| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
January 29, 2007
Sponsored by: International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Get answers to your health, retirement and compensation questions. Join today. |
| The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans is a comprehensive resource for those working with benefit plans. Members enjoy personalized secondary research services, informative publications and online information, as well as discounted educational programs, books and distance learning options. Known as the cosponsor of the CEBS designation, the International Foundation also offers numerous ways to keep current with benefit issues, so you are prepared to answer your participants’ questions. |
Treasury Department Publishes Examples of President's Standard Deduction Health Insurance Plan (PDF)
6 pages. (U.S. Treasury Department)
Audio: What Does 'Gold-Plated' Health Care Look Like?
Excerpt: "President Bush says individuals whose coverage costs more than $7,500 annually -- or families whose tab exceeds $15,000 -- should pay taxes on their health benefits. A family provides a real-life example." (Morning Edition via National Public Radio)
President Bush Promotes Health Care Proposals During Visit to Missouri Hospital
Excerpt: "Speaking to an audience at St. Luke's Hospital East in Lee's Summit, Mo., Bush said, 'We believe the private sector is the best delivery of health care.' He added, 'We know there's a role for the federal government, but it's not to dictate, it's not to be the decision-maker' (Helling, Kansas City Star, 1/25)." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Opinion: Bush's Health Care Plan Deserves One Cheer, but One Cheer Only
Excerpt: "The President's health-care proposal deserves one cheer for the following reason: It potentially de-couples health care from employment." (Robert B. Reich via Marketplace)
Critics Say Bush's Insurance Proposal Would Favor the Wealthy
Excerpt: "President Bush likes to say that his health-care proposal would 'level the playing field' between people who get health coverage through their job and those who buy it on their own. But experts said yesterday that it would tilt that field toward a kind of health insurance that Bush has long favored -- a high-deductible plan paired with a special tax-exempt health savings account, or HSA." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Experts See Peril in Bush Health Proposal
Excerpt: "With his proposal to uproot a tax break that has been in place for more than 60 years, President Bush has touched off an impassioned debate over the future of the employer-based system that provides health insurance to more than half of all Americans." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Overview: Administration's New Health Policy Initiatives Introduced in State of the Union Address
Excerpt: "In the State of the Union address on January 23, 2007, President Bush proposed tax policies that would significantly revise the tax treatment of health coverage, as well as a plan to shift federal dollars from existing health programs for the poor to state government programs to subsidize the purchase of health insurance by low-income individuals." (The Segal Group, Inc.)
Rating Your Boss's Flexible Scheduling
Excerpt: "This column sets forth a new way to tell how well an employer is managing time. I see companies in three stages, from the least employee-friendly to the most. My yardstick is based on three measures: How much control do employees get over their time? What is the employer's purpose? And is flexibility being allocated fairly?" (The Wall Street Journal Online via CareerJournal.com)
Controversial Think Tank, the Healthcare Research & Development Institute, to Shut Down
Excerpt: "The Healthcare Research & Development Institute, Pensacola, Fla., a private industry group, has agreed to cease operations as it now exists early this year and change its business model and membership makeup under an antitrust settlement with the Connecticut and Florida attorneys general, according to the Connecticut attorney general's office." (Modern Healthcare; one-time registration required)
Calculating Disease Management ROI Is a Tricky Exercise
Excerpt: "For employers, almost as important as having a disease management (DM) program to target high-risk and chronically ill employees is demonstrating that the program works. Calculating DM's return on investment is a complex numbers game involving a detailed analysis of claims and utilization data, employee absences, productivity and health status." (Employee Benefit News)
Commentary on U.S. Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "In [the January 26] WSJ, Justin Lahart observes that the United States spends a much larger portion of its GDP on health care than other countries, yet seems to get little for its extra spending. I wonder whether this is true, which is not to say that I disagree with his larger point: that we are spending too much on health care for what we get." (Pension & Benefits Blog)
A Rapid-Learning Health System -- Abstract with Links to Other Articles on the Subject
Excerpt: "Private- and public-sector initiatives, using electronic health record (EHR) databases from millions of people, could rapidly advance the U.S. evidence base for clinical care. Rapid learning could fill major knowledge gaps about health care costs, the benefits and risks of drugs and procedures, geographic variations, environmental health influences, the health of special populations, and personalized medicine." (Health Affairs)
New Medical Technologies Favor Consumers and Personalized Care
Excerpt: "Health care as an industry is a quagmire of complexities, but industry thought leaders assert a tipping point in technological advances has been reached that will empower patients, help simplify the landscape and marketplace and give employers more of the data they need to effectively manage carrier and provider relationships." (Employee Benefit News)
Intel Head Links Technology and Health Care
Excerpt: "New technologies are ready to be used to advance health care, while a plan to bring computers and fast Internet access to the developing world is being undertaken, the chairman of Intel Corp. said in an interview Saturday." (AP via The New York Times; free registration required)
Health Coverage Deduction Could Eliminate Franchise Tax for About 87% of Missouri Employers
Excerpt: "Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt says he wants to reduce the state's franchise tax for employers that provide health coverage for employees." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration or paid subscription required)
People Left with Health Care Expenses When Policies Revoked
Excerpt: "Insurers say they rarely revoke policies, and generally do so only because of misleading or omitted information on applications. One large insurer, Blue Cross of California, says it revokes less than one-half of 1% of all individual policies each year. Requiring complete medical details and honesty on the part of applicants, insurers say, is necessary to control costs and weed out fraud." (USA TODAY)
Expedited Approval of Generic Biologic Drugs Would Save Billions of Dollars, According to Study
Excerpt: "from Spencer's Benefits Reports: Simplifying and expediting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process for generic versions of existing biologic drugs . . . would save the Medicare Part B program alone an estimated $14 billion over ten years, according to a study conducted for the Pharma.ceutical Care Management Association (PCMA)." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Overview: Wellness Programs Become More Focused as Regulations are Issued
Excerpt: "The regulations should allow greater certainty in design, although some issues will still need to be examined in every wellness program. The regulations are effective for plan years beginning July 1, 2007." (BNA Tax Management)
Business Leaders Advocate Transparency in the Health Care Industry
Excerpt: "[The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Partnership for Prevention] unveiled a publication, 'Leading by Example: Leading Practices for Employee Health Management,' which highlights the best practices of 15 Chamber-member companies in containing health care costs, improving productivity and boosting employee satisfaction. While discussing the business case for healthy workplaces, speakers criticized the health care system for being unstructured." (BenefitNews Connect)
Senators Defeat HSA Health Premium Proposal
Excerpt: "Members of the Senate voted 47-48 Thursday against permitting consumers to use health savings account assets to pay for individual high-deductible health insurance policies." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration or paid subscription required)
Working Paper Abstract: Has Recent Public Insurance Expansion Crowded Out Private Health Insurance?
Excerpt: "Ten years ago, Cutler and Gruber (1996) suggested that such crowd-out might be quite large, but much subsequent research has questioned this conclusion. [The authors] revisit this issue by using improved data and incorporating the research approaches that have led to varying estimates." (National Bureau of Economic Research; paid subscription or individual purchase required to retrieve full-text)
A Blueprint for Universal Health Insurance Coverage in New York (PDF)
38 pages. Excerpt: "As this analysis makes clear, only policy options with individual mandates achieve the goal of universal coverage. Among these options, those that require some shared responsibility from employers achieve greater equity among employers, limit erosion of employer coverage, and reduce state fiscal responsibility." (United Hospital Fund and The Commonwealth Fund)
Senators Sununu, Gregg and Clinton Introduce Bill Incorporating 'Michelle's Law' Into ERISA
Excerpt: "A federal version of New Hampshire's 'Michelle's Law' has been introduced which would mandate that full-time college students covered by their parents' health plan can take up to a year of medical leave from school with continued health insurance coverage. Michelle's Law' was passed in New Hampshire in June 2006." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Judiciary Panel Chair Introduces Single-Payer Bill
Excerpt: "Some Democratic members of the House are trying to draw attention to the idea of nationalizing the U.S. health finance system. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., has introduced a bill, H.R. 676, that could create a national 'single-payer' health insurance program." (National Underwriter Life & Health; free registration or paid subscription required)
Opinion: A Vote for Single-Payer Health Care
Excerpt: "If we get the insurance industry out of health care, we will have more than enough money to provide health care for all and to pay doctors and hospitals fairly for their services." (Marin Independent Journal via Physicians for a National Health Program)
Overview: Health Savings Account Reform Package to Expland HSA Enrollment (PDF)
2 pages. (The Segal Group, Inc.)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: SEC's Revised Rules Regarding Stock Based Compensation (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "In an unexpected move, on December 22, 2006, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the 'Commission') released updated rules regarding stock awards and option awards in order to provide disclosure of the compensation cost recognized by the registrant over the requisite service period under Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No 123 (revised 2004) Shares-Based Payment (FAS 123R)." (Haynes and Boone, LLP)
Overview: Senate Finance Committee Unanimous Approval of Limits to Deferred Compensation (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "On January 17, 2007, the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007 . . . ." (LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP)
FEI Tax Committee Letter Opposes Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation Provisions (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The provision would amend the Internal Revenue Code to impose a dollar cap on the aggregate amount of compensation that may be deferred by any individual." (Financial Executives International)
Senate Finance Committee Approves Small Business Tax Bill that Would Cap Executive Comp Deferrals
Excerpt: "Under the SFC bill, the annual amounts deferred under a nonqualified deferred compensation plan by an individual could not exceed the lesser of (1) $1 million or (2) the individual's annualized includible compensation." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Which Employee Benefits Are Most Popular Among Workers?
Excerpt: "Employers and employees have widely divergent views on the appeal of a whole range of benefits, and the differences are wider now than they have been in years, according to several recently released surveys." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Overview: New Litigation Rules that Will Affect Claims Processing
Excerpt: "The changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which went into effect on December 1, 2006, relate to the manner in which electronically stored information (ESI) is treated in federal court litigation. The new rules generally permit greater access to ESI by adverse parties in the early stages of a lawsuit (called 'discovery'). ESI includes e-mails, spreadsheets, word processing documents, databases, voicemail, instant messages, and data stored on hard drives." (BNA Tax Management)
How 10 Companies Achieved Business Success Because of - Not in Spite Of - Employee Benefits
Excerpt: "Ten successful companies have discovered the formula for managing many of today's biggest challenges for employers--like skyrocketing health care costs and lackluster retirement savings. The practical, real-world solutions used by these organizations, The Principal(R)10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security--2006, are revealed in a new guide that provides a blueprint for achieving business success through employee benefits." (BusinessWire via MSNBC.Money)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Analyst - Defined Benefit
for Mercer HR Services
in MA
Actuarial Consultant
for RSM McGladrey Retirement Resources
in IL
Public Policy Analyst II
for National Business Group on Health
in DC
Director, Employer Markets Operations
for The Beam Group
in IL, IN
Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Pension Planning Consultants, Inc.
in NM
Small Plan Actuarial Consultant
for Pension Planning Consultants, Inc.
in NM
Health Benefits Analyst
for The Segal Company
in DC
Pension Implementation Analyst
for Milliman, Inc.
in TX
Pension Analyst
for Milliman, Inc.
in TX
Retirement Services District Manager- Major Accounts
for ADP - Automatic Data Processing
in CA, IL, MN, OH, PA
401K Administrator
for Professional Capital Services, LLC
in PA
Compliance Analyst
for Great-West Corporate
in WI
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: