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January 22, 2007
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Bush to Urge New Tax Plan for Health Care Coverage
Excerpt: "President Bush intends to use his State of the Union address Tuesday to tackle the rising cost of health care with a one-two punch: tax breaks to help low-income people buy health insurance and tax increases for some workers whose health plans cost significantly more than the national average." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Legal Issues Legion with Disease Management and Wellness Programs
Excerpt: "When navigating the disease management and wellness program waters, benefit managers need to be watchful for legal snags that can easily capsize their best-intended efforts." (Employee Benefit News)
2004-2006 State Legislation on Health Savings Accounts and Consumer-Directed Health Plans
Excerpt: "The target page supplies links to NCSL resources, a table of the 2005-2006 HSA Legislation (Enacted bills and signed laws), and News, Opinions, Reports and Useful Links on CDHPs and HSAs." (National Conference of State Legislatures)
Failure To Remit Health Plan Contributions: Criminal Prosecutions Under 18 U.S.C. Section 664
Excerpt: "Withholdings from employee wages for health plan contributions must be timely remitted to the funding of group health plan obligations. The failure to remit funds owing to the plan can constitute embezzlement under federal statute 18 U.S.C. 644." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Overview: ERISA Does Not Preempt Claims of Breach of Agreement to Pay Medical Benefits
Excerpt: "At first glance, one may be tempted to attribute the Stiles decision to a peculiarity of Texas law without broader implications. On closer consideration, however, the case holds broader value as an insight into how an agreement to pay claims outside of an ERISA plan can cost an employer the defenses available under ERISA." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Women Opting In with Flexible Work Arrangements
Excerpt: "A new study of 400 women professionals by the Simmons School of Management in collaboration with Hewlett-Packard found that most are not 'opting out' of leadership roles or abandoning their careers." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Giving Employees Rest Time Benefits Business
Excerpt: "[A]dvocates of employee-friendly policies long have known [that h]appy and rested workers are better workers." (Chicago Tribune; free registration required)
California Governor's Budget Omits $380 Million State Employee Retiree Health Care Item
Excerpt: "When an employee works for the state, the state pays up to 85 percent of the monthly premium. When they retire, the state pays 100 percent of the monthly premium (90 percent for dependents). There is no cap on the premium." (Capitol Weekly News)
Opinion: Office and Factory Infirmaries Will Hardly Solve the Nation's Entrenched Health Care Crisis
Excerpt: "For employees, a clinic is a major time saver, convenient and cheap (or even free). For companies, spending a relatively small amount of money on early detection and basic preventive care can save on expensive hospital bills down the line." (The New York Times; free registration required)
House Approves Bill to Allow HHS to Directly Negotiate Prescription Drug Prices for Medicare Part D
Excerpt: "Democrats have argued for giving HHS authority to negotiate prescription drug prices for Part D beneficiaries since Congress enacted the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003. In general, their position is that the Medicare program should be allowed to use its power as a market participant to negotiate cheaper prescription drug prices. That, in turn, would help keep down the Part D program's costs for beneficiaries and taxpayers." (Deloitte)
Overview: Massachusetts Health Care Reform -- HIRD Form and Free Rider Surcharge Rules Withdrawn
Excerpt: "The withdrawn measures include the Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure (HIRD) form requirement and Employer Surcharge for State Funded Health Costs (aka the 'free rider surcharge'). The DHCFP said that it will hold new hearings and reissue these regulations in advance of the July 1 effective date." (Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C.)
Overview: President Bush Will Propose Health Care Plan of Tax-Based Aid for Consumers
Excerpt: "President Bush outlined a proposal for improvement in the health care delivery system in his radio address this weekend. The proposal features a tax deduction for people who get health coverage either at work or on their own. On the other hand, employer-provided health insurance would be counted as income and thus would become taxable - constituting a tax increase for an estimated 20% of employees. . . . The text of the radio address is [provided on the target page]." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Premium Cost Under Massachusetts Universal Health Insurance Law Higher Than Expected
Excerpt: "A state panel yesterday outlined for the first time the minimum requirements for coverage under the state's new health insurance law, a package estimated to cost $380 a month on average for an individual, more than $100 above recent estimates." (The Boston Globe)
Many Businesses Fear Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "Businesses are wary of a crop of new state health care proposals to reduce the number of uninsured, fearing the programs will drive up their expenses without solving the problem. Dissension already has surfaced: Maine's health insurers and businesses have balked at how the state's program to expand coverage has been funded and have filed several lawsuits over the policy." (AP via The Washington Post; free registration required)
Smoke-Free Marriott Moves to Help Workers Kick Habit
Excerpt: "[Last] October, Marriott International Inc. banned smoking in its guest rooms and work areas. But the global hotel chain took a step beyond most other companies by instituting a program to help employees drop their nicotine habit." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Pennsylvania Joins Universal Health Coverage Race
Excerpt: "Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell has unveiled a health care coverage proposal that builds on plans adopted in Massachusetts and announced in California." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration or paid subscription required)
Fourth Circuit: Maryland's Fair Share Act Is Preempted by ERISA and Unenforceable
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: As the Fourth Circuit points out, other states and local governments have adopted or are considering similar laws, so the Maryland law would require Wal-Mart to tailor its health plans to each specific state -- the very thing ERISA preemption was intended to avoid." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Text of Federal Appellate Decision Upholding Preemption of Maryland 'Fair Share' Law (PDF)
36 pages. The Maryland law required employers with 10,000 or more Maryland employees to spend at least 8% of their total payrolls on employees' health insurance costs or pay the amount their spending falls short to the State of Maryland. The Act's minimum spending provision was crafted to cover just Wal-Mart. The Fourth Circuit upheld the decision of a federal district court that found ERISA preempts (makes unenforceable) the Maryland statute. (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit)
Expert Says Expanded Health Insurance Coverage Possible in Iowa
Excerpt: "Iowa is in a good position to expand health insurance coverage to all residents, a national expert told legislators Wednesday. . . . In 2005, 9 percent of Iowa adults younger than 65 lacked health insurance, the Census Bureau said. That was the second-lowest rate of any state, and it was far lower than the national average of nearly 16 percent." (The Des Moines Register)
Hearing Testimony: Learning from High Performance Health Systems Around the Globe
Excerpt: "Invited testimony of Karen Davis before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Hearing 'Health Care for All Americans: Challenges and Opportunities,' January 10, 2007." (The Commonwealth Fund)
General Motors Considers Goodyear Agreement on Health Care Obligations for Union Retirees
Excerpt: "General Motors might 'mimic an accord' between Goodyear Tire & Rubber and the United Steelworkers of America in an 'attempt to shed billions of dollars in retiree health care obligations,' . . . ." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Employers Show Focus on Aging Workforce
Excerpt: "Employers are steadily developing strategies to broaden their understanding of an aging workforce, including conducting studies of their labor pool, finds a recent survey by the Center on Aging and Work, a Massachusetts-based research group." (BenefitNews Connect)
Commentary: Boomers' Work Plans Good News for Economy
Excerpt: "New research suggests that aging boomers plan to work longer than people born just a dozen years earlier. If they do, the economy will pump out more goods and services and mitigate the economic pressures created by an aging population." (Albany (N.Y.) Times Union via Urban Institute)
Appellate Court Reinstates Deferred Compensation Plan Case
Excerpt: "The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated a case brought by a deferred compensation plan participant who claimed her former employer violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by failing to pay her the benefits she accrued under the plan after she terminated her employment." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Overview: Tax Code Section 162(m) Limitation on Deductions for Entertainment Use of Business Aircraft
Excerpt: "Taxpayers that currently sponsor plans that provide for awards of performance-based compensation intended to comply with IRC § 162(m) may be able to make changes to the plans to provide benefits in cash or in-kind (e.g., entertainment use of corporate aircraft). Depending on the terms of the plan, it may be necessary to amend the plan to provide for in-kind payments." (Deloitte)
Overview: SEC Revision of Executive Compensation Rules
Excerpt: "The new revisions were adopted as interim final rules so they could be in effect for the 2007 proxy season." (Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC)
Opinion: Executive Compensation -- Worth Every Last Million
Excerpt: "Executive compensation today isn't the sinful overindulgence of greedy executives that it's made out to be. There may be some abuse among the 7,500 publicly traded corporations in the country, but most of the CEOs who receive those huge pay packages not only earn them but also, yes, deserve them." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Executive Remuneration Update: SEC Revision of Rules for Disclosing Equity Compensation
Excerpt: "This update provides an overview of the revisions and possible implications for company disclosure." (Mercer Human Resource Consulting LLC and Mercer Investment Consulting, Inc.; free registration required)
Comparing and Customizing SAS 70 Reports
Excerpt: "As a benefits manager, I receive SAS 70 reports from a number of service providers, but no two reports are alike. Why is this, and what should I really be looking for in these reports?" (Employee Benefit News)
Book Review: The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health Care, & Retirement
Excerpt: "[T]o Jacob Hacker, author . . ., the effort to dismantle the Social Security system on which so many Americans depend is one piece of a larger campaign that, in the name of personal responsibility, is exposing Americans to the sorts of financial and health risks that can potentially wreck their lives." (California Literary Review)
Opinion: Fragile Hopes for Bipartisan Rescue of Social Security
Excerpt: "President Bush is renewing his call for a bipartisan effort on Social Security, but few other issues so clearly highlight the limits of bipartisanship these days, the mistrust and ideological division just barely below the surface." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
2007 Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program Update
in South Carolina on March 22, 2007
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Uncommon Solutions to Common Plan Problems
in Ohio on February 6, 2007
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council of Cleveland
Newly Posted Press Releases
Accredited 401k Training for Retirement Professionals to be Offered February 8-9 through Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh
Financial Service Standards, LLC.
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Health/Welfare Consultant - Benefits Evaluation Team
for Hufnell, Inc Executive Recruiters - Benefits Outsourcing, Benefits and HR
in PA
Benefits Analyst / Underwriter
for Northwestern Benefit Corporation of Georgia
in GA
Lead Benefits Analyst
for Countrywide Financial
in CA
Internal Service Representative
for Northwestern Benefit Corporation of Georgia
in GA
Consulting Actuary, Health Practice
for First Niagara Benefits Consulting
in NY
Retirement Plan Administrator
for Capital City Bank Group, Inc.
in FL
Pension Administrator
for Matthews, Gold, Kennedy & Snow, Inc.
in AZ
Programmer / Analyst
for First Niagara Financial Group (Subsidiary Burke Group)
in NY
Program/Project Manager-Implementation
for Fidelity Investments
in NC
Defined Contribution/401(K) Plan Administrator
for Pension Actuarial Consulting Firm in Northport, L.I., NY
in NY
Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for TravisWolff
in TX
Account Manager
for Northwestern Benefit Corporation of Georgia
in GA
Supervisor, Operational Compliance and Calculations
for University of California, Office of the President
in CA
Broker Dealer Chief Compliance Officer/ Executive Benefits Attorney
for Retirement Capital Group
in CA
Senior Relationship Manager – Retirement Plans
for T. Rowe Price
in MD
Client Manager
for Benetemps
in MA
Data Implementation Administrator
for Vanguard
in PA
Benefits Analyst
for Vanguard
in PA
Client Relationship Administrator
for Vanguard
in PA
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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