Could Serve as a Guide in California's Universal Health Insurance Try
Excerpt: "The plan requires about 515,000 people, most of the state's uninsured, to get health insurance by July 1 or face penalties that could include the loss of a personal income tax deduction. Medicaid was expanded somewhat to pay for those below the poverty line. The state's $1 billion pool to pay for free care was reconfigured to be used for subsidized premiums for people earning up to three times the federal poverty limit." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Audio: Comparing the California and Massachusetts Health Plans
Excerpt: "The universal health plan proposed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger follows a model established in Massachusetts. Michael Miller, director of Community Catalyst, a national health care advocacy group based in Boston, tells Steve Inskeep what the two plans have in common." (Morning Edition via National Public Radio)
Sen. Kennedy Seeks Universal Health Plan
Excerpt: "The federal government should join his home state of Massachusetts in enacting universal health coverage, says Sen. Edward Kennedy, the new chairman of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over numerous health issues." (AP via The New York Times; free registration required)
Opinion: To Make Health Care Affordable, Attack Insurers' Profits
Excerpt: "The surest way to cut costs, however, is to lighten the real hidden tax on California's families and businesses: the crushing weight of insurance industry overhead and profit. Since 2000, health insurance companies have doubled premiums to employers and families, raising them at four times the rate of inflation and faster than the cost of providing health care." (San Jose Mercury News via California Nurses Association / National Nurses Organizing Committee)
Seniors' Drug Costs: Government Versus the Internet
Excerpt: "Leaders of the new Democrat-controlled Congress have expressed concern about the out-of-pocket costs to seniors under many of the new Medicare drug plans. Some are calling for expanded coverage . . . . Others want the federal government to negotiate prices . . . . Fortunately, there is a better way: The Internet. [S]eniors can greatly reduce their out-of-pocket costs by choosing less expensive drug therapies and by choosing a plan that best meets their needs." (National Center for Policy Analysis)
Seniors on Medicare Pay 10 Times More for Drugs Than Veterans, Advocacy Group Finds
Excerpt: "Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit advocacy group, looked at the 20 top drugs prescribed to seniors and found the lowest prices charged by the top five Medicare plans exceeded the lowest prices with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs." (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
Opinion: What the California Governor's Plan Doesn't Address: Health Care Fraud
Excerpt: "Until politicians step up to the plate and take a stand employers, small and large, can institute programs to help curtail rising healthcare costs. [The target page presents] some points to consider . . . ." (The PRECEPT Employee Benefits Blog)
Data Brief: Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Priorities for the New Congress (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "The survey found that covering the uninsured is at the top of the list, with 88 percent of respondents saying that covering the uninsured is 'absolutely essential' or 'very important.'" (The Commonwealth Fund)
EBSA Announces 2006 Form M1 Available for Online Filing
Excerpt: "The 2006 form is virtually identical to 2005 version. The deadline for submitting Form M-1 (Report for Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements (MEWAs) and Certain Entities Claiming Exception (ECEs)) is March 1, 2007." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Pentagon Limits Executives' Pay Raises
Excerpt: "Pentagon officials are reducing the pool of money available for performance-based awards for senior executives, in a move that has disheartened the advocacy group that represents the executives." (GovExec.com)
Opinion: CEO Pay and Faltering Company Performance
Excerpt: "The worst possible solution would be for Congress to step in to try and correct this problem. It was lawmakers' meddling with CEO pay the last time that led to the phenomenon of gorging on stock options, which is only just coming home to roost. Call it yet another example of the law of unintended consequences." (The Motley Fool via MSNBC.com)
Few Companies Willing to Slash the Severance Pay That They Had Promised
Excerpt: "Sharper Image found itself in a distinguished spot recently when the board of the troubled retailer did what most of its counterparts in corporate America have failed to do: It cut its former CEO's severance package." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Overview of New Executive Pay Disclosures
Excerpt: "Investors will soon have a new scorecard designed to lay out in plain English just how much pay and perks are being lavished on top executives at public companies. If the goals of federal regulators are met, you won't need an MBA to decipher the numbers." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Overview: SEC's Further Executive Compensation Disclosure Changes
Excerpt: "The interim final rules, contained in SEC Release No. 33-8765 . . ., amend the disclosure contemplated by Item 402 of Regulations S-K and S-B with respect to executive compensation in the form of equity and options awards." (Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP)
Report on Legislative & Oversight Activities of Committee on Ways and Means During 109th Congress (PDF)
193 pages. The report includes a legislative review of tax, trust fund, and pension issues; health issues; social security issues; and, human resources issues. (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways And Means)
Gradient Study Finds 532 Companies at Risk of Exercise Backdating
Excerpt: "The clients of equity research firm Gradient Analytics, Inc. will now have access to its Backdating Risk Assessment List, which includes 532 companies where it found instances of potential exercise backdating." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Opinion: The Social and Economic Costs of the Baby Boomer Retirement
Excerpt: "As Congress reconvenes, pledges of 'fiscal responsibility' abound. Let me boldly predict: On retirement spending, this Congress will do nothing, just as previous Congresses have done nothing." (Robert J. Samuelson via The Washington Post; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
409A Taxation - What Happens When the Hammer Falls
Nationwide on January 23, 2007
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
CPI Opens Seattle Consulting Office
CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Actuarial Analyst V
for Stanley, Hunt, Dupree, & Rhine, Inc.
in NC
Communications Consultant, Midmarket Segment
for Fidelity Investments
in KY, MA, OH, TX
ERISA Associate
for Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC
in PA
Client Service Representative
for The Online 401(k) (Decimal, Inc.)
in CA
Defined Benefits Analyst
for Constantin Control Associates
in NJ
Benefits Coordinator
for Southern HealthCare Management
in FL
Institutional and Participant Relationship Consultant - Pittsburgh
for Gallagher Retirement Services
in PA
Benefits & Wellness Coordinator
for Schiff Hardin LLP
in IL
Pension Administrator (DB or DC)
for Benetech, Inc.
in CA, GA
Junior Contract Officer
for JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services
in MO
Global Benefits Supervisor
for Panduit Corp
in IL
Pension Administrator Assistant
for Scott, Tellier & Co., Inc.
in AZ
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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