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| September 21, 2007 |
| 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
House Subcommittee Passes Mental Health Parity BillExcerpt: "One day after the Senate approved a bill (S 558) that would require health insurers to provide equal coverage for physical and mental illnesses, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health approved the House version (HR 1424) of mental health parity legislation, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Talks Slow Between GM and the UAW
Excerpt: "General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers continued to discuss the automaker's proposal to pay the union to take on retiree health expenses, even though GM's latest offer on the issue was rejected by the UAW president, a person who has been briefed on the talks said." (AP via The New York Times; free registration required)
UAW, General Motors Temporarily Table Health Care Trust Negotiations After Five-Day Deadlock on Issue
Excerpt: "United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger on [September 18] decided to temporarily end discussions with General Motors on creating a voluntary employees' beneficiary association that would shift retiree health care liabilities to the union, citing a gap of billions of dollars between the automaker's proposed funding and the union's desired amount, the Wall Street Journal reports." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Compliance Rule Summaries/Analysis/Filed Comments
Welfare and Health Plan Administrators' Legal Checklist for 2005-2008Excerpt: "Over the last two years, there have been so many changes in health and welfare plan administration, that it can be hard to know what to do next, and there will be more changes in 2007. The [target page] is a short list of legal changes that have occurred from 2005 to the present. A summary of each legal requirement can be accessed by clicking on the links [embedded in the document]." (Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP)
A Checklist of Recent Department of Labor Guidance on MEWA's
Excerpt: "On a point stubbornly, but unjustifiably, resisted by the professional employer organization industry, the Department of Labor has once again clearly stated the correct view that determination of whether a benefit arrangement constitutes a multiple employer welfare arrangement is a matter of federal law." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Overview: IRS's New Proposed Cafeteria Plan Regulations (PDF)
10 pages. Originally posted 8/7/2007. Excerpt: "The rules - articulated in 124 pages - affect employers who sponsor a cafeteria plan, employees who participate in a cafeteria plan, and third-party cafeteria plan administrators. For the most part, the rules will take effect for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2009; however, employers may begin relying on the rules immediately." (Miller & Chevalier Chartered via American Benefits Council)
Trends; Surveys; Research
Paid Sick Leave Mandate Raises Employer IreExcerpt: "One reason business groups resist the paid sick leave bill is because the seven days would be added to companies' existing paid-time-off benefits unless the leave was specifically designated as sick time." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Health Savings Accounts -- Current Trends (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Consumer-driven health care (CDHC) is a 21st century change-driver that has the potential to revolutionize health care financing and the roles of both employers and employees. . . . Whether CDHC wins broad workplace acceptance in the next five years, as 'consumer-driven retirement' through 401(k)s caught on in the 1980s, will depend on the comfort level employers and employees ultimately have with HSAs, in the author's opinion." (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
One - Third of U.S. Lacked Health Insurance at Some Point in Last Two Years, According to Survey
Excerpt: "The nonprofit Families USA group used data from last month's U.S. Census Bureau report that found 47 million Americans went without health insurance for all of 2006. Families USA broke down that figure and calculated that 89.6 million people under age 65 -- 34.7 percent -- went without health insurance at some point during 2006-2007. It used a projection for the remaining months of this year." (Reuters via The New York Times; free registration required)
Helped by Generics, Inflation of Drug Costs Slows
Excerpt: "Annual inflation in drug costs is at the lowest rate in the three decades since the Labor Department began using its current method of tracking prescription prices. The rate over the last 12 months is 1 percent, according to the government's latest data . . . ." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Generational Segmentation Continues to Drive Need for Varied Voluntary Benefit Offerings
Excerpt: "Employers are offering a broader range of voluntary products as a way to entice diverse job candidates and retain good workers. Financial counseling, legal services, pet insurance, cancer insurance, long-term care insurance and concierge services like dry cleaning, dog walking and movie tickets are garnering more attention from businesses." (Employee Benefit Advisor; free registration required)
'No Worry' Tiered Product Introduces Employers to Consumer Driven Health and Resonates with Midwestern Brokers and Their Clients
Excerpt: "'The rate cap is the aspect of it that excites people. That's where the sizzle is,' Beatrice says of the carrier's promise to keep annual premium increases below 6%. The rate could fall to just 4.5% if employers meet certain requirements, like hitting 90% health risk assessment completion among employees, says Ken Malcolmson, market CEO for Humana." (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)
Health Care in the Express Lane: Retail Clinics
Excerpt: "This report updates the findings of Health Care in the Express Lane: The Emergence of Retail Clinics, published in July 2006. It describes the forces, individuals, and companies behind this fledgling industry, and notes that its evolution has been driven, in large part, by acquisitions and partnerships with national retail chains such as Target, Walmart, and CVS, as well as major health care systems." (California HealthCare Foundation; free registration may be required)
Special Report: Demystifying Health Benefits
The target page links to articles such as: The Politics of Health Care Reform; CDHPs - No Rx for Health Care; The Sorry States of Health Care; and a Slide Show: Only One Direction for Health Insurance Premiums -- Up. (BusinessWeek)
Trust Fund to Help Out Former Employees with Medicare Premiums
Excerpt: "Hundreds of retirees, spouses and surviving spouses of the former National Steel Pellet Co. taconite plant in Keewatin will receive checks next week from a unique trust fund to help pay Medicare Part B medical premiums. Each eligible person will receive a check of about $450 from a Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association fund." (Duluth News-Tribune)
Retiree Medical Miscount Leads to Restatement
Excerpt: "Westmoreland Coal said it will restate its 2006 results to correct an error in its calculation of post-retirement medical benefit liabilities. The company said it found that a group of 131 retirees eligible for medical benefits had been omitted from census data used to calculate the liability. The error was discovered by the company's actuaries and management during a routine review of one of the company's post-retirement plans." (CFO.com)
Policy; Opinion; Advocacy
Wrong Direction: One Out of Three Americans Are Uninsured - At Some Point in a Year (PDF)41 pages. Excerpt: "To find out how many people are affected by this lack of health coverage, Families USA commissioned The Lewin Group to analyze data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). This analysis enabled us to determine how many people were uninsured for some portion of the 2006-2007 two-year period." (Families USA)
California Kids Lose Employment-Based Coverage -- The Impact
Excerpt: "Losses in employer-provided health insurance among kids have serious consequences for the children themselves, families, communities, businesses, and the public insurance system. This Briefing Paper documents the ways in which children without employment-based coverage affect those around them, and it provides further evidence for the need for important legislative changes in California and the United States as a whole." (The Economic Policy Institute)
Opinion: Health Care Reform Hopes
Excerpt: "[T]he long delay before Senator Clinton announced her health care plan made supporters of universal care, myself included, so nervous -- a nervousness that is not completely assuaged by the fact that she finally did deliver. It's good to know that whoever gets the Democratic nomination will run on a very good health care plan. What remains is the question of whether he or she will have the determination to turn that plan into reality." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
409A Compliance: What You Need to Do by December 31
Excerpt: "[T]he IRS recently issued Notice 2007-78 which purportedly extends the deadline for plan amendments to comply with Code Section 409A until December 31, 2008. However, the extension is subject to so many conditions and requirements that still must be satisfied by December 31, 2007, many employers may decide they are better off trying to fully comply by the original December 31, 2007 deadline." (Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP)
Newly Posted Events
ERISA Litigation Issues Conference
in District of Columbia on November 29, 2007
presented by BNA, Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
CitiStreet Enhances Service for Managed Accounts
CitiStreet
Military Families Need More Flexibility to Care for Injured Veterans, Witnesses Tells Labor Subcommittee
U.S. House Education and Labor Committee
NAPFA and Hueler Companies Partner to Provide Fee-Only Advisors Access to Low Cost, High Quality Retirement Income Products via the Income Solutions® Platform
National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA)
CIKR Testifies on Revenue Sharing Issues Before DOL
Council of Independent 401(k) Recordkeepers (CIKR)
Deere Changes Health Benefits For Some Retirees
Deere & Company
The Standard Announces Fee Education Campaign for Retirement Plan Participants
The Standard
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
(Post a Job | View All Jobs |
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401(k)/Defined Contribution Valuation Processor
for National Retirement Services, Inc.
in CA, NC
Director, International Benefits
for 20th Century Fox
in CA
ERISA Attorney
for Growing two-attorney law firm in Dallas, TX
in TX
Executive Compensation Sr. Manager
for Deloitte
in IL, TX
DC Administrative Assistant
for Transamerica Retirement Services
in CA
In House ERISA/Employee Benefits Counsel
for National Financial Partners
in NY
Corporate Trainer
for ICMA-RC
in DC
Financial Services Client Services Specialist
for ICMA-RC
in DC
Assistant Administrator
for BenefitStreet, Inc.
in CA
Actuarial Position
for Swerdlin and Company
in GA
Retirement Plan Consultant
for CDM Retirement Consultants, Inc.
in MD
Retirement Plan Administrator
for Bates & Company, P.A.
in FL
WRS Relationship Manager I
for Wachovia
in PA
Senior Human Resources Analyst
for The County of Riverside
in CA
Manager, Benefits Program
for Entertainment Company in Hollywood
in CA
Relationship Manager
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
Director of Operations
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
Contracts Director - Broker/Dealer Risk
for Fidelity Investments
in RI
Senior Conversion Analyst
for Administaff
in TX
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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