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January 25, 2007
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Bush Wants to Level Health Care Playing Field
Excerpt: "Ultimately, the Bush Administration thinks that the contemplated behavioral changes will mean that, 'within the medium-term,' health expenditures could be lowered by about half a percentage point of gross domestic product." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Bush Health Plan Would Gut Current Coverage, According to Critics
Excerpt: "Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy . . . said he would fight the proposals. 'This policy would immediately impose a new tax on nearly 7.5 million Americans who now have good employer-sponsored coverage,' Kennedy said in a statement. 'It penalizes workers with good health care -- many of whom are middle or lower income -- and creates a disincentive for employers to provide comprehensive coverage, particularly those whose employees are older or sicker.'" (Reuters via The New York Times; free registration required)
In Response to Bush's Proposal, Democrats Offer Health Plan of Their Own
Excerpt: "[T]wo Democratic congressmen -- Reps. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and John Conyers of Michigan -- reintroduced a bill that would provide guaranteed coverage for all Americans through a government-sponsored health care system." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Experts Examine Bush Health Plan -- Some Fear That Consumers Wouldn't Fare Well in Open Market
Excerpt: "It's not solving the uninsured problem and it's not solving the cost problem, so it's not really advancing what we need to have happen,' said Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health policy research organization. 'What it does is favor individual insurance. . . . The question is, should you try to undermine employer coverage?" (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Proposed Health Tax Raises Many Questions
Excerpt: "The proposal does not address numerous questions. For example, it isn't clear how the cost of premiums would be determined for a self-funded plan; or, in a plan offered by a multistate employer to all employees, whether there could be adjustments to the per-capita premium cost to reflect where employees live." (Business Insurance)
With Health Care the Main Topic, Some Ideas for a Solution
Excerpt: "'There is more frustration and less acceptance of the current system among employers than we have ever seen in my 30 years in this field,' said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, an organization made up of large companies. As a starting point, many employers and health care industry executives are pushing for expansion of the federal-state Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers children from families with incomes too high for Medicaid." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Opinion: Shame on the Knee-Jerk Opposition to Bush Health Proposal
Excerpt: "Instead of the irrational current system, in which all employer-sponsored health-care costs are deductible, Bush would create a standard deduction that would replace existing deductions for health insurance, both employer-sponsored and privately purchased, and other medical costs." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Opinion: Bush Outlines Misguided Health Care Proposal in State of the Union Address
Excerpt: "President Bush will set out in the State of the Union address a new health proposal that once again uses tax policy to encourage movement from employer-based health insurance system to one in which individuals buy health insurance on their own. Yet, the administration's plan does little to insure the uninsured, help the low income, or aid the less healthy." (The Economic Policy Institute)
Opinion: A New Prescription for Health Care
Excerpt: "In his State of the Union speech . . ., President Bush proposed steps to make health insurance more affordable by reducing taxes on health benefits for some workers and encouraging others to be more prudent health-care consumers. The changes would dramatically reduce the number of uninsured, allowing tens of millions of Americans to save thousands of dollars a year on insurance." (New York Post via Cato Institute)
Opinion: President Offers Remedy for a Root Cause of Health Sector's High Costs & Uninsured Rates
Excerpt: "'Changing the tax code is a vital and necessary step to making healthcare affordable for more Americans,' Mr. Bush said last night in his State of the Union address to Congress. Exactly. But rather than offer the Castor Oil that the policy community has been recommending for decades (and which I described in my newsletter last week), the president took the debate into an entirely new realm by prescribing a honey-coated therapy." (Galen Institute)
Opinion: Health Care's Game of 'Let's Pretend' -- Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic?
Excerpt: "Bottom Line: Sooner or later (and sooner is a better bet) private insurance will not be provided by employers (in which case the private system itself may be non-viable), and will not be affordable by employees, and at that point, like it or not, 'let's pretend' gambits will run out, and National Health will run in." (Pension & Benefits Blog)
Sen. Wyden's Universal Health Coverage Proposal: 'The Healthy Americans Act'
Excerpt: "The proposal has received some positive support from both organized labor and employers. As demonstration of this support, Sen. Wyden was joined at the press briefing by Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Steve Burd, Safeway CEO, and Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, among several other representatives of business and health care provider and advocacy groups." (Hewitt Associates)
ERISA May Hinder California Governor's Health Plan
Excerpt: "The 1974 law's federal 'preemption is a problem the governor has to look at,' said Trudi Hughes, Wal-Mart's senior public affairs manager, based in Sacramento. 'I would say that any sort of mandate is going to be suspect.' But the Schwarzenegger administration says no. It points out that the California plan would not be company-specific, nor would it mandate any specific kind of health benefit." (Los Angeles Times; free registration required)
'Absolute Discretion' Provision Key to PBM's Avoidance of ERISA Fiduciary Status
Excerpt: "The role of pharmacy benefit managers in plan administration continues to draw controversy. The PBM's ostensible purpose of assisting plan sponsors manage plan costs has come under scrutiny. A recent case against Caremark raises a number of frequently disputed issues in this ongoing and ultimately demonstrates the power of contractual provisions in determining the legal outcome." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
GAO Report Questions Decision by Federal Government Not To Accept Medicare Subsidies for Employers
Excerpt: "Groups that represent federal employees and retirees and the Office of Personnel Management have begun a 'pull-and-tug' over whether the federal government should receive subsidies paid to employers under the 2003 Medicare law, the Washington Post reports . . . ." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Overview: Final HIPAA Nondiscrimination Requirements and Wellness Program Rules (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "All wellness program materials that describe the terms of the program must disclose the availability of a reasonable alternative standard for obtaining a reward . . . . The regulations provide sample language for meeting this requirement." (Dechert LLP)
Total Health Management Draws from Multiple Channels
Excerpt: "Many employers believe disease management programs are an integral component to cost containment. . . . . So, how do employers get a positive return on investment? Although the right incentives clearly play a part, electronic health registries, decision-support systems and an integrated team approach make the core for a health management success story." (Employee Benefit News)
The Critical Flaw In Stop Loss Carrier Reimbursement Claims
Excerpt: "Stop loss carriers issue policies to employers who serve as plan sponsors of ERISA plans. Of course, in some cases the employer is an entity exempt from ERISA, such as a governmental entity. For purposes of this article, however, and the majority of cases, let's assume that the plan is a bona fide, self-funded ERISA plan." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Fast Facts from EBRI: Tracking Health Care Coverage of the Near Elderly (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "Near elderly adults (those ages 55-64 and nearing the normal retirement age of 65) were one of the two groups (the other was children) most likely to have health insurance coverage in 2005. But coverage levels for near elderly adults differed significantly depending on whether members of this age group were working or retired." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Plan To Shift Financial Responsibility of Retiree Health Benefits from Automakers to Unions
Excerpt: "Detroit automakers and the United Auto Workers are looking at a plan that would transfer responsibility for retiree health care from the companies to the union." (The Detroit News)
HSA Road Rules for Employers and Employees, 5th Edition, January 2007
28 pages. Excerpt: "The updated version of the popular primer includes new info on the changes recently passed into law through the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006. The fifth edition also has an expanded employer section and guidance for eligibility requirements and contribution limits, according publisher Canopy Financial. [BenefitsNews.com]" (HSA Insider; free registration required to access the PDF document)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Groups Rally Opponents of Deferred Compensation Provisions
Excerpt: "The insurance industry has secured broad business trade group support for its effort to modify or kill provisions in Senate legislation that could devastate deferred compensation plans. " (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration or paid subscription required)
Entitlement Spending: Population Aging, Entitlement Growth, and the Economy
Excerpt: "This AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper shows that an aging population is not the primary cause of our projected fiscal problems, and it points to hopeful trends that may portend a more sustainable economic future. A future 'train wreck' can be averted if we are able to maintain the same level of spending restraint in our health programs that we have already achieved in the past decade, we allow revenues to rise automatically without legislating additional tax cuts . . . ." (AARP)
1st Circuit Adopts Employee-Friendly Standard of Proof for USERRA Military Discrimination Claims
Excerpt: "In a case of first impression, the United States First Circuit Court of Appeals held that in cases brought under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), 38 U.S.C. ยง 4301 et seq., the burden is on the employer to show that the adverse employment action would have been taken regardless of the employee's military service." (Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C.)
Overview of New Tax Reporting for Employee Stock Options and Purchase Plans
Excerpt: "Congress added the reporting requirement under Code section 6039 in order to reinforce compliance. Previously, there was no incentive for employees to report ISO and ESPP transactions aside from honesty. Employees will be more likely to report stock exercises on their personal income tax returns when their employers report the exercises to the IRS." (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)
Newly Posted Events
State of the Union Address
Nationwide on January 25, 2007
presented by KaiserNetwork.org
Newly Posted Press Releases
U.S. Labor Department Sues New Britain, Conn. Company and its President to Recover Misused Assets of Employee Benefit Plan
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Social(k) Retirement Platform Embraced By Socially Conscious Companies in 2006 - Its First Year
Social(k)
Could Home Telehealth Make Nursing Homes Obsolete for Baby Boomers?
Lifetime Healthcare Companies
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
401(k) Internal Wholesaler/Specialist
for AIG SunAmerica
in CA
Employee Benefits Senior Associate
for Clifton Gunderson Financial Services
in IL
Pension Administrator
for Benefit Systems, Inc.
in TX
System Design Analyst
for SunGard Relius
in FL
Retirement Plan Administrative Assistant
for Winona National Bank
in MN
401k Defined Contributions Analyst
for Mercer HR Services
in MA
Manager of Retirement Plans
for Illinois Tool Works Inc.
in IL
Conversion Analyst
for Administaff
in TX
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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