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| June 6, 2007 |
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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. |
Appellate Court Backs EEOC Retiree Health Benefits Rulemaking
Excerpt: "In a move sure to be seen as an employer victory, a federal appellate court [yesterday] stripped away a prohibition on the government's allowing employers to coordinate retiree health coverage with Medicare benefits without facing age discrimination charges." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Donors Not Taxed on Donations Under Medical Leave-Sharing Program; Would Be if Program Were Expanded
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: This private letter ruling, which applies only to the taxpayer who requested it, seems to go beyond Revenue Ruling 90-29 in at least one respect: The medical emergency leave-donation program appears to pair a donor with a specific recipient, rather than working from a 'bank' of donated hours." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Overview: Final Rules of the Illinois Hospital Report Card Act
Excerpt: "The stated purpose of the Hospital Report Card Act is to provide Illinois consumers access to the quality of health care in Illinois in order for the consumers to make informed decisions when choosing a hospital. To that end, the final rules impose reporting requirements and public disclosure obligations on Illinois hospitals regarding hospitals' staffing practices, infection control measures and staff vacancy and turnover rates." (Drinker Biddle Gardner Carton)
Telling Employee Incorrect Waiting Period Violated ERISA; Failure to Offer COBRA Was Not a Violation
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: This employee won on his ERISA claim, but it was his COBRA claim that had the potential to provide him a meaningful remedy. Lack of coverage generally precludes COBRA entitlement." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
California Assembly OKs G.ay Marriage
Excerpt: "The state Assembly voted Tuesday to allow same-sex couples to marry, challenging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has said he will veto the bill if it passes the full Legislature." (Yahoo! News)
Guidelines Help Clarify San Francisco Sick Leave Law
Excerpt: "San Francisco officials released guidelines Monday clarifying the city's groundbreaking sick leave law, including directives about salaried employees and when employers can require a doctor's note. The law, approved by voters in November, requires all businesses to provide paid leave to employees who work in the city." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Group Seeks to Achieve Federal Health IT Legislation
Excerpt: "The initiative, called Health IT Now!, consists of 22 members, including Verizon, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and a variety of health care organizations." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Google Aims to Extend Data Mantra into Health Care
Excerpt: "[Google vice president, Adam] Bosworth argues that Google has the ideal solution to ensure reliable unambiguous computable medical data through their about-to-be-shipped Auth/Sub (Account Authentication Proxy for Web-Based Applications) solution, which will be used to ensure that a Google user can share a calendar with someone, but not give them access to their documents, e-mail or other calendars." (eWEEK.com)
Health Care Gets a Better IT Prescription
Excerpt: "The health care industry can expect to get a big shot in the arm in the coming months from IT vendors as more and more top-tier OEMs look to invest considerable time and money in solutions for patients and doctors." (eWEEK.com)
Privacy, Security, and the Regional Health Information Organization (PDF)
33 pages. Excerpt: "Regional health information organizations (RHIOs), which promote electronic exchange of patient information among participants, are grappling with a variety of privacy and security issues as they evolve. This study, based on a literature review, interviews, and an informal survey, examines some of the key issues that nine RHIOs encountered and their strategies for managing them." (California HealthCare Foundation; free registration may be required)
Perspectives on the Future of Personal Health Records (PDF)
29 pages. Excerpt: "As a hub of information and information-management tools controlled by the patient, personal health records present a number of promises, perils, and challenges in the years ahead. In this report, six experts share their views on the future of PHRs, from the perspective of the technologist, informed patient, physician, employer, and public health professional." (California HealthCare Foundation; free registration may be required)
Opinion: The Problem - Health Care as if Costs Didn't Matter
Excerpt: "[I]f we are really at the start of a once-in-a-generation push to fix health care, we need to be clear about the true problem. The main reason so many people lack health insurance is because of its cost. And a big reason for that cost is the explosion of expensive, medically questionable care, be it knee replacement, preventive angioplasty or lumbar fusion." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Maine Supreme Court Upholds Dirigo Health Funding Mechanism
Excerpt: "The Maine Supreme Court . . . ruled 5-1 to uphold a 'key funding mechanism' in Gov. John Baldacci's (D) Dirigo Health initiative, through which assessments are issued to insurers based on savings generated by the program, the AP/Portland Press Herald reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Venture Fund to Seek Out Cost Cutters in Health Care
Excerpt: "Dr. David J. Brailer, a former senior health official in the Bush administration, is starting a $700 million private equity fund, Health Evolution Partners, with a different mission. 'We're going to be investing in things that can reduce the crushing costs of health care,' said Dr. Brailer . . . ." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Overview: New Agency Guidance Affecting Health Savings Accounts and Medicare Part D (PDF)
Excerpt: "On June 1, the Treasury Department issued new proposed regulations on the comparability rules for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs.) The rules address two issues: (1) comparability of employer contributions when the employee has not established an HSA by December 31; and (2) ability to accelerate contributions for select employees. Note that these rules do not apply to HSAs offered through a cafeteria plan." (Miller & Chevalier Chartered)
Overview: AHRQ's Online Health Care Report Card Compendium (PDF)
Excerpt: "This compendium is a searchable directory of over 200 samples of report cards produced by a variety of organizations." (Powell Goldstein LLP)
Policy Brief: Evolving Beyond Traditional Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "[The brief presents o]ne of four approaches to achieving universal coverage released by The Hamilton Project." (The Brookings Institution)
Companies Seen Warming to Idea of Health Reform
Excerpt: "As rising health costs erode profits, U.S. corporations are expected to warm up to health care reform under the next president -- a prospect that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago." (Reuters via The New York Times; free registration required)
Overview: Final Regs Address HSAs Not Established by Dec. 31 and Accelerated Employer Contributions
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: The 2007 proposed regulations finally provide answers to some important, lingering questions. Prior guidance had addressed the acceleration of HSA contributions made through a cafeteria plan for employees whose medical expenses exceeded their contributions, but it is helpful to learn how to provide the same opportunity outside of a cafeteria plan without running afoul of comparability." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Senator Seeks to End Dual Rules on Options: Expensing Stock Creates Huge Tax Gap
Excerpt: "Companies are reporting deductions for stock options to the Internal Revenue Service that far exceed what they are disclosing to shareholders as expenses, Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's investigative subcommittee." (AP via The Washington Post; free registration required)
Employment Planning for an Aging Workforce: Results from an AARP California Survey of Employers
Excerpt: "Aware of the possibility of labor shortages within five years due to baby boomers retiring and a lesser number of younger workers, most of the surveyed firms consider retaining and recruiting skilled workers to be highly important. While addressing the needs of an aging workforce is not among their top business issues, most employers in this study clearly value older employees and have already begun initiating workplace practices and providing benefits . . . ." (AARP)
Issues in Brief: Older Workers - Lessons from Japan (PDF)
9 pages. Excerpt: "As U.S. policymakers consider ways to encourage people to extend their worklives, one place to look is Japan, the only major industrial nation with higher labor force participation rates among older workers than the United States. This brief presents five reasons why the Japanese work so long." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
Presentation: How the Section 409A Final Regulations Impact Equity Compensation Plans (PDF)
30 pages. (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)
Opinion: A Look at Consultants Behind Executive Pay
Excerpt: "This year, for the first time, U.S. companies are required under new proxy disclosure rules to name their pay consultants." (Graef Crystal via Bloomberg News)
Newly Posted Events
Value-Based Health Insurance Design: Bridging the Divide Between Quality and Cost Containment Teleweb
Nationwide on June 21, 2007
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Newly Posted Press Releases
Council Applauds Third Circuit Appeals Court Decision in AARP v. EEOC Retiree Health Case
American Benefits Council
ERIC Applauds Ruling Upholding EEOC Exemption Permitting Coordination of Employer Plan with Medicare
ERIC (ERISA Industry Committee)
U.S. Labor Department Lawsuit Compels New Britain, Conn., Company Repayment of $2.1 Million To Retirement Plan
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Funding Status of U.S. Pension Plans Improved 3.9 Percent in May, According to Mellon Financial
Mellon Financial Corporation
Health Care Cost Increases Remain High: Aon Consulting Study
Aon Consulting
Report: Socially Responsible Investment Options Already in One Out of Five Defined Contribution Retirement Plans
Social Investment Forum
New 401(k) Fee Averages Book Released
401ksource.com
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
(Post a Job | View All Jobs)
Senior Defined Benefits Calculations Analyst
for ACS - Affiliated Computer Services
in NJ
Defined Contribution Administrator
for Merit Benefits Group, Inc.
in IL
Compliance Specialist
for The Newport Group
in NC
Senior Defined Contribution Plan Analyst
for Stanley Benefit Services
in NC
Plan Document Specialist
for Sentinel Benefits Group
in MA
Pension Consultant/Administrator
for Third Party Administrators, Inc.
in NH
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
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