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| February 5, 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.)
| Your company promotes its products to customers. Why not your benefits to employees? |
| Ad campaigns can be expensive, but benefit statements from BeneCom are one of the least expensive promotional products available and show employees the great value benefits provide – value that’s often forgotten in today’s uncertain environment.
So, start promoting your benefits. Let your "customers" see the value they bring. |
Search Continues for Obesity Solutions That Work - Meaning Lower Costs, Improved Health
Excerpt: "Employers know that obesity costs them enormous amounts of money each year, but they're still grappling with ways to create successful weight-loss programs for employees. Experts discussed effective strategies for employers, as well as lessons from their own experience, at the Obesity Congress in Washington, D.C., recently. Many speakers called for health plans to cover treatments specifically for obesity, noting that patients often are denied coverage for things like weight-loss counseling and bariatric surgery." (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)
Cancer Patients Confront Costs in the Health Insurance System
Excerpt: "This report highlights the severe challenges cancer patient may face in paying for life-saving care even when they have private health insurance. . . . The Kaiser Family Foundation also produced a separate video documentary, 'The Cost of Cancer,' profiling three of patients featured in the report." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
AHRQ Publishes Three MEPS Statistical Briefs Showing Employer-Sponsored Health Care Coverage Data
Excerpt: "The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has published three Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) statistical data briefs relating to employer-provided health care benefits. [They are Premiums, Employer Costs, and Employee Contributions for Private Sector Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, Family Coverage by Firm Size, 1996-2006; Premiums, Employer Costs, and Employee Contributions for Private Sector Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, Single Coverage by Firm Size, 1996-2006; and, Health Insurance Status of Full Time Workers by Demographic and Employer Characteristics, 2006.]" (International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans)
[Opinion]
New Federal Healthcare Bureaucracy Would Make Things Worse, Writes Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Excerpt: "More government bureaucrats involved in your healthcare would be destructive. Other countries with similar systems face lengthy and often deadly waiting lists. That is the only way to ration unlimited demand in the face of static supply. Go to YouTube and view the short films of Stuart Browning for a flavor of the Canadian system." (U.S. News & World Report)
[Opinion]
Health Savings Accounts Are Ill-Advised
Excerpt: "Critics of health savings accounts counter that the plans favor the healthy and wealthy, and can increase medical costs for everyone else by requiring people to take out high-deductible insurance policies that kick in only after thousands of dollars in healthcare expenses have been rung up. 'Most people can't even afford to put money into the account,' said Jerry Flanagan, health policy director for Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica. 'All the money goes into premiums and deductibles.'" (Los Angeles Times via)
[Opinion]
JAMA Commentary Discusses Economics of Preventive Health Care
Excerpt: "'A Closer Look at the Economic Argument for Disease Prevention,' Journal of the American Medical Association: The commentary by Steven Woolf of the Department of Family Medicine, Epidemiology and Community Health at Virginia Commonwealth University examines the economics of preventive health care and writes, 'Services that yield net savings -- whether prevention or treatment -- are priorities.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)
University Conference Services (Sponsor)
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
| Weighing the Value of Your Health Care Plan |
| As health care costs continue to increase faster than inflation and the faltering economy exacts its toll on businesses, employers are struggling to balance the costs of their health care programs with the value these benefits provide to employees. The Orlando Health and Welfare Plan Management for Mid-Sized Employers Conference, March 1–4, 2009, gives you access to expert speakers and valuable information that will help you find the right solutions for your plan and equalize your costs and benefits. |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]
Presentation: Dealing With Underwater Options: Option Repricings, Option Exchanges, Option Buy-Outs Webcast (PDF)
28 pages. Excerpt: "Three techniques for dealing with underwater options: 1. Option Repricing: The underwater option is cancelled and replaced with an at-the-money option 2. Option Exchange: The underwater option is exchanged for a restricted stock unit award 3. Option Buyout: The option is purchased by the issuer for cash" (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)
Along with Compensation, Scrutiny of Bankers' Perks Will Grow, Too
Excerpt: "Country club dues, gym memberships and personal assistants. Home security systems, chauffeur service and parking. And, of course, all those private jets to ensure the comfort and safety of the boss. Top executives at banks enjoy all sorts of shiny perquisites. Yet despite being propped up by taxpayer bailout money, many banks are not yet ready to give them up." (The New York Times; free registration required)
Obama Outlines Limits on Executive Pay with Goal to Inspire Dedication to Long-Term Health of Firms
Excerpt: "The administration imposed a $500,000 pay cap on senior officers at companies that need special government assistance. But perhaps more significant is a new rule that bans those firms from offering additional compensation except in the form of company stock that can be redeemed only after the government investment is repaid. The idea is to motivate executives to work for the long-term health of their companies, administration officials said." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Keeping Work/Life Programs
Excerpt: "Employers are not as quick now, as they were in the recession of 2001, to cut work/life programs. In fact, some employers are actually adding more workplace-flexibility programs as a way to reduce costs, one expert says." (Human Resource Executive Online)
Court Rules Forfeiture of Incentive Does not Violate State Wage Law
Excerpt: "Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court has determined that the forfeiture provision of a Capital Accumulation Plan (CAP) does not violate the state's weekly wage act. According to the court opinion, another statute specifically excludes from coverage under the state weekly wage act 'certain types of deductions from wages made by an employer at an employee's request, including, among other things, deductions of amounts used to purchase company stock pursuant to an employee stock purchase plan.' Using this statute, the court determined the forfeiture of the stock purchased at participants' direction in the payroll program of the CAP did not violate the wage act." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Newly Posted Events
Adapting to Proposed Fee Disclosure Regulations
in Florida on February 17, 2009
presented by ING Group
Benefits Boot Camp 2009
in Georgia on April 30, 2009
presented by WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefit Network) Atlanta Chapter
Compliance Assistance Seminar For Retirement Plan Fiduciaries - Free
in New York on February 12, 2009
presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
Investor Choices and Financial Literacy: Evidence from Mutual Fund Choice Experiments Congressional Briefing
in District of Columbia on February 9, 2009
presented by RAND Corporation
Mid-Sized Retirement & Pension Plan Management Conference
in Massachusetts on May 5, 2009
presented by University Conference Services
Pension Focus 2009 Conference
in Missouri on May 14, 2009
presented by Pension Consultants, Inc.
Workshop with Sal Tripodi on Nondiscrimination Testing, EPCRS and Other Recent Developments
in California on February 19, 2009
presented by National Institute of Pension Administrators - San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Newly Posted Press Releases
MassMutual RetireSmart Academy Makes Debut
MassMutual Retirement Services
UBA Announces the Opening of the 2009 UBA Employer Benefit Perspectives, a Survey of Employer Opinions
United Benefit Advisors
Fiduciary360 Appoints Judy Stormer Director of Finance And George Stark Application Systems Manager
Fiduciary360 (fi360)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
(Post a Job | View All Jobs |
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Client Relations Representative
for Decimal, Inc. (www.theonline401k.com)
in CA
Retirement Plan Administrator
for REDW, The Rogoff Firm
in NM
Defined Benefit Plan Technician
for Rosenfeld/Tortu Retirement Planning Co., Inc.
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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