| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
March 6, 2007
Sponsored by: Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
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| Record Retention Requirements for Health & Welfare Plans |
| In Record Retention Requirements for Health & Welfare Plans, EBIA's experts analyze record retention requirements for ERISA health and welfare plans as well as other employer-provided health and welfare benefits not subject to ERISA. You'll find answers to your record retention questions for many benefits including cafeteria plans, DCAPs, qualified transportation plans, HSAs, group health plans (like major medical, dental, health FSAs, and HRAs), and other ERISA benefits.
Available now at the introductory price of $195. Please enter priority code BL195. For more information and to order, visit http://www.ebia.com/OtherOfferings/Books/RecordRetention. |
Support Builds for Washington State Bill Giving 5 Paid Weeks of Family Leave
Excerpt: "A bill to give workers up to five weeks of paid family leave -- which would be one of the most generous benefits in the nation -- was approved Monday by the Senate budget committee." (The Seattle Times)
Issue in Brief: Will People Be Healthy Enough to Work Longer?
Excerpt: "This brief compares the health status of older people today with those forty years ago and explores what happens to people's health as they age." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
Is Your Workplace New-Mom Friendly? U.S. Lags in Paid Maternity Leave, Other Benefits
Excerpt: "The United States is one of only five countries that don't mandate companies provide time off to have and take care of a baby, according to a report released last month." (The Detroit News)
Huge Cost of Public Retiree Health Insurance Could Create Fiscal Crisis
Excerpt: "For the first time, taxpayers are learning the bottom line: long-term costs they will pay to provide health insurance to government retirees, a public employee benefit that has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. And that's just for city and county government. Add in local towns, villages and school districts, as well as colleges, hospitals and libraries, and the cost of retiree health insurance balloons into the billions." (The Buffalo News)
Confusion Over Whether Dental and Vision Benefits Must Be Offered to COBRA Qualified Beneficiary
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: The COBRA argument in this case was tangential (offered only to support a discrimination claim), but the administrator's confusion gives us the opportunity to review what coverage must initially be offered to COBRA qualified beneficiaries." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Analysis: IRS Private Letter Ruling Provides Guidance on Tax Treatment of Benefits for Partners
Excerpt: "A recent IRS ruling clarifies that partners can deduct premium payments to their partnership's group health plan, and exclude the plan's benefit payments from their gross incomes, so long as the plan has 'the effect of accident or health insurance.' IRS Private Letter Ruling (PLR) 200704017 (January 26, 2007). The ruling is significant because partners are not 'employees' . . . ." (Deloitte)
CalHospitalCompare.org: Online Report Card Simplifies the Search for Quality Hospital Care
Excerpt: "CalHospitalCompare.org is a report card of California hospital performance ratings, which consolidates information from a number of sources into an easy-to-navigate Web site. More than 200 hospitals, representing 70% of all hospital admissions in the state of California, agreed to participate in the voluntary effort." (California HealthCare Foundation; free registration may be required)
HSAs Viewed As Way to Accelerate Acceptance of Personal Health Records
Excerpt: " Advocates of consumer-driven health and health information technology are starting to see health saving accounts as a driver for personal health records. 'Consumer-driven health care that is properly done can accelerate the adoption of health IT,' asserts Dr. Michael Parkinson, chief health and medical officer of Lumenos, a subsidiary of WellPoint." (Employee Benefit News)
CMS Report Projects Smaller Share of Health Care Dollar Paid by Private Insurance
Excerpt: "from Spencer's Benefits Reports: Almost half of the growing discrepancy between government and private spending on health care in the years between 2004 and 2016 will be attributable to the addition of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, according to a new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Interdepartmental Shared Information and Goals Ensure Benefits Program Success
Excerpt: "Today's business headlines echo what human resource professionals already know: The effect of rising health care costs in this country is being painfully felt - in depressed earnings, an additional burden on employees and often, a sacrifice in the quantity and quality of employee benefits. However, there are proven strategies that can be initiated from within a company's four walls to help slow rising cost increases." (Employee Benefit News)
Employees to Get an Online Checkup: Care Provider, EMC Will Test a Program to Cut Health Costs
Excerpt: "Partners HealthCare is teaming up with one of the state's largest employers in an experiment to see whether they can improve employees' health and, ideally, reduce medical costs by monitoring workers' high blood pressure over the Internet." (The Boston Globe)
Dial-Up Wellness
Excerpt: "Through technology and service integration, the line separating care for employees' physical and emotional wellness is quickly being erased. As a case in point, EAP provider ACI Specialty Benefits Corp. launched the GetFit Cell Phone Diet within its AppleCore wellness program." (Employee Benefit News)
Overview: DOL Extends Sunset Date of Mental Health Parity Act Regulations to December 31, 2007
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: The MHPA prohibits a group health plan from applying a lower annual or aggregate lifetime dollar limit to mental health benefits than it applies to medical/surgical benefits. The MHPA is found in substantially similar provisions of ERISA, the Code, and the PHSA; the MHPA provisions of the PHSA and the Code have also been extended to December 31, 2007 by the 2006 legislation." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Full Mental Health Parity -- Has Its Time Come? (PDF)
Excerpt: "This is the first in a series of occasional articles that will cover current legislative issues in Congress and how they might affect you. The focus this time is on employer-based health coverage for mental illness." (Aon Consulting)
Health Care Already a Key Issue in 2008 Race
Excerpt: "Although health care is usually a bigger factor in Democratic primaries than in Republican contests, at least two GOP contenders -- former governors Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Tommy G. Thompson of Wisconsin -- are expected to use their extensive track records on the issue as campaign selling points, especially if either emerges as the party's nominee." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
New York Times Examines Growing Number of Middle-Class Uninsured
Excerpt: "The growing number of individuals who are '[s]olidly middle class' and lack health insurance is 'one reason ... that the problems of the uninsured have jumped to the top of the domestic political agenda in [Washington, D.C.,] and on the campaign trail,' the New York Times reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Illinois' Gov. Blagojevich Unveils Universal Health Proposal
Excerpt: "Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has introduced a $2.1 billion universal health care proposal that he said will cover all 1.4 million uninsured state residents by January 2008. According to a new state Web site, www.illinoiscovered.com, the program includes a component aimed at small firms and individuals whose employers don't offer workplace coverage called 'Illinois Covered Choice.'" (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Expanding Health Care Coverage in the United States: A Historic Agreement (PDF)
Excerpt: "A diverse group of 16 major national organizations with an abiding interest in accessibility to quality health care have reached a consensus on policy approaches to expand health coverage to as many people as possible as soon as possible. In formulating the proposal, the participating organizations agreed upon key principles . . . ." (Health Coverage Coalition for the Uninsured)
Bank Prevails Over MEWA Trustees - No Penalty for 'Early Withdrawal'
Excerpt: "'Curran' offers a truly interesting case with implications that will resonate with anyone that follows the unfolding saga of post-Sereboff 'equitable relief' cases. As an added interest, the case arises in the context of a multiple employer welfare arrangement and thus illustrates hazards in that structure that planners should take into account." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
U.S. Looking for Ways to Retain Older Workers
Excerpt: "A wave of retiring workers will weigh down U.S. economic growth in the coming years, unless Americans save more and employers take steps to hang on to more older employees, experts said. How the nation responds is a 'critical question,' said Donald L. Kohn, vice chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, warning that costs could 'fall entirely on future generations.'" (Los Angeles Times via Chicago Tribune)
Metlife's American Dream Study: Against the Backdrop of the Financial Burden Shift (PDF)
Excerpt: "[MetLife commissioned a study on] attitudes and perceptions regarding the erosion of corporate and social safety nets. The study set out to determine [if] individuals feel they are bearing more of the burden for their own financial security than in the past. [Corporate safety nets are defined] as traditional defined benefit pension plans and other employer-paid benefits such as health, life and disability insurance, and social safety nets as . . . Social Security and Medicare." (METLIFE, INC.)
Moody's Survey Shows OPEB Costs Outpace Inflation in Largest U.S. Cities (PDF)
Pages 3-4 of 5 pages. Excerpt: "On January 30, 2007, Moody's Investor Services released a report titled, 'Survey Shows that Cost of Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) for the Largest U.S. Cities Outpacing Inflation.' In surveying the 55 largest U.S. cities, Moody's found that the 'pay-as-you-go' costs for other post-employment benefits (OPEB) increased by an average of 10% annually from 1999 through 2004." (Gabriel Roeder Smith & Company)
Newly Posted Events
Fundamentals of Employee Benefits Law (Part 4) - Webcast
Nationwide on March 7, 2007
presented by West LegalEdcenter
Fundamentals of Employee Benefits Law (Part 5) - Webcast
Nationwide on March 7, 2007
presented by West LegalEdcenter
Newly Posted Press Releases
ASPPA Supports Complete and Consistent Disclosure of 401(k) Fees
ASPPA (American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries)
Even High-Wage Earners Not Participating in 401(k) Plans, Watson Wyatt Analysis Finds
Watson Wyatt
PSCA Welcomes Hearings On Plan Fees
Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA)
U.S. Department of Labor Announces New Rules on Pension Distributions Under Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Stock Market Tumble Contributed to Lower Funding Status of U.S. Pension Plans in February, According to Mellon Financial
Mellon Financial Corporation
Council Stresses Importance of 401(k) Fee Disclosure Rules
American Benefits Council
Employee Ownership Foundation Releases Data on Shared Capitalism
ESOP Association
NCOA's BenefitsCheckUp Helps Chicago Seniors Find Benefits
National Council on Aging (NCOA)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Pension Administrator
for Preferred Pension Planning Corporation
in NJ
Client Service Representative
for The Online 401(k) (Decimal, Inc.)
in CA
Account Relationship Manager
for Beneco, Inc.
in AZ
Internal Service Representative
for Northwestern Benefit Corporation of Georgia
in GA
Network Relations Support
for Dental Carrier
in MD
E.B. Trust Administrator
for Branch Banking & Trust Co.
in SC
Retirement Plan Consultant
for Standard Insurance Company
in CA
Retirement Plan Consultant
for Standard Insurance Company
in CA
Unitization Supervisor
for Reliance Trust Company
in GA
Benefit Plan Administrator
for Enterprise development company specializing in Benefit Administration Software.
in GA
Investment Education and Rollover Specialist
for Rogers Financial
in VA
Insurance Sales Representative
for USI Affinity
in NY
401(k) Implementation Manager
for ADP
in FL
Qualified Plan Administrator
for CBIZ Actuarial & Benefits Consultants
in AZ
Associate ERISA Consultant
for Defined Contribution Advisors, Inc.
in MN
Retirement Plan Professional
for RG Wuelfing & Associates
in NC
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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