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| April 9, 2008 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
Today's sponsor is SunGard
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Creating health plans via word processor, outdated system, or by a consultant? |
| With SunGard's Relius Documents solutions, you can manage self-funded, ASA, HDHP, and cafeteria plans. Create, modify, track, and report on all of your plans with language updates provided as legislation changes. Choose the application that best fits the needs of your operation: Internet hosted (ASP) or installed (PC). Contact us at 800-326-7235, ext. 1100 today. |
[Guidance Overview] California Supreme Court's First CFRA Opinion Underscores Need To Make Informed Eligibility Decisions
Excerpt: "In Lonicki v. Sutter Health Central, the California Supreme Court issued its first opinion concerning the state's version of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act (CFRA)." (Littler Mendelson P.C.)
Sick Around the World - Coming April 15 - on Air and Online
Excerpt: "Four in five Americans say the U.S. health care system needs 'fundamental' change. Can the U.S. learn anything from the rest of the world about how to run a health care system, or are these nations so culturally different from us that their solutions would simply not be acceptable to Americans? FRONTLINE correspondent T.R. Reid examines first-hand the health care systems of other advanced capitalist democracies--UK, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Taiwan--to see what tried and tested ideas might help us reform our broken health care system." (FRONTLINE via PBS)
New Massachusetts Law for Health-Cost Savings Attracts Few Towns
Excerpt: "A new law that lets local communities buy cheaper health insurance from an agency that provides health care for current and former state employees has gotten fewer than a dozen takers in its first year. Supporters say the measure will help municipalities reduce escalating health care costs. But critics say the law hasn't attracted more takers because communities have many hurdles to qualify." (Boston Business Journal via bizjournals.com; free registration required)
Research Aims to Debunk Health Care Myths -- An Interview with Michael Tanner
Excerpt: "[The interview focuses on] a few of the conclusions Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies at the Cato Institute, draws in his recent policy brief titled, 'The grass is not always greener: A look at national health care systems around the world.' He is also author of Healthy Competition: What's holding back health care and how to free it. EBA Editor Robert L. Whiddon recently discussed the issue with Tanner." (Employee Benefit Adviser; free registration required)
National Doctor Rating System Approved
Excerpt: "Employer associations, physician groups and unions sign off on a system for grading physicians. The Patient Charter for Physician Performance Measurement, Reporting and Tiering Programs creates a national set of principles." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
The Effect of Medicare Part D on Pharmaceutical Prices and Utilization
Excerpt: "This paper evaluates the effect of this program on the price and utilization of pharmaceutical treatments. Theoretically, it is ambiguous whether the expansion in insurance coverage would increase or reduce pharmaceutical prices. Insurance-induced reductions in demand elasticity would predict an increase in pharma.ceutical firms' optimal prices. However, Part D plans could potentially negotiate price discounts through their ability to influence the market share of specific treatments. Using data on product-specific prices and quantities sold in each year in the U.S., our findings indicate that Part D substantially lowered the average price and increased the total utilization of prescription drugs by Medicare recipients. Our results further suggest that the magnitude of these average effects varies across drugs as predicted by economic theory." (National Bureau of Economic Research; paid subscription or individual purchase required to retrieve full text)
Cost of Failure: The Economic Losses of the Uninsured (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "In 2000, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimated that the 'annualized economic cost of the diminished health and shorter lifespan of Americans who lack health insurance is between $65 and $130 billion for each year of health insurance forgone.' After updating the IOM's numbers to reflect growth in the economy and increases in the number of uninsured, we estimate that the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured cost the U.S. economy between $102 billion and $204 billion in2006. This estimate does not include spillover costs. For example, when medical bills go unpaid, providers attempt to recoup lost revenues by raising the rates for their services. In response, insurers raise premiums. This vicious cycle of 'cost shifting' inextricably links the uninsured to rising health care costs and premium rates for the insured. The economic cost imposed on the nation by the uninsured is as much as and perhaps greater than the public cost of covering them." (New America Foundation)
Baby-Boomer Workers Unaware and Unconcerned About Their Risks for Extended Disability
Excerpt: "Baby-boomer workers 'significantly underestimate' their risk for an absence from work because of an extended disability and say that they are not concerned about that possibility, according to a survey recently conducted by Harris Interactive for America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)." (Wolters Kluwer)
Medical Errors Costing U.S. Billions
Excerpt: "[T]he prevalence of likely preventable patient safety incidents is taking a costly toll on our health care systems -- in both lives and dollars . . . ." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Advertising May Have More Influence on Prescriptions Than Science
Excerpt: "Few Canadians are taking a controversial new cholesterol-lowering drug compared with millions in the United States, where the medication has been heavily promoted, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results suggest that advertising may have a greater influence on the use of a medication than scientific evidence." (National Center for Policy Analysis)
[Opinion] Why McCain Has the Best Health Care Plan
Excerpt: "His is the only one of the candidate proposals that has a chance of getting medical costs under control. An argument for some free-market sanity." (CNNMoney.com)
Sponsored by: WorldatWork
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| WorldatWork publications in the BenefitsLink Bookstore |
| WorldatWork, a not-for-profit professional association, is a leading publisher of compensation, benefits and total rewards information. With a portfolio of books, reports, survey briefs, booklets and online learning programs, WorldatWork creates, markets and distributes publications that are critical to improved organizational performance. WorldatWork has contributed to the education and development of business professionals worldwide since 1955. |
| (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
Study of Employee Benefits Trends: Findings from the 6th Annual National Survey of Employers and Employees (PDF)
65 pages. Excerpt: "The 6th annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends examines the attitudes of an increasingly diverse workforce toward financial and benefits-related issues. The Study also captures the benefits practices and perspectives of both small and large companies across a wide array of industries. Over a one-month period, MetLife surveyed 1,380 full-time employees and 1,652 benefits decision-makers nationwide about employee benefits and marketplace trends." (MetLife, Inc.)
St. Louis, Missouri, Pays Big for Public Employees' Unused Sick Time
Excerpt: "Under a system virtually extinct in corporate America -- and increasingly harder to find in government -- St. Louis city employees can bank all sick days they don't take and exchange them for lump sum payments and a higher pension upon retirement." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
[Opinion] Law Professor Amicus Brief Filed in Glenn ERISA Case
Excerpt: "Donald Bogan (Oklahoma) sent us a copy of an amicus brief he and a few others at the University of Oklahoma College of Law filed last week in the U.S. Supreme Court ERISA standard of review case, MetLife v. Glenn, which is set for oral agreement on April 23, 2008." (Workplace Prof Blog)
Newly Posted Events
401k Fiduciary Compliance: What Plan Sponsors Need to Know
in Virginia on April 23, 2008
presented by BNA, Inc.
Employee Benefits Conference
in Illinois on May 21, 2008
presented by Illinois CPA Society
New Alternatives for Retirement Savings: Real Estate IRAs - Seminar
in Illinois on April 16, 2008
presented by Millennium Trust Company, LLC
Newly Posted Press Releases
Former President Of Thomas Construction Services, Inc. Convicted Of Federal Felony And Ordered To Pay $138,478.80 In Restitution
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Appoints New Members and Leaders to 2008 ERISA Advisory Council
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Benefits and Compensation Books Offered in New Catalog
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
(Post a Job | View All Jobs |
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Pension Plan Administrator
for Future Planning Associates, Inc.
in VT
Defined Benefit Administrator
for Pension Strategies, LLC
in AZ
Conversion Quality Assurance Manager
for Charles Schwab
in OH
Education Consultant for Retirement Plans
for Charles Schwab
in AZ, OH
Plan Consultant Opportunity
for Weaver Partners, Inc.
in ANY STATE
Employee Benefits Director
for Prudential Financial
in NJ
Investment Information Manager
for Prudential
in CT
Retirement Plan Administrator/Consultant
for Baden Retirement Plan Services
in IN
Daily 401 (k) Administrator
for Geller Group, LLC
in NY
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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