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| January 21, 2009 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
Today's sponsor is BeneCom Associates, LLC
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Reenrollment is over. Now, is your SPD up-to-date? |
| If your health or retirement plan has undergone major changes in the last five years, your SPDs may be out of date. If so, BeneCom has the experience and resources you need to bring them into compliance. Since 1992 we’ve been helping employers like you create and distribute their SPDs efficiently and cost effectively, often by using WebSPD, our own easy-to-navigate online reference tool.
No matter what media your SPD requires, print or online, BeneCom has the capability. Call (860) 674-2626 or visit us at www.benecomassociates.com. We’re here to help. |
[Guidance Overview]
Ninth Circuit Requires Application of Normal Summary Judgment Rules in Benefits Denial Review
Excerpt: "Discovery issues present one of the most interest post-Glenn arenas for disputes between disability carriers and ERISA plan participants. In this case, the insured obtained long-term disability benefits from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife). The Ninth Circuit found fault with the district court's breezy evaluation of the facts in granting summary judgment to the disability carrier." (Health Plan Law)
Health Care Reform Top Health Law Issue As Economy, New Leadership Drive Change
Excerpt: "Washington, D.C., partner T.J. Sullivan commented on various issues facing health care providers in 2009 for BNA's Health Law Reporter, 'Outlook 2009.' The article, which ranks the top 10 issues facing health care providers in 2009, was compiled by BNA's Health Law Reporter advisory board members. Asked to rank the top 10 issues facing health care providers over the coming year, board members overwhelmingly selected health care reform as the health law issue for 2009, followed by fraud and abuse and taxation issues." (Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP)
Single-Payer/Medicare for All: An Economic Stimulus Plan for the Nation (PDF)
39 pages. Excerpt: "It is the first known study to provide an econometric analysis of the economic benefits of healthcare to the overall economy, showing how changes in direct healthcare delivery affect all other significant sectors touched by healthcare, and how sweeping healthcare reform can help drive the nation's economic recovery. [Three pages of additional charts are at http://www.calnurses.org/research/pdfs/ihsp_sp_economy_report_charts_011509.pdf.]" (California Nurses Association / National Nurses Organizing Committee)
[Opinion]
Stay Healthy: Government Healthcare May Be Coming
Excerpt: "If they had been designing a health system from scratch, the change agents assuming power in January would have done things differently. Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy would have given us a Single Payer for medical care, as in Can.ada and Britain (and Cuba and North Korea) and (according to national healthcare promoters) 'the rest of the industrialized world.'" (The New American Magazine)
[Opinion]
Single-Payer Health Care Would Stimulate Economy
Excerpt: "There is an unhealthy tendency on the part of politicians and journalists to see discussions about economic recovery and health care reform as separate debates. In fact, one of the most important steps on the road to economic recovery -- or, more precisely, toward a new, responsible and sustainable prosperity -- involves the fundamental reform this country's broken health care system. But it must be the right reform: the establishment of a national single-payer style healthcare reform system by expanding the existing Medicare system to cover all Americans." (The Nation)
[Opinion]
Follow the (Health Insurance Lobby's) Money to RAND and the COMPARE Tool
Excerpt: "In the race to influence health care reform, the insurance industry and major corporations just made a big score in the toy department. RAND Corp. . . . announced a new online 'analytic tool' of health reform proposals for 'policymakers and interested parties.' It leans hard toward having individuals pay for their own private insurance. It and completely omits a true public insurance choice like opening Medicare to all, much less any kind of single-payer plan. It's all free-market, all the time." (Consumer Watchdog)
Health Benefits Conference & Expo (HBCE) (Sponsor)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Nat'l Health Benefits Conference & Expo (HBCE), Feb. 3-4, Tampa, FL |
| Sessions by: Intel, Corning, Toyota, TECO Energy, Broward County Schools, Burger King, SAS, Gulf Power/Southern Company, Pepco Holdings, Inc. (PHI), Univ. of Pittsburgh Medical Center, U.S. Xpress, PSEG, Mayo Clinic, University of Rochester, Pinellas County, CEO Roundtable on Cancer, City of Clearwater, C-Change, Manatee County...and more. Satisfaction guaranteed...or your registration refunded. Best Value in Health Benefits Continuing Education (HBCE) - highest quality and registration only $295 - $345. SHRM credits. www.HBCE.com |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]
Final FASB Disclosure of More Asset Classes Held in Pension and Postretirement Benefit Plans
Excerpt: "The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) on December 30, 2008, finalized revisions to FASB Statement # 132, Employers' Disclosures about Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits. The revisions are effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2009, and are found in FAS #132(R)-1, Employers' Disclosures about Postretirement Benefit Plan Assets." (Wolters Kluwer)
[Guidance Overview]
Executive's Disloyalty Causes Loss of SERP Benefits
2 pages. Excerpt: "Lesson. One generally prefers precision in deferred compensation agreements. But, for provisions intended to protect a company in the event an executive acts improperly, the flexibility afforded by using the term 'disloyalty' to describe an event resulting in a loss of entitlement to further compensation (or the need to return compensation already paid) may be useful." (National Association of Stock Plan Professionals via Utz, Miller, Kuhn & Eickman, LLC)
Returning Fairness to Executive Compensation
Excerpt: "The current waive of turmoil in the financial markets has cast attention on the problem of executive compensation. Companies that have failed or disappeared in shot-gun mergers have nonetheless paid exorbitant sums to officers who arguably played a substantial role in their demise. In response, Congress for the first time established federal standards for determining compensation, including clawbacks and limits on golden parachutes. . . . The paper provides some suggested reforms. The efficacy of the process must be improved. Most importantly, however, fairness needs to be returned to the analysis. Only with some obligation to show the fairness of the compensation decision with the interests of shareholder be adequately protected." (Social Science Research Network)
Information Resources on Labor, Employment and Workforce Development
The target page provides links to Federal and state Government and Congressional Sites, Legislative Resources and Information, publications, and Associations and Interest Groups. (National Conference o State Legislatures)
Class Action Workplace Litigation Hot Item in '08
Excerpt: "One of the most significant changes in 2008 was the increase in the collective amount of the 10 largest ERISA class action settlements. That figure hit $17.7 billion last year, up from $1.8 billion in 2007." (The National Law Journal via Law.com)
Newly Posted Press Releases
MassMutual Appoints Three New TPA Relationship Managers
MassMutual Retirement Services
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
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Retirement Plan Administrator / Consultant
for Blue Chip Retirement Plans, Inc.
in WI
Manager/Retirement Plan Administrator
for Primark Benefits
in CA
Manager, Absence Management
for The Standard
in OR
Benefit Associate
for Allen, Gibbs & Houlik, L.C.
in KS
Compliance Analyst
for The Newport Group
in NC
Client Services Manager (CSM)
for TRI-AD
in CA
Client Service Consultant
for The Standard
in TX
Client Development Officer
for COUNTRY Financial
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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