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February 23, 2007
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Massachusetts Spurs National Healthcare Debate
Excerpt: "Nearly a year into its pioneering health-care law, Massachusetts offers both a way forward and a warning that puts the state at the center of a growing national debate over extending health care to millions of Americans." (Reuters via New York Times; free registration required)
Analysis: 8th Cir. Finds Grant of Discretionary Authority Despite Absence in SPD
Excerpt: "The district court reviewed [the disability insurer's] decision de novo since it did not find [in the 2-page SPD] 'the explicit discretion-granting language necessary to require a heightened standard of review.' . . . [The 8th Circuit] noted that the plan documents wherein the grant of discretion may be found include both the plan and the SPD [and hence ruled the district court should have applied an abuse of discretion standard of review]." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
CalPERS Creates Trust Fund to Enable Prepayment of Health Insurance Premiums
Excerpt: "The California Public Employees' Retirement System on Thursday created a trust fund that allows employers to prepay for future costs of retiree health insurance and other benefits. Employers that contract with CalPERS for employee health benefits can make contributions to the California Employers' Retiree Benefit Trust Fund, which will then grow with investments." (Sacramento Business Journal)
Federal FMLA Review Goes From Hurry-Up to Wait Mode
Excerpt: "The Labor Department is sifting through 15,500 responses to its request for information. One official says it's too early to tell how the agency will proceed." (Workforce Management)
CalPERS Might Increase California Government Employees' Co-Pays
Excerpt: "CalPERS last increased co-payments five years ago. But experts told trustees Wednesday that they might not be able to hold the line as they did last year, when the board scuttled higher co-payments in favor of steeper premium increases. . . . The pension system's health care consultant, Milliman USA, is also recommending [a] co-payment of $100 a day for inpatient hospital care -- capped at $300 annually. Currently, there is no co-payment." (Sacramento Bee)
Some New Jersey Government Workers to Begin Paying Part of Health Insurance Premiums
Excerpt: "Negotiators for state government and for unions representing 35,000 workers have reached an agreement on a proposed contract that would for the first time require that New Jersey employees pay a portion of their health insurance premiums and would increase their contribution to the state pension fund." (New York Times; free registration required)
PricewaterhouseCoopers Study Indicates Employers Still Struggling with Healthcare Quality Issue
Excerpt: "The current system is stagnant in quality levels and probably will continue to be that way for the next three to five years. Although the health care sector has implemented numerous quality care mandates, those measures mainly produced confusion and frustration because of the lack of federal oversight and universal protocol on delivery, PwC concludes." (BenefitNews.com by Employee Benefit News)
NCQA Performance Ratings Might Cover PPOs
Excerpt: "Employers concerned about health plan quality will soon be able to insist that PPOs, along with HMOs and POS plans, meet recognized performance standards. The National Committee for Quality Assurance has proposed expanding its voluntary accreditation program to include PPOs." (BenefitNews.com by Employee Benefit News)
White Paper: Slowing the Growth of U.S. Healthcare Expenditures -- What Are the Options?
Excerpt: "These strategies cluster into six areas: 1) increasing the effectiveness of markets with better information and greater competition; 2) reducing high insurance administrative overhead and achieving more competitive prices; 3) providing incentives to promote efficient and effective care; 4) promoting patient-centered primary care; 5) investing in infrastructure such as health information technology; and 6) investing strategically to improve access, affordability, and equity." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Opinion: Obesity and the Food Industry -- A Desired Epidemic
Excerpt: "However, transforming people with drugs, weight-loss surgery, genetic engineering, hypnosis and other extreme steps is not the answer to obesity, because people are not the problem. The problem is the food industry, which provides us with the calories we consume but washes its hands of responsibility for causing the worldwide obesity epidemic." (Deborah Cohen of the RAND Corporation)
Budget Report Raises Doubt on California Governor's Healthcare Reform Plan
Excerpt: "Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill on Wednesday warned that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) health care reform proposal could leave the state with $3.2 billion in unanticipated costs, the Los Angeles Times reports." (California Healthline by the California HealthCare Foundation)
Opinion: Beware What the Medical-Industrial Complex Loves
Excerpt: "A strange thing happened on the way to health-care security -- the goal of universal health care morphed into the cause of mandatory health insurance purchases. Nowhere is the change so dramatic as in California, where Democratic Senate leader Don Perata, D-Oakland, has adopted Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to require Californians to buy insurance, regardless of its cost and without premium regulation." (Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
The U.S. Health Care Dilemma: Who Has the Answer?
A wonderful collection of annotated links to important source documents. Excerpt: "The International Foundation has been monitoring the emerging platforms and proposals. This section will be updated periodically to reflect major initiatives. Here's a look at today's influential voices." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
Analysis: Federal Court of Appeals Agrees ERISA Preempts Maryland's 'Fair Share Act' (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "To minimize the risk of coming within the Fourth Circuit's reasoning, a state law should be drafted, to the extent possible, to avoid being characterized as a mandate based on its legislative objectives and actual impact. . . . [S]tates should be able to overcome preemption challenges by crafting programs such as a public coverage program funded by an employer assessment against which employer health care spending is credited." (Prepared for AcademyHealth and the National Academy for State Health Policy)
New Jersey Law Authorizing Civil Unions Leads to New Obligations for New Jersey Employers (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "New Jersey's civil union statute appears to require that civil union partners be treated the same as spouses with regard to all state regulated insurance policy benefits provided by employers. This would include employer provided insured medical, dental, life insurance, disability and vision plans. Self-funded welfare benefit plans and retirement income plans would be subject to federal rather than state law and therefore exempt from coverage under the new civil union law." (Troutman Sanders LLP)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
U.S. Chamber Study Shows Employee Benefit Costs Continue to Rise
Excerpt: "Employee benefit costs swelled again in 2005 and now account for more than 44% of payroll expenses, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's annual Employee Benefits Study. Employee benefits, as a percent of payroll, have risen 4 percentage points over the past year." (Forbes)
The Slow Pace of Justice on Options Backdating
Excerpt: "A sweeping investigation into the backdating of stock options at more than 100 companies has so far led to relatively few enforcement actions or resolutions." (New York Times; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Introduction to Retirement Plans
in Illinois on June 12, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Introduction to Retirement Plans
in Massachusetts on August 7, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Retirement Plan Insights
in Pennsylvania on May 16, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Retirement Plan Insights
in Illinois on June 12, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Retirement Plan Insights
in Missouri on July 10, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Retirement Plan Insights
in Massachusetts on August 7, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Retirement Plan Insights
in Ohio on September 25, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Retirement Plan Insights
in Nevada on November 6, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Retirement Plan Insights
in Maryland on November 19, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Structuring an Effective PBM RFP to Dramatically Decrease Your PBM Costs Teleweb
Nationwide on March 15, 2007
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Newly Posted Press Releases
Ceridian LifeWorks and Leade Health Launch Bariatric Surgery Health Coaching Service
Ceridian
U.S. Chamber Study: Employee Benefit Costs Continue to Rise
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
ARAG® Partners with PwC to Offer Enhanced Financial Planning Services
ARAG
Financial Executives International and The McHenry Group Partner to Deliver Web-based Retirement Plan Newsletter
Financial Executives International
BPA-HARBRIDGE Eases Administrative Burden of Automatic Enrollment
BPA-Harbridge
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Senior Programmer Analyst
for CitiStreet
in NJ
Senior Employee Benefit Specialist
for The Principal Financial Group
in TX
Retirement Plan Consultant - Boston Back Bay
for The Bostonian Group
in MA
Senior Retirement Plan Administrator
for Benefit Consultants Group
in NJ
Institutional Trust Product Specialist
for Merrill Lynch
in NJ
Manager, Decision Support
for HEREIU Welfare-Pension Funds (Culinary Fund)
in NV
Sales Associate, 401(k) Products Department
for Citigroup Smith Barney
in NY
Pension Administrator
for Stalker & Associates, Inc.
in PA
401(k) Plan Administrator
for Retirement Planners
in VA
401(k) Pension Administrator
for Pensions Plus, Inc.
in CT
AVP, Health and Welfare Benefits
for Countrywide Financial
in CA
Entry Level 401 (k) Administrator
for Scholz, Klein & Friends Enlightened Retirement Group, Inc.
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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