| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
January 26, 2007
Sponsored by: BeneCom Associates, LLC
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Benefits statements are terrific education tools. Now, they're budget-friendly, too. |
| If you're looking for a low-cost approach to communicating the value of your benefits, BeneCom Associates, LLC can help. Our "preformatted," customized and online approaches to benefit statement are attractive, very reasonably priced and used by employers across the country who thought benefits statements were financially out of reach.
To find out how little benefits statements can cost and how they can help your organization, call (860) 674-2626 or visit us at benecomassociates.com. |
Bush Touts Health Care Plan as Cost Control -- Thinks Market Forces Will Help Hold Down Prices
Excerpt: "Bush, who announced the initiative Tuesday in his State of the Union address, said it is part of a larger strategy to use private-sector forces, new technology and changes in existing government programs to hold down health-care costs and improve access to medical coverage." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
President Urging Tax Code Shift to Spread Private Coverage, While States Move in Other Directions
Excerpt: "With pressure building to reform America's healthcare system, President Bush has launched what may be his most ambitious bid to tackle the issue from a free- market basis. Lately, the momentum has appeared stronger in another direction: States have been considering mandates on employers and individuals to purchase health insurance." (The Christian Science Monitor)
Editorial: The President's Risky Health Plan
Excerpt: "The financial sinkhole in Iraq and huge tax cuts for wealthy Americans have left the administration with no money to really address the problem. To keep the program 'revenue neutral,' Mr. Bush would instead use tax subsidies to encourage more people to buy their own health insurance, while imposing additional taxes on people who have what Mr. Bush deems 'gold plated' insurance." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Opinion: Health Reform -- Four Reasons Why a Provider Tax Could Work for States
Excerpt: "For almost all states, achieving near-universal coverage will require coming up with new revenue, which almost certainly means imposing some kind of new tax or a tax increase. No tax increase will be easy to get through the political process, and a provider tax is no exception. But as this analysis shows, a provider tax has some economic advantages that make it worthy of consideration." (Health Affairs Blog)
'Health Care Proposal Will Not Have Negative Effect on Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance'
Excerpt: "Some analysts and critics have raised concerns that President Bush's tax proposal could 'create an incentive for employers to get out of the business of offering health care to workers, further eroding employment-based coverage,' Dow Jones reports (Gerencher, Dow Jones, 1/24)." (California HealthCare Foundation)
Opinion: The President's Health Insurance Proposal Is Not a Solution
Excerpt: "Although the Bush administration's plan would offer subsidies to people looking to buy insurance on the private market, it would fail to assist most of the uninsured. Insurance premiums would still be unaffordable for Americans with modest or low incomes. And the tax increase for employees would likely lead to the erosion of employer-sponsored health insurance over time." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Retiree Lawsuit on Life Insurance in Wings for Qwest
Excerpt: "As soon as the first Qwest/US West retiree passes away this year, the Denver- based phone company will be hit with a lawsuit from the Association of US West Retirees, the group's executive director Nelson Phelps said Monday. The suit will fight changes in life-insurance benefits that went into effect this month, Phelps said." (The Denver Post)
Long-Term Care Insurance and Life Insurance -- Flexibility or Simplicity in Combination Plans? (PDF)
Excerpt: "Combination plans featuring life insurance or annuities coupled with long-term care benefits have been a hot topic in industry conferences in the past year, particularly since enactment of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. But a successful launch of such products can pose some difficult challenges." (National Underwriter via Milliman)
Employer Ordered to Enroll Worker in LTD Plan
Excerpt: "A federal judge in Utah has ordered that a Utah-based Coca-Cola bottler retroactively enroll an employee in its long-term disability (LTD) plan since it had not detected that the worker had not properly enrolled on his own." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Can Washington State Democrats Pass Family Leave Bill This Time?
Excerpt: "Democratic lawmakers are taking another crack at passing one of the nation's most generous paid-family-leave benefits. Legislation introduced Wednesday would give Washington employees up to five weeks of paid family medical leave each year." (The Seattle Times)
Opinion: Paying for Public Retiree Health Care in Massachusetts
Excerpt: "Starting this year, state and local governments will be required by new accounting rules to disclose estimates of their unfunded obligations for retiree healthcare benefits. This estimate for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will exceed $13 billion -- which does not include any estimates for cities, towns, and other public entities." (The Boston Globe)
Seven Questions To Ask When Evaluating A Health Plan's Subrogation Provision
Excerpt: "When one moves beyond the ability to enforce the subrogation/reimbursement provision in an ERISA-covered health plan under ERISA Section 502(a)(3), the dispute over whether a health plan may recover from a covered person -- and, if so, how much -- almost always turns on how well the plan's subrogation/reimbursement provision is written. Here are seven things to look for when evaluating whether your provision will entitle you to make a 100% recovery:" (Tom Lawrence of Benefit Recovery, Inc. and Lawrence & Russell, LLP)
DOD and Dept. of Veterans Affairs Will Work Toward Common Inpatient Electronic Health Record System
Excerpt: "Although Assistant Sec. of Defense for Health Affairs William Winkenwerder and Veterans Affairs Sec. Jim Nicholson gave very few details of the joint EHR system, they did say that the first step would be an examination of both of the departments' clinical and business practices for common areas to serve as a base for the new system." (AISHealth.com)
House Passes Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Bill; Measure Would Not Attain Savings Say Actuaries
Excerpt: "from Spencer's Benefits Reports: On January 12, by a vote of 255-170, the House passed the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2007 (H.R. 4) . . . . The bill would amend the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit law to require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate lower covered Medicare Part D drug prices with drugmakers for Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
WP Abstract: Prescription Drug Insurance and Its Effect on Utilization and Health of the Elderly
Excerpt: "The Medicare Modernization Act was recently established, to provide limited drug coverage to the elderly. However, there is limited evidence on how drug coverage might affect health. The goal of this paper is to obtain 'causal effects' of prescription drug coverage on drug use, use of other medical services and health of the elderly." (National Bureau of Economic Research; paid subscription or individual purchase required to retrieve fulltext)
Making Dollars and Sense of Recent Drug Pricing Developments
Excerpt: "Recent legal action is shining a harsh light on questionable price reporting practices of First Databank (FDB), one of the most commonly used sources of drug pricing information by pharmacy benefit managers." (Employee Benefit News)
Independent Pharmacies Get on the Generic Drug Gravy Train
Excerpt: "To help drive down the costs of prescription drugs, some employers are encouraging their workers to bypass their insurance plans and purchase drugs directly from their local pharmacies. While there's no hard data available, companies figure they save money by not using their health insurance, and workers save money because the price of the drugs is cheaper than their insurance copays." (Employee Benefit News)
Lawmakers Consider Including Association Health Plan Amendment to Minimum Wage Legislation
Excerpt: "Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and John Thune (R-S.D.) . . . said they might introduce an amendment to a minimum wage bill that would allow small businesses to form association health plans across state lines, CongressDaily reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
EBSA 'Targeting Criteria' Enhancements Lead to Large Enforcement Gains
Excerpt: "The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) reports total monetary recoveries for FY 2006 of more than $1.4 billion. Included in this figure is $829 million in assets restored to plans and benefits recovered for individual workers, 'an increase of more than 200% over FY 2001?." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Working Paper: CEO Pensions -- Disclosure, Rent Extraction, and Incentive Contracting
Excerpt: "CEOs often receive pensions that provide life annuities of up to 60% of their final salary plus bonus. [The author investigates] the extent to which pensions are rent extraction and/or the result of incentive contracting. Specifically, [the author examines] whether CEOs exploit limited disclosure requirements to hide and/or camouflage excess pension benefits, whether pensions are associated with CEO power and/or contracting determinants, and . . . ." (Pension Research Council; registration required to download fulltext of paper)
Opinion: What Is the Idea Underlying the Limited ERISA Exceptions for Top-Hat Plans?
Excerpt: "Top-hat plans are not . . . entirely exempted from ERISA. The statute exempts them from ERISA's funding, vesting, accrual, and distribution minimum standards, and from ERISA fiduciary regulation. They are subject to minimal reporting and disclosure requirements and are also subject to Part 5 of Title I, which houses ERISA's enforcement and preemption provisions." (Pension & Benefits Blog; Posted by Norman Stein)
New Jersey Benefits, Comptroller Bills Backed
Excerpt: "Senators approved, 22-17, the creation of a state comptroller to keep spending in check by rooting out financial abuses and corruption. They then endorsed, 39-1, legislation designed to rein in the cost of public employee retirement and health benefits and end pension abuses." (Philly.com)
Boomers Worry About Effects of Cuts in Government Programs and Employee Benefits, Says Survey
Excerpt: "Researchers at a unit of MetLife Inc., New York, have published figures comparing how members of different generations view their finances in a summary of results from a November 2006 survey of 1,567 U.S. residents ages 19 and older." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration or paid subscription required)
Newly Posted Events
"Tales from the Crypt V": Understanding and Mastering the RFP Process
in Ohio on February 15, 2007
presented by WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefits Network) Cleveland Chapter
457(f) Plans - F is for Forfeiture
Nationwide on February 20, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Backdating Stock Options: Minimizing the Regulatory, Criminal & Civil Risks (Audio-Only Program)
Nationwide on January 26, 2007
presented by West LegalEdcenter
HIPAA Final Rules -- Wellness Programs and Nondiscrimination Teleweb
Nationwide on February 15, 2007
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
National Health Policy Conference
in District of Columbia on February 12, 2007
presented by AcademyHealth
Newly Posted Press Releases
DataPath Integrates with Wal-Mart’s IIAS for Electronic Substantiation of FSA-Eligible Items
DataPath, Inc.
Wal-Mart Corrects Pay Calculations
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Businesses Reap Rewards of a Healthy Workforce
Health Enhancement Systems
Wal-Mart Makes Sweetheart Deal with Bush Dept. of Labor
WakeUpWalMart.com
California Labor Commissioner Files Suit Against Wal-Mart
California State Labor Commissioner's Office
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Defined Contribution Retirement Plan Administrator
for Loren D. Stark Company, Inc.
in TX
IRA Client Services Representative
for Janney Montgomery Scott
in PA
Retirement Plan Coordinator
for The Capital Group Companies
in IN
Benefit Administration Firm Head Honcho
for Employers Administrative Services, Inc.
in IA
Client Integration Consultant
for Diversified Investment Advisors
in NY
Employee Benefits Legal Consultant II
for BB&T
in NC
Benefits Paralegal
for Trucker Huss, APC
in CA
Retirement Services Consultant
for Administaff
in TX
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
NOTE TO AOL MEMBERS: PLEASE DO NOT REPORT THIS EMAIL AS SPAM. This email is not unsolicited. We do not send unsolicited email. This email is coming to you because you asked to receive it by entering your email address on our web page at
https://benefitslink.com/newsletter/
These emails are sent each workday except federal holidays.
This email has been published by:
BenefitsLink.com, Inc.
1298 Minnesota Avenue, Suite H
Winter Park FL 32789
(407) 644-4146
Fax: (407) 644-2151
David Rhett Baker, J.D., Editor
Copyright 2007 BenefitsLink.com, Inc.; except that you can forward this email in full (including this boilerplate part) or otherwise reprint this email in full (including this boilerplate part) without obtaining our permission.
Anyone can receive these emails; just have them sign up at this web page: https://benefitslink.com/newsletter/
Other useful links: