| BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter |   |
April 9, 2007
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Wal-Mart Begins to Implement Wellness Program for Employees
Excerpt: "Wal-Mart Stores has begun to implement a voluntary program to help employees 'develop individual goals to improve their health and wellness' and improve the environment, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Medical Tourism: The Ultimate Outsourcing (PDF)
Excerpt: "The global economy is forcing American business to relentlessly seek new efficiencies to remain competitive. The high cost of healthcare is a prime target for savings. . . . Simply put, countries such as India, Thailand, Mexico, and Costa Rica can provide healthcare treatment at much lower prices than in the United States. . . . Can plan sponsors save sufficient money by substituting medical services [delivered overseas] to justify promoting this alternative to employees?" (Aon Consulting)
Number of Employers Paying Full Health Care Premiums Slides
Excerpt: "The proportion of U.S. private-sector workers enrolled in employer-sponsored health plans with no premium required by the employee dropped from 27% in 1998 to 18% in 2004, according to data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Overview: Fast Approaching HIPAA Compliance Deadline (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "The HIPAA privacy regulations require health plans to remind participants about their privacy rights under these plans at least every three years. The three-year deadline is April 14, 2007, for small employer plans that have not reminded participants of their privacy rights since the initial notice was required in April 2004." (Briggs and Morgan PA)
United Kingdom Les.bian Teacher Denied Paternity Leave Settles
Excerpt: "A les.bian teacher who was refused paternity leave when her partner had a baby, was paid more than GBP20,000 in compensation, a union report revealed . . . ." (Daily Mail via Human Resource Executive Online; free registration required)
State Law Requiring Employer to Give Notice of Continuation Coverage Preempted by ERISA
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: The participant in this case may have relied on the state continuation coverage law instead of COBRA because his former employer had terminated its group health insurance policy (and presumably did not maintain any other group health plan subject to COBRA)." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Workers Need Paid Sick Leave, According to Study
Excerpt: "The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) released the report 'Paid Sick Days are a Workplace Necessity.' This document is produced with help from the Institute for Women's Policy Research." (Seacoast Online)
Opinion: Massachusetts Local Government Budgets Croaked by Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "How tight is the grip of public employee unions over state lawmakers? We think we know the answer, but we're about to find out for sure. The House and Senate are getting ready to debate a bill that would allow cities and towns to join the state's Group Insurance Commission, an almost guaranteed way to relieve the pressure on local budgets." (Boston Herald)
Health Care Provider's 5-Year Old Claim Avoids Statute Of Limitations Defense
Excerpt: "The Fairview case is interesting for a number of reasons, but for purposes of this article, it serves to demonstrate the potential complexities of determining the proper limitations period for filing ERISA claims. The case also stands as another example of provider versus plan litigation arising from disappointed expectations of claims payment." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Vermont Becomes Haven for Offshore Insurance Industry
Excerpt: "[In 2000, at the urging of Columbia Energy, now called NiSource, the Labor Department [allowed] the utility to become the first company to manage ERISA-regulated employee benefits through a wholly owned private insurer, based in Vermont." (Foster's Online)
CMS to Allow Contingency Plans for Covered Entities That Will Not Meet Deadline for Use of NPIs
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: This guidance recognizes that compliance often requires the participation of more than one covered entity, making full compliance by the deadline more difficult." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Employee Costs Before and After Treatment Initiation for Bipolar Disorder (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "Study Design: Retrospective employer-based administrative database analysis of costs before and after the start of therapy for BPD from 2001 through 2004." (The American Journal of Managed Care)
Book Review: SICK: Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis -- and the People Who Pay the Price
Excerpt: "'Sick' does not offer a prescription for our ailing health care system, but it does include a closing chapter on what to do." (The New York Times; free registration required)
The Lessons of Heart Disease, Learned and Ignored
Excerpt: "Medical research has revealed enough about the causes and prevention of heart attacks that they could be nearly eliminated. Yet nearly 16 million Americans are living with coronary heart disease, and nearly half a million die from it each year." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Banks and Health Insurers Offering Credit to Help Patients Pay for Health Care
Excerpt: "Consumer advocates worry about the push for consumers to put health care on credit. Medical bills are a leading cause of consumer bankruptcies, a fact often cited by Gov. Schwarzenegger in his push for health care reform." (East Bay Business Times via bizjournals.com; free registration required)
Opinion: Pharma.ceutical Fraud? Prescription for Disaster Documentary
Excerpt: "Gary Null, a popular member of the Nutrition Institute of America, has produced a shocking video documentary that explores the relationships that exist between lawmakers, lobbyists, medical schools and the FDA. In the documentary, US Congressman Maurice Hinchey states that 'The largest part of the FDA operations are financed directly by pharma.ceutical industries'." (Robin Good)
A Case Study in Biotechnology: Strategies for Managing Medication Utilization
Excerpt: "This case study shows how, through better health benefit plan designs and more strategic approaches to integrated health management, employers can improve the quality of life of their employees with advanced medication technology and have a positive impact on their bottom-line financials." (Aon Consulting)
Congress Seeks Compromise on Generic Drugs
Excerpt: "Senior members of Congress from both parties are working feverishly on legislation that could give consumers access to lower-cost copies of biotechnology drugs that now cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Overcoming Information Asymmetry in Consumer-Directed Health Plans (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "[I]nformation asymmetry in consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) is a challenge that must be addressed. For CDHPs to work as intended and to gain acceptance, consumers need information regarding the quality and price of healthcare purchases." (The American Journal of Managed Care)
Overview of the HSA Marketplace
Excerpt: "from Spencer's Benefits Reports: Seventy-three percent of employers surveyed at a recent conference believe that expanded health savings accounts (HSAs) and consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) are the best ways to reform health care, according to the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC)." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Lack of Health Insurance Linked to Stroke Risk, Study Finds
Excerpt: "Americans who don't have health insurance may have an increased risk of stroke. So says a new study in the April issue of the Journal of the Society of General Internal Medicine." (HealthDay News via The Washington Post; free registration required)
Does the Proposed 3% Tax on Pennsylvania Employers Violate ERISA?
Excerpt: "One element of Gov. Rendell's 'Prescription for Pennsylvania' proposal may create an insurmountable hurdle for funding the proposal and the Cover All Pennsylvanians (CAP) program. Rendell's plan resembles a Maryland law recently overturned where the state tried to mandate health-care coverage . . . .' (Northeast PA Business Journal)
Opinion: Don't Forget the Lessons of ClintonCare
Excerpt: "[T]he ghosts of 1994 have been largely exorcised from the Democratic psyche, and today, even the most hardened cynics are allowing themselves moments of hope. In the dispiriting years since the Clinton plan's collapse, Washington's would-be reformers have comforted themselves with the whispered refrain that healthcare reform was not a matter of if, but when -- and now, for the first time in a long time, many are saying that the moment has arrived." (Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association)
Audio and Text: 'Perma-Lancers' Working Without Health Insurance
Excerpt: "[A] new group of workers [called] 'perma-lancers' -- people who are expected to perform like full-time employees, but without the benefits [-- are] people who work as if they were full-time employees, but don't have health insurance, don't get paid vacation days, don't get paid sick days . . . .'" (Morning Edition via National Public Radio)
Chart: Employer Costs for Legally Required Benefits, December 2006
Excerpt: "The average cost for legally required benefits was $2.20 per hour worked in private industry (8.6 percent of total compensation) in December 2006. Included in this amount are employer costs for Social Security and Medicare, federal and state unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Executive Compensation Disclosure: One Article from NYT Special Report on Executive Pay
Excerpt: "This year, for the first time, corporate filings disclose a single, handy executive compensation figure. But how that figure was calculated differs markedly from how investors arrived at similar ones in previous years -- making apples-to-apples comparisons difficult. [Other articles in this special section are at http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2007/04/07/business/businessspecial/index.html.]" (The New York Times; free registration required)
Louisiana Public Pension Fund Wins First Court Round in Options Backdating Probe
Excerpt: "A Delaware state judge has turned away a request to dismiss a shareholder lawsuit seeking documents generated during investigations into possible stock options backdating by Countrywide Financial Corp." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
How Recent Legislative Changes Makes HSAs Even More Attractive
in California on May 2, 2007
presented by Healthcare Web Summit
PPA and Form 5500--What You Need to Know
in Illinois on April 26, 2007
presented by WEB - Chicago West
Newly Posted Press Releases
Chicago Employers Work to Improve Health and Lower Health Care Costs for People with Diabetes
Midwest Business Group on Health
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Retirement Compliance Testing Manager
for Vanguard
in PA
401k Administrator
for Vanguard
in PA
Plan Manager
for The Hartford
in CT
Plan Manager
for The Hartford
in CT
Director of Participant and Sponsor Marketing
for Transamerica Retirement Services
in CA
Art Director - Marketing
for Transamerica Retirement Services
in CA
Sr. Benefits Planning Analyst
for Aerojet - Sacramento
in CA
401(k) Client Services Specialist
for 1st Global
in TX
Pension Administrator
for Pension Professionals, Inc.
in AZ
Vice President, Member Services
for United Benefit Advisors
in IN
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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