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| December 10, 2007 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
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(a) New Guidance Documents
Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2007-04: Supplemental Health Insurance Coverage As Excepted Benefits Under HIPAA
Excerpt: "What are the circumstances under which supplemental health insurance coverage satisfies the requirements for excepted benefits under sections 732(c)(3) and 733(c)(4) of ERISA?" (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)
(b) News
Employee Benefits Security Administration Provides Guidance on HIPAA Portability Rules Relating to Supplemental Coverage
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Senate Bill Would Penalize Doctors Who Don't Use E-Prescription Technology by 2011
Excerpt: "Electronic prescriptions are considered a key component in a long-discussed national system of electronic health records. Last week, lawmakers and the Department of Health and Human Services took several steps to speed the transition." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
(c) Summaries of Guidance; Filed Comments
Retroactive Change in Benefit Eligibility Barred by Vesting of Benefits
Excerpt: "Vested benefits and employee welfare plans often appear to be mutually exclusive concepts. The overlap of the two thus provides all the more interesting subject matter for those following developments in the ERISA field. In this case out of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court reversed a district court holding for the insurance carrier upon finding that the language in the policy vested benefits in the claimant that could not be taken away by amendment of policy language." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)
Ten Considerations for Section 125 Plans (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "In August 2007, the Internal Revenue Service effectively replaced the majority of existing Section 125 plans regulations, supplanting them with a new set that will take effect for plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2009. See these ten points to make sure that your cafeteria plan is ready." (Milliman)
Implementing a Domestic Partner Benefits Policy (PDF)
10 pages. Excerpt: "[T]he purpose of this chapter is to outline the issues employers must consider when implementing a DP benefits policy. There are three primary areas of discussion. You should be aware of any legislation or pending legislation in the states in which you have employees that could affect your ability to offer DP coverage. You need to decide how to structure the DP benefits policy to best reflect your company's policies and values. You need to be aware of the federal tax laws that will affect your ability to provide DP coverage on a tax-favorable basis. Each of these issues is covered . . . and the chapter concludes with a detailed listing of the steps necessary to implement a DP benefits policy for your company." (Thompson Publishing Group via Ice Miller LLP)
IRS Releases Updated Version of Publication 521 (Moving Expenses) for Use in Preparing 2007 Returns
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Code Section 132 (g) allows employers to reimburse employees for certain moving expenses on a tax-free basis, so long as the expenses would have qualified for an individual tax deduction under Code Section 217. The types of moving expenses that can be provided tax free are limited, but some employers go further and reimburse a broader array of moving expenses, resulting in taxable income for employees. This publication provides a brief overview of some of the choices available to an employer that is designing moving expense benefits for employees . . . ." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
Plan's Arbitration Clause Requiring Cost-Sharing Violates ERISA and Is Unenforceable
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: This case gives us an opportunity to comment on the provisions in the DOL regulations affecting arbitration of benefit denials. The regulations expressly prohibit mandatory binding arbitration only for group health and disability claims. Group health and disability plans that wish to use binding arbitration -- i.e., arbitration that precludes any later challenge in court -- may only do so by offering it to claimants as a voluntary method of appeal." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
(d) Trends, Surveys, Research
Health Care Executives Blame Government and Insurance Companies for Big Markups
Excerpt: "[W]hy do hospitals send out bills that bear no resemblance to what insurance companies, the government and most individuals actually wind up paying? And what effect, if any, is it having on the rising cost of health care? Hospital administrators admit that billed charges are marked up well beyond what most insurers and patients really pay. And they agree the process of setting staggeringly high charges isn't logical." (Denver Business Journal via bizjournals.com; free registration required)
Consumer-Directed Health Care: What's the Next Stage? (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "A leading benefits expert explains how employers should scrutinize the policy debate surrounding CDHC, with the goal of ultimately focusing on how CDHC can have practical benefits not only for health plan design, but also for larger societal concerns." (Thompson Publishing Group)
Increasing Access to Doctors and Reducing Co-Pays -- Not the Opposite -- Are Methods Companies Can Use to Save Money
Excerpt: "The most important innovations in healthcare-cost containment, in my view, have come from employers and their associations that have pressed for measures of quality and used it to steer employees to the highest quality providers. That is a win-win for employers and employees." (Human Resource Executive Online; free registration required)
CDHPs Resulting in Lower Costs
Excerpt: "Studies are showing lower healthcare-cost increases over the previous year -- although still higher than the rate of inflation or wage increases. Consumer-driven plans get some of the credit for the lower hikes, although critics say the cost differential may be fleeting." (Human Resource Executive Online; free registration required)
PBM Transparency -- The Definition and the Image
Excerpt: "The move toward transparency has been an effort, to use the language of the industry, 'to align the incentives' of both the PBM and the employer so that what's good for the PBM is good for the employer. " (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Majority of Americans Want More Information to Compare Doctors, Hospitals
Excerpt: "From Spencer's Benefits Reports: Although most Americans were happy with their doctor, the majority (74%) also said that they would like more and better information to help them choose a health care provider, according to a survey sponsored by The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company." (Wolters Kluwer Financial Services)
(e) Policy, Opinion, Advocacy
Opinion: Rating Your Doctor, Fairly
Excerpt: "The drive to give consumers more information about the quality of their doctors has gotten an important shove forward by New York's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo. That could be good for patients in dozens of states across the country that are served by some of the major health insurance companies." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Time To Link Health Care Reimbursement to IT Adoption?
Excerpt: "Will health information technology (IT) be the silver bullet to create value in the health care sector? Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discusses health IT and other health system management issues in an interview with Leonard Schaeffer, founding chairman and CEO of WellPoint, Inc., and currently chairman of Surgical Care Affiliates and senior advisor of TPG Capital. The full interview was published this week online at Health Affairs [two-week free access]." (Health Affairs)
The Long-Term Outlook for Health Care Spending (PDF)
36 pages. Excerpt: "A prologue to the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO's) upcoming long-term budget outlook, to be released next month, this study presents the agency's projections of federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid and national spending on health care over the next 75 years. The goal of the projections is to examine the implications of a continuation of current federal law, rather than to make a prediction of the future. In reality, federal law will change; nevertheless, the projections provide a useful measure of the scope of the problem facing the nation under current law." (U.S. Congressional Budget Office)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Fact Sheet: Are Employers Willing to Hire and Retain Older Workers? (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Older adults' employment is attracting attention as many baby boomers approach traditional retirement ages. This fact sheet examines employers' current attitudes toward older workers and the likely future demand for their services." (Urban Institute)
Fact Sheet: Should People Work Longer, and Will They? (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "Choosing when to retire is a crucial decision for workers. Working longer increases lifetime earnings, Social Security and employer-sponsored pension credits, and other savings, and shortens the period over which retirement savings must be spread." (Urban Institute)
Overview: European Benefit Developments (November 2007) (PDF)
4 pages. (Jones Day)
Overview: IRS Guidance on 2007 Tax Reporting and Withholding Requirements under Code Section 409A (PDF)
Pages 6-8 of 9 pages. Excerpt: "Section 409A(b) of the Code ('Section 409A(b)') prohibits: the transfer of assets to an offshore trust; the restriction of assets to protect benefits in connection with a change in a company's financial health; or the transfer of assets during a restricted period with respect to a single-employer defined benefit plan." (Trucker Huss APC)
Overview: SEC Rules Exempting Compensatory Employee Stock Options from Registration Under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Stock options, including those issued to employees under stock option plans, are treated as a separate class of security for purposes of the Exchange Act. Although Exchange Act Rule 12h-1(a) provides an exemption from registration for interests in 'stock bonus, stock purchase, profit-sharing, pension, retirement, incentive, thrift, savings or similar plans,' there was previously no exemption for compensatory employee stock options." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)
Milliman's Monthly Benefit News and Developments, December 2007 (PDF)
2 pages. The newsletter provides a summary of the previous month's legislative, regulatory, and judicial information on employee benefits. (Milliman)
Summary of the Principal Financial Well-Being Index
Excerpt: "The Principal Financial Group commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct online research with employees of small and midsized U.S. businesses (firm size 10 - 1,000 employees) about their attitudes and perceptions regarding their financial well-being and their current employee benefits. To compare responses, Harris Interactive also interviewed a group of retirees." (Cypen & Cypen)
Recovering Executive Pay
Excerpt: "INVESTORS everywhere should applaud the deal struck last week by the UnitedHealth Group to recover nearly $1 billion in pay from former executives involved in the company's option backdating mess. Not only is the number big and round -- by far the largest giveback by corporate executives ever -- but the recovery sets a standard of behavior for other companies and boards when performance pay is later shown to have been based on ephemeral earnings." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
2008 Federal and State Legislative Update
in Maryland on January 10, 2008
presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network -- Baltimore chapter
Automatic Enrollment & Default Investments Workshop
Nationwide on January 10, 2008
presented by SunGard Relius
Participant Forms & Notices Workshop
Nationwide on January 10, 2008
presented by SunGard Relius
Newly Posted Press Releases
MassMutual Retirement Adds to TPA Sales Team
MassMutual Retirement Services
Prudential Retirement Selected to Manage $35 million Retirement Plan
Prudential Financial, Inc.
AIM Investments Launches New Retirement Marketing Tool
AIM Investments
FutureOffice Insurance Broker Network Introduces Its Innovative Steward(tm) Tool To FutureOffice Subscribers
Davidson Marketing Group -- FutureOffice Network
Thomson Tax Integrates Payroll Software with Online 401k
Thomson
Record-Breaking Financial Recovery Made in UnitedHealth Backdating Case
Connecticut State Attorney General's Office
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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ERISA Attorney
for Industry Leader in Financial Services
in PA
401k Administrator
for Vanguard
in PA
Relationship Manager-Retirement Services
for MassMutual Financial Group
in FL
Relationship Manager - Defined Contribution Plans
for Vanguard
in PA
401(k) Administrator
for TSP Associates, Inc.
in CA
401k Compliance Tester
for Benetemps
in MA
Defined Benefits Administrator
for JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services
in IL
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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