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September 17, 2007
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Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy.


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New Compliance Rules; News

Workers Tense as Union Talks With G.M. Drag On
Excerpt: "Union and company negotiators held marathon bargaining meetings on concessions sought persistently by G.M., particularly in health care benefits, and the union's equally firm effort to limit any harm to the benefits." (The New York Times; free registration required)

GM-UAW Deal: Still Far Away - Key Issue Is How Much Carmakers Will Pay Into Health-Care Trust Fund
Excerpt: "The biggest sticking point in this year's important contract negotiations is GM's wish to off-load its retiree health-care coverage into a union-managed health-care trust fund seeded by money and assets from GM. The deal would cut GM's health-care costs and protect union retiree benefits if the company went bankrupt, but the two sides couldn't agree on how much in assets GM would have to give the union." (BusinessWeek)

Unions Call on OPM to Rein in Health Care Premium Costs for Federal Employees
Excerpt: "Thursday's announcement of federal health premium increases for 2008 prompted renewed calls by labor union officials for the government to increase its share of those premiums and hold costs down by taking advantage of Medicare drug subsidies." (GovExec.com)

Singapore Mandates Employee Medical Coverage
Excerpt: "Employers in Singapore will be required to purchase medical insurance for all foreign workers beginning next year." (Business Insurance)

Mayo Clinic Recommends Universal Health Insurance Plan
Excerpt: "The Mayo Clinic jumped into the national debate on improving health care . . ., calling for every individual to have basic universal insurance as a step toward gradually replacing the current employer-based system." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Compliance Rule Summaries/Analysis/Filed Comments

Establishing VEBA Removes Obligation of Retiree Health Care from Companies' Books
Excerpt: "Here's a look at some of the issues involved in creating a voluntary employee beneficiary association, or VEBA, which is considered a key point in UAW contract talks with General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC." (Detroit Free Press)

3rd Circuit: Some ERISA Cases May Need More Scrutiny
Excerpt: "Insurers regularly use video surveillance in disability cases to ferret out bogus claims, but a federal appeals court has now ruled that when the surveillance is continued even after it has garnered no evidence of fraud, the insurer's ultimate decision to cut off benefits may be subject to 'heightened scrutiny.'" (The Legal Intelligencer via Law.com)

HSAs, FSAs, HRAs -- A Comparison of Health Care Arrangements
The target page includes a chart of the general compliance requirements of the three arrangements. (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

DOL Offers Informal Views on Undeliverable COBRA Election Notices/Notices Sent in Advance of Qualifying Event
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Courts have disagreed as to whether the mere return of a COBRA election notice otherwise properly sent to a qualified beneficiary's last-known address results in noncompliance with COBRA. As recognized by the DOL officials, the outcome will depend on facts and circumstances that can vary widely from case to case. Our advice when an employer (or TPA) knows that an election notice has not been delivered is to follow up . . . ." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)

Trends; Surveys; Research

Majority of Americans Want Preventive Health Services Says Survey Report
Excerpt: "From Spencer's Benefits Reports: Sixty-eight percent of Americans want a greater emphasis placed upon preventive health services, according to a new survey commissioned by U.S. Preventive Medicine." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

Whether Posh or Quirky, Perks Help Lure Talent to the High-Tech Sector
Excerpt: "A Porsche 911 sits outside company headquarters, ready for employees to grab and go for a spin. Inside, a 'chill out' room offers an XBox, while the staff lounge displays the kookiest items employees have found on eBay . . . . The perks and atmosphere may sound like they're from a Silicon Valley startup, with more attitude than profit and executives straight out of college. But Command Information of Herndon is run by experienced managers and claims a solid profit from its work for the government." (The Washington Post; free registration required)

Three Years After Birth of HSAs, Employers and Enrollees Are Still Baffled by the Rules
Excerpt: "Industry observers agree that most employers tend to spend far too little time explaining intricacies of the plans (and accounts) to employees. 'The average employee is still very confused' about HSAs and how they work, says Vinnie Daboul, senior vice president of sales with TD Banknorth Insurance Agency, Inc. in Springfield, Mass." (Inside Consumer-Directed Care via AISHealth.com)

Insurer Offers Two-Tiered Health Plan that Allows People to Purchase Additional Coverage After They Get Sick
Excerpt: "Michigan-based American Community Mutual Insurance is offering a new type of insurance plan that will have low monthly premiums and allow policyholders to purchase up to $5 million in additional health coverage in the event of serious illness or injury, the Wall Street Journal reports. The plan is being marketed to healthy U.S. residents between ages 19 and 34." (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Voluntary Programs, Other Alternatives Can Help Remove Obstacles to Providing Retiree Medical Benefits
Excerpt: "With many baby boomers quickly approaching retirement age, a rude awakening could be in store for this massive segment of the American workforce. 'There has been a drastic cutback in retiree medical plans,' says Mark Johnson, president of ERISA Benefits Consulting. 'Less than half of retiree medical programs that existed 20 years ago exist today.'" (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)

Policy; Opinion; Advocacy

Sanders' Bill Would Initiate Pilot Health Plan in Five States
Excerpt: "U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., has introduced a bill that would give five states money to try out programs providing for universal health care coverage -- an experiment he hopes will show that so-called single-payer government insurance is 'the cost-effective and moral thing to do.'" (Rutland Herald via Physicians for a National Health Program)

Opinion: Decline in Premium Increases Is Still an Intolerable Increase
Excerpt: "This year's premium will be used as the basis for next year's increase. This year it is 3.5 percentage points more than the rate of inflation. That greater-than-inflation increase will never be recovered, and will be added to next year's increase, and to the increase in every year thereafter. Not only this year's increase, but the greater-than-inflation increases of each prior year and of each future year are also added. In the past six years alone, the greater-than-inflation increase has been 61 percent." (Physicians for a National Health Program)

Health Insurance and Taxes: Can Changing the Tax Treatment of Health Insurance Fix Our Health Care System? (PDF)
28 pages. Excerpt: "Proposals to change the tax treatment of health insurance could mean the end of employment-based coverage as it now exists in the United States, according to a study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)

Sen. Clinton to Propose Universal Health Care
Excerpt: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton . . . will lay out a plan to secure health insurance for all Americans while severely limiting the ability of insurers to deny coverage or charge higher premiums to people with chronic illnesses and other medical problems, her aides and advisers say." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Avoiding 'Fair Share' Preemption
Excerpt: "Darren Abernathy, a student at William & Mary, has just posted on SSRN his Note (forthcoming 2008) on drafting 'fair share' laws to avoid ERISA preemption. . . . This Note examines Maryland's preempted statute and the United States District Court case that granted its opponents declaratory relief. After reviewing the Fair Share Act, the federal ERISA statute, and the significant changes in Supreme Court jurisprudence towards ERISA preemption in the past decade . . . ." (Workplace Prof Blog)


Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Kentucky Federal Court Requires Arbitration of USERRA Claim
Excerpt: "A pair of federal district courts have held that the statutory language and legislative history of the statute indicate clearly that employees cannot be compelled to arbitrate their USERRA claims. The Fifth Circuit has held the opposite. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky has just sided with the Fifth Circuit, holding that an optometrist deployed to Afghanistan can be compelled to arbitrate his claims that employer demoted him because of his military service." (Workplace Prof Blog)

Overview: Limited Section 409A Relief, but Action Still Required Before Year-End
Excerpt: "This Client Alert summarizes the key impacts of Notice 2007-78 and, more importantly, what Notice 2007-78 does not impact. The alert also outlines why attention to compliance with Section 409A well before December 31, 2007, is still critical." (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati)

Remands to Plan Administrators - A List of Circuit Courts of Appeal Decisions
Excerpt: "[The target page presents] a series of notes on authorities on the question of when district court orders remanding cases to plan administrators are final and appealable. After a listing of seminal cases, a brief overview follows setting forth possible justifications for finding such orders final and appealable." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

Overview: Limited Relief under Code Section 409A, but Some Decisions Still Must Be Made in 2007 (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "As a counterweight to the . . . extension for plan amendments, Notice 2007-78 requires that each affected plan or arrangement must designate 'in writing' on or before December 31, 2007 a compliant time and form of benefit payments attributable to amounts deferred as of January 1, 2008." (Dow Lohnes PLLC)

Overview: IRS's Partial Delay of 409A Requirements
Excerpt: "In Notice 2007-78, the IRS announced an extension to December 31, 2008, to amend documents to conform to the requirements of Section 409A. The previous deadline was December 31, 2007. However, the effective date of the regulations is not extended and, therefore, full compliance with the regulations is mandatory as of January 1, 2008." (Blank Rome)

Retirement Anxiety -- Emotional Issues, Financial Issues and the Importance of Human Capital
Excerpt: "Bob Veres, publisher of Inside Information, sees retirement as a brief historical anomaly. 'The whole idea of retirement as a total secession from work -- as opposed to making work optional -- may be an artifact of a single generation. Someday we'll look back and say that this was a waste of human capital, and a very poor way to keep people active and relevant during their later years.'" (Financial Planning and SourceMedia, Inc.)


Newly Posted Events

2007 SPARK Forum
in Florida on November 4, 2007
presented by SPARK - the Society of Professional Administrators and Recordkeepers

Benefits Legislative Update
in California on October 9, 2007
presented by International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists, Northern California Chapter

DB Answers with Hal Tepfer, MSPA,FSA,EA and Scott Boulay, ASA,EA, MAAA
in Massachusetts on September 26, 2007
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council (ABC) of New England

Dependent Eligibility: Consider This Before Your Next Open Enrollment Teleweb
Nationwide on September 27, 2007
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Getting It Right -- Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities - Free Seminar
in Maine on October 16, 2007
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

IRS and DOL to Present at West Virginia Bar Association Employee Benefits Conference
in West Virginia on October 4, 2004
presented by West Virginia Bar Association

New Rules for Tax-Exempt and Governmental Plans: 403(b) and Beyond
Nationwide on October 11, 2007
presented by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits

Recent Employer Survey Results: New ideas, trends, benchmarking
in Maryland on October 4, 2007
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network -- Baltimore chapter


Newly Posted Press Releases

PBGC FY2008-2013 Strategic Plan Available For Public Comment
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

PBGC Assumes Union Stamping & Assembly Inc. Pension Plan
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

ExpertPlan Opens First Regional Office
ExpertPlan

Study Says Changing Tax Treatment of Health Benefits Could Mean the End of Employment-Based Coverage
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)

Invest n Retire Adds Select Rydex ETFs to Platform
Invest n Retire, LLC

Delaware Investments Launches New Collective Trust Products
Delaware Investments

Fidelity and SunGard Enhance Integrated Trading and Custody Platform
Fidelity Investments

Steelworker Retirees to Receive Health Care Benefit Checks
United Steelworkers

"No Worry" from Humana Makes Health Care Costs Predictable for Small Businesses
Humana

A Place for Mom, Nation's Largest Senior Care Referral Service, Fills a Gap in Employee Benefits
A Place for Mom

Groom Law Group Principal William Evans to Serve as Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Benefits Tax Counsel at the U.S. Department of Treasury
Groom Law Group

Countrywide Sued Over Losses In 401k Retirement Plan
SFGate.com

Advisors Access 401k Platform Introduced
Capital Directions Investment Advisors


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