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| November 5, 2007 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
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Features:
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(a) New Guidance Documents
(None today.)
(b) News
Ford, Union Agree on Contract: Deal Includes Trust for Retirees' Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "Ford Motor and the United Auto Workers union completed a tentative deal on a contract yesterday, averting a strike and capping a watershed period of labor negotiations in Detroit. Ford said in a written statement that the agreement included a memorandum of understanding to establish an independent health-care trust for retirees. Analysts have estimated that Ford owes as much as $31 billion in future retiree health-care costs." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Ohio's Doctors Back Bill to Ease Insurance Process
Excerpt: "Upfront fee schedules are among many changes Ohio's doctors are seeking in proposed legislation they say would simplify their contracts with health insurance companies - allowing them to spend more time on patients than on paperwork. Insurers say the bill, dubbed the health-care simplification act, would add expense while requiring nothing of doctors." (Business Courier of Cincinnati via bizjournals.com; free registration required)
(c) Summaries of Guidance; Filed Comments
Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide Updated October 31, 2007, for Health and Welfare Plans (PDF)
13 pages. This Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding health and welfare benefit plans. (Hewitt Associates)
Overview: CMS Updates Disclosure to CMS Form Required to Be Provided by Group Health Plans
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: The changes and clarifications in these documents are fairly minor. What is most useful, perhaps, is the fact that much (though not all) of the existing guidance on completing the Disclosure to CMS Form has been consolidated in a single place (the Instructions, which is a new document)." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
Disability Plan for Which Employer Was Merely a Conduit for Premium Payments Is Not Subject to ERISA
Excerpt: "After his claim for disability benefits was denied, the employee in this case sued the insurer for state-law claims of breach of contract and bad faith. The insurer argued that the plan was subject to ERISA and that the employee's claims were preempted. The employee and insurer disputed whether the plan satisfied the requirements of the DOL's regulatory exclusion from ERISA for certain voluntary insurance arrangements (the 'voluntary plan safe harbor')." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
Ohio Civil Rights Commission Regulations Grant Twelve-Week Maternity Leaves to Pregnant Employees
Excerpt: "The Ohio Civil Rights Commission approved new maternity leave regulations requiring employers to give pregnant employees up to 12 weeks paid or unpaid maternity leave." (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)
Wellness Program Makes Strides in Nutrition, Absenteeism and Smoking Rates
Excerpt: "A corporate wellness program has sparked encouraging improvements in nutrition, absenteeism and smoking rates, but hasn't managed to reduce obesity or cholesterol levels. Dow Chemical is halfway through a study that hopes to shed light on how the corporate culture can positively influence healthy behaviors." (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)
(d) Trends, Surveys, Research
Early Tiered Networks Encounter Many Obstacles
Excerpt: "New research on high-efficiency provider networks says that it is big employers like the state of Massachusetts that have been driving the development of most of these tiered offerings around the country. And just about everywhere they've popped up, physicians have been kicking back -- hard." (Managed Care Magazine)
Health Insurance Audits Becoming All the Rage
Excerpt: "A growing number of employers are embarking on dependent audits to cull ineligible dependents from their health-care rolls in an effort to cut health-care costs, observers say. Experts say these audits can result in the removal of 5% to 10% of dependents from their rolls, on average, and depending on the particular plan, can save companies hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. They also remove potential liability under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Sarbanes-Oxley, observers say." (Financial Week; free registration required)
Employer Insurance Coverage Falling: Utah Has Highest Rate of Dropped Medical Plans for Workers
Excerpt: "Add another troubling statistic to the nation's problems with health-care reform: Employer-provided medical insurance plans are rapidly declining nationwide, and Utah is leading the way. No other state has a greater rate of employers who have dropped their medical insurance plans for employees, according to a report released today by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan economic think tank." (Deseret Morning News)
Some IT Experts Yawn at Federal EHR Initiative
Excerpt: "What's the big deal? That was the reaction of some industry observers to the recently announced plan by HHS and the CMS to provide 1,200 physicians in a dozen communities with bonus payments for quality reporting using electronic health-record systems. The move was touted by the government in its news statement as 'the largest step yet' toward boosting physician adoption of EHRs, a goal of President Bush." (Modern Healthcare Online; free registration required)
Health Consumerism Impacting Behavior
Excerpt: "There's no let up in things to worry about -- and plan for -- in health and retirement design. The latest survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute offers many nuggets of information to mull over." (Human Resource Executive Online; free registration required)
(e) Policy, Opinion, Advocacy
Sen. Stabenow Speaks Out Against Shifting Medicare End Stage Renal Disease Costs to Employer Plans
Excerpt: "Last week, HR Policy was part of a broad-based group representing employers, labor, and patients sending a letter to the Senate opposing a proposal to extend the period that private health plans are responsible for the coverage of end stage renal dialysis (ESRD) patients." (HR Policy Association)
Proposed Criteria for Physician Performance Reporting (PDF)
1 page. Excerpt: "Consumers and Purchasers support clear standards that foster transparency and accountability in health plan's physician performance reporting programs. Support for such standards is premised on the belief that consumers should have meaningful and valid information that enables them to assess and make informed decisions about their physicians and the care they receive. The proposed criteria . . . are based on the widely endorsed Guidelines for Measurement of Provider Performance (http://healthcaredisclosure.org/docs/files/MeasurementGuidelines09-2006.pdf) and initial discussions among leading consumer, labor, and purchaser organizations." (Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project via American Benefits Council)
The Elusive Health Care Consumer: What Will It Take to Activate Patients? (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Research has shown that when activation -- or a sense of competence for managing one's own health -- increases, self-management behaviors also improve. However, the degree to which changes in activation will result in reduced health care costs are not yet known." (AcademyHealth)
Overview: Improving Quality Health Care -- The Role of Consumer Engagement (PDF)
Excerpt: "This overview report illustrates both the complexity of the many ways that consumers interact with the health care system and the varying opportunities for engagement. Consequently, there are unlikely to be simple policy solutions to enhancing consumer engagement." (AcademyHealth)
Choice in Medical Care: When Should the Consumer Decide? (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "In February 2007, AcademyHealth conducted a meeting on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to examine the role of consumer engagement in improving the quality of health care. . . . This issue brief is based on the paper exploring the appropriate role for consumers . . . ." (AcademyHealth)
Opinion: Beyond Those Health Care Numbers
Excerpt: "WITH the health care system at the center of the political debate, a lot of scary claims are being thrown around. The dangerous ones are not those that are false; watchdogs in the news media are quick to debunk them. Rather, the dangerous ones are those that are true but don't mean what people think they mean." (The New York Times; free registration required)
California Among Worst in Providing Health Insurance Through Jobs
Excerpt: "The percentage of Californians who get health insurance through their jobs is among the lowest in the country, according to a study . . . . Nationwide, about 63 percent of Americans have health policies offered by their employers. But in California, only 55.7 percent of workers were covered through their jobs last year . . . ." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Legislation Would Change Tax Treatment of Stock Options
Excerpt: "Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) has introduced legislation to change the corporate tax treatment of stock options. Under the Ending Corporate Tax Favors for Stock Options Act (S.2116), companies could not deduct more than the amount they had claimed as an expense against earnings, and the expense would have to be recognized and deducted in the same period. Stock options could no longer be considered performance-based compensation and would be subject to the $1 million compensation limit." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Listing of IRS Published Guidance for January-October 2007
The target page links to guidance published by the Service relating to retirement plans: Treasury Regulations; Revenue Rulings; Revenue Procedures; Notices; and, Announcements. (Internal Revenue Service)
Hewitt Federal Legislation Quick Guide for October 31, 2007, on Human Resources & Employment Law (PDF)
12 pages. This Federal Legislation Quick Guide provides short updates on federal legislation that is currently under active consideration by Congress or has recently been enacted into law regarding human resources and employment law. (Hewitt Associates)
Office of Solicitor General Files Amicus Briefs on Scope of Relief and Standing Issues
Excerpt: "The Department of Labor Office of the Solicitor has posted the amicus brief filed in Tullis v. UMB Bank, N.A. wherein the district court, citing the Fourth Circuit's opinion in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Assocs., 450 F.3d 570, 572 (4th Cir.2006), took a similarly narrow reading of 29 U.S.C. ยง 1132(a)(3)." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Chart: Compensation Costs in State and Local Government, September 2007
Excerpt: "Benefit costs increased 0.7 percent, compared to 1.7 percent in the previous quarter." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Section 409A: What Needs to Be Done Now (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Many of the transition relief provisions include incentives for early action, in particular: (i) the ability to change payment elections, subject to the 'no acceleration/no deferral rule' and (ii) the ability to 'fix' outstanding stock rights to comply with Section 409A or to replace the stock right with a stock right not subject to Section 409A, both subject to the 'no acceleration/no deferral rule.'" (Holme Roberts & Owen LLP)
Kerry/Emanuel Legislation Would Prohibit Offshore Deferred Compensation
Excerpt: "Under the Offshore Deferred Compensation Reform Act, compensation deferred under a nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plan of a foreign corporation would be treated as taxable income unless there was a substantial risk of forfeiture." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Newly Posted Events
401(k) Plans: Beyond the Basics
in Georgia on November 29, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
401(k)Plan: Beyond the Basics
in Minnesota on November 14, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius
Newly Posted Press Releases
Don't Ignore Annual Enrollment Process, Says Aon Consulting Worldwide
Aon Consulting
Meritis and FI360 Announce Strategic Affiliation
Fiduciary360 (fi360)
Fringe Benefit Services, Inc. & Professional Benefit Services, Inc. Choose Benefit Informatics' for Online Benefit Plan Solutions
Benefit Informatics
The Online 401k Expands Retirement Network
Online 401k
Index Fund Based 401k Platform Launched
Huntleigh Capital Management, Inc.
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Actuarial Benefit Consultant
for Fidelity Investments
in MA, NC, NY
Pension Administrator
for AKT Retirement Plan Services
in CA
Client Data Management Processor
for Milliman, Inc.
in WA
Pension Administrator
for Pension Administration Firm located in Westchester, NY
in NY
Qualified Plan Specialist
for DST Systems
in MO
Retirement Plan Specialist
for Progressive Retirement Plan Services Firm
in IL, TX
401(k) Administrator
for Uniglobal Pension Planning, Inc.
in VA
Retirement Plan Enrollment and Education Specialist
for MBM Advisors, Inc.
in TX
401k Administrator
for Faulk & Winkler, LLC
in LA
Retirement Plan Administrator
for Retirement Plan Services, Inc.
in NC
Entry Level 401 (k) Administrator
for Scholz, Klein & Friends Enlightened Retirement Group, Inc.
in TX
401(k) Plan Administrator
for GHBA, a division of Carroll Enterprises, Inc.
in MA
Employee Benefits Paralegal
for Chang, Ruthenberg & Long
in CA
Plan Relationship Manager
for ePlan Services, Inc.
in CO
Employee Benefits and Human Resources Consultant
for Benefit Consulting Group
in NY
Experienced Employee Benefits Attorney
for Warner Norcross & Judd LLP
in MI
Director of ERISA
for July Business Services
in TX
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