BenefitsLink |   |
| September 12, 2007 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
Today's sponsor is Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| 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. |
New Compliance Rules; News
Minnesota Unveils Plans for Health Information ExchangeExcerpt: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) and leaders from several health care organizations on [September 10] unveiled a plan to create one of the largest health information exchanges in the U.S., the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports." (California HealthCare Foundation; free registration may be required)
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Introduces New Health Plan Comparison Tool for Consumers
Excerpt: "To begin using the Plan Cost Advisor, consumers enter basic information about family, health conditions and health plan options. Plan Cost Advisor analyzes the information that is entered by the consumer and projects the next year's medical spending for each health plan option with a breakdown for copays, deductibles and coinsurance." (Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association)
Compliance Rule Summaries/Analysis/Filed Comments
AARP Takes Retiree Medical Case to the U.S. Supreme CourtExcerpt: "The AARP has decided to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision permitting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to issue an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) exemption for retiree medical benefit plans that coordinate with Medicare. This is the beginning of the end for this case, which started almost three years ago when AARP initially sued to stop EEOC from finalizing the exemption . . . ." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)
Important Health Plan Administration Deadlines to Remember
Excerpt: "The [target page] provides insurance agents/brokers, employers and benefits professionals a checklist of key upcoming dates and deadlines related to health benefits." (Infinisource)
Employer's Election Notice Failures Result in Large Penalty
Excerpt: "Employers who ignore their basic responsibilities to send election notices and offer COBRA when required do so at their peril. A Florida employer recently learned that lesson the expensive way." (Infinisource)
Trends; Surveys; Research
Telecommuting Builds Loyalty, According to Survey ReportExcerpt: "A recent survey finds that workers who telecommute from home or elsewhere, while still a very small portion of the work force, report the highest levels of satisfaction with their jobs and loyalty to their employers. In the poll of about 10,000 U.S. workers, 73% of remote and home-based workers said they were satisfied with their company as a place to work, compared with 64% of office workers." (The Wall Street Journal via Workplace Prof Blog)
Access to Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance among Low-Income Families
Excerpt: "Lack of health insurance can affect the health and productivity of workers as well as the health of workers' families, especially for low-income families, who are more likely to have members in poor health. We show that about half of children in low-income families do not have access to employer-sponsored insurance (ESI)." (The Urban Institute)
Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance & Low-Income Workforce: Limitations of System, Strategies for Increasing Coverage
Excerpt: "As the number of uninsured grows, and the share with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) falls, questions arise about the future viability of our largely employer-based insurance system. Significant weaknesses exist in the system, and these are heightened for the low-income working population and their employers." (The Urban Institute)
Health Care Plan Premiums Increased 7.2% in 2007, According to Report
Excerpt: "From Spencer's Benefits Reports: Health care plan premiums increased an average of 7.2% in 2007, down from the 8.6% reported in 2006, according to United Benefit Advisors (UBA). The 2007 UBA Health Plan Survey found that the increases averaged from 6.6% to 8.4%, depending upon the plan type." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Cost of Health Insurance Rises Again, but at a Slightly Slower Rate
Excerpt: "The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums has increased 6.1 percent this year, well ahead of wage trends and consumer price inflation, but below the 7.7 percent increase in 2006, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported yesterday." (The New York Times; free registration required)
More Employers Examine Dependents' Eligibility for Health Plans
Excerpt: "Faced with rising medical costs, U.S. employers are starting to scrutinize the eligibility of dependents, such as spouses and children, who are covered under their health plans. Traditionally, employers relied on an honor system to manage enrollment. But now, in an effort to restrain rising health spending, a growing number of employers are requiring employees to provide documented proof." (The Wall Street Journal Online)
Financial Incentives Can Encourage Weight Loss, Research Finds
Excerpt: "Money motivates people to slim down. Overweight employees who were paid a small amount lost more weight than those who weren't compensated for their efforts, according to one of the first studies to examine such a strategy at workplaces." (USA TODAY)
Policy; Opinion; Advocacy
Opinion: Cancer Society's Deadly MedicineExcerpt: "The American Cancer Society announced recently that it will spend its entire advertising budget next year not on urging Americans to stop smoking or get mammograms, but on campaigning for a government takeover of the U.S. health-care system. This is perverse: It's hard to imagine anything worse for cancer patients than government-run health care." (New York Post via Cato Institute)
Sponsored by: World Congress
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| The 3rd Annual Consumer-Centric Healthcare Congress |
| Thursday, November 8-9, 2007 | Sheraton Crystal City Hotel | Arlington, VA
The 3rd Annual Consumer-Centric Healthcare Congress addresses the convergence of healthcare, financial services and technology, and the rise in healthcare consumerism fueled by the Internet and direct-to-consumer marketing from the perspectives of all the stakeholders. Click above for more information or to register. |
| (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Overview: 409A Update: IRS Extends Documentary Compliance Deadline for Deferred Compensation Plans
Excerpt: "IRS Notice 2007-78, released September 10, 2007, announces several significant developments regarding Code Section 409A, covering nonqualified deferred compensation plans, broadly defined to include any arrangement that defers compensation more than 2-1/2 months after the year in which it is earned." (Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP)
Overview: IRS Provides Limited Additional Relief Under IRC Section 409A (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "[T]he Notice announces that the IRS and Treasury anticipate establishing a limited voluntary correction program for operational errors under Code section 409A in the near future and says that the transition period regarding rules for certain funded arrangements under Code section 409A(b) will not be extended." (Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP)
Overview: New IRS Guidance Provides Only Limited Relief from Looming Section 409A Deadline (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Even where Notice 2007-78 provides relief -- from plan documentation requirements -- that relief is limited. Although a plan document will not be required to specify many of the details mandated by the Final Regulations until December 31, 2008, plans must still designate in writing, by December 31, 2007, a Section 409A compliant time and form of payment for deferred compensation" (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
Overview: Deferred Compensation and Section 409A: Actions Still Required in 2007 Despite New IRS Transition Relief
Excerpt: "The Notice requires that Section 409A-compliant time and form of payment provisions must be adopted as to each nonqualified deferred compensation plan on or before December 31, 2007." (O'Melveny & Myers LLP)
Overview: IRS Provides Certain Relief Under Section 409A -- Documentation Deadline Extended (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "The IRS has just issued Notice 2007-78, which provides transition relief and additional guidance on the application of Section 409A to nonqualified deferred compensation plans and programs." (Buck Consultants)
ERISA Advisory Council Announces Meetings for Sept. 18-20
Excerpt: "The Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans (also known as the ERISA Advisory Council) and its three working groups will meet September 18 through 20, 2007, at the U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Room N4437 A-C, in Washington, D.C." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)
Overview: Extension of Section 409A Documentation Compliance Deadline
Excerpt: "[T]he extension is not available for all Section 409A amendments, and it generally does not apply to the limited Section 409A transition relief available in 2007. Employers and executives who would like to take advantage of the transition relief provisions must do so before the end of the year. In addition, irreversible design decisions and certain plan documentation amendments must still be completed in 2007." (Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP)
Without Planning, Health Care Costs Can Wreck Retirement
Excerpt: "Most of us will be covered by Medicare and not much else. And while that coverage is valuable, by itself it isn't going to protect us from the ice-cold reality of rising health-care costs. The Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates that Medicare covers only 51 percent of expenses associated with health-care services for most people, and it doesn't kick in until age 65." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Qualified Plan Beneficiary Rules and Issues eSeminar
Nationwide on December 11, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
Terminating 401(k) and Other Defined Contribution Plans eSeminar
Nationwide on November 28, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.
The Emerging Individual, Retail Market Building Strategies and Winning Competencies to Thrive as the Health Care Market Shifts
in California on October 11, 2007
presented by Healthcare Web Summit
Newly Posted Press Releases
New Book Dispels Executive Compensation Myths
Watson Wyatt
U.S. Department of Labor Announces Rules On Selecting Annuity Providers For Benefit Distributions From Pension Plans
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
U.S. Labor Department Obtains Judgments Involving Southfield, Mich., Business 401(k) And Pension Plan Funds
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Small Business Owners Say Healthcare System Needs to Change
Wells Fargo
Mercer Launches New Global Brand Initiative Reflecting Expanded Business and Simplifies Its Name to "Mercer"
Mercer
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Handy Links:
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
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