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April 13, 2009


Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy.

Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA) (Advert.)

EBIA's In Person Seminar Series (clickable image)

EBIA's In Person Seminar Series

Look to EBIA for education and training on Cafeteria Plans, ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA, and Consumer-Driven Health Care. EBIA's spring seminars will include all the latest employee benefits developments, including the new COBRA premium assistance and changes to the HIPAA special enrollment, privacy, and security requirements.

For information about CE credit, course materials, speakers, locations, and agenda details, and to register, please visit EBIA's In Person Seminars.



[Official Guidance]
DOL Posts Spanish Language Version of COBRA ARRA Model General Notice

The COBRA ARRA model general notice (full version) in Spanish was added to the COBRA ARRA model notices page available from www.dol.gov/COBRA. (Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor)


[Guidance Overview]
CMS Revision of Indexed Medicare Part D Amounts for 2010, Updated April 8, 2009

Excerpt: "In an April 6, 2009 announcement, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revised and made final the indexed Medicare Part D standard benefit and Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) amounts for 2010, previously announced in an advance notice. This Capital Checkup features charts comparing the final 2010 numbers and the 2009 numbers." (The Segal Group, Inc.)


[Guidance Overview]
IRS Guidance on Involuntary Termination for COBRA Premium Subsidy

Excerpt: "The IRS Notice broadly defines involuntary termination as being 'a severance from employment due to the independent exercise of the unilateral authority of the employer to terminate the employment.' Although the guidance focuses on employer action, it also recognizes certain employee-initiated terminations as being involuntary if the employee was terminated for good reason based on 'employer action that causes a material negative change in the employment relationship.' The IRS further indicates that whether a termination is involuntary is based on all the facts and circumstances. [The target page includes] a list based on examples provided in the IRS guidance." (Faegre & Benson)


[Guidance Overview]
For COBRA Subsidy, Involuntary Termination Does Include Call-Up to Military Reserves

Excerpt: "An employee in the military reserve who is called up for active duty has experienced an involuntary termination and is eligible for the recently enacted COBRA subsidy, according to an April 6 Webcast sponsored by the Department of Labor's Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA). Kevin Knopf, attorney-adviser in the Office of Tax Policy at the Department of the Treasury, said at the Webcast that he had erred earlier by stating that military reservists called up for active duty were not eligible for the subsidy." (Wolters Kluwer)


[Guidance Overview]
Recent Long-Term Disability Litigation Decisions

Excerpt: "Judge Gertner of the federal district court in Massachusetts issued a pair of bookend decisions in long term disability cases a few days back that present an interesting contrast with regard to an issue that troubles many critics of the arbitrary and capricious standard, namely the extent to which an administrator deciding a claim for benefits can favor the opinions of its own reviewing physicians over the opinions of the participant/claimant's treating physicians." (Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)


[Guidance Overview]
Towers Perrin Monthly Health & Welfare Regulatory Round-Up, March 2009 (PDF)

12 pages. Excerpt: "The Monthly Regulatory Round-Up is a high-level summary of legal and regulatory developments that occurred during January 2009 that may be relevant to large employers. Developments are sorted according to federal legislative developments, federal regulatory guidance, other developments (e.g., significant litigation, studies, select state law developments)." (Towers Perrin)


[Guidance Overview]
Correction to Author of Link: Milwaukee Issues Draft Administrative Rules on Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, Schedules Public Hearing

An earlier link to this item misidentified its author; BenefitsLink apologizes for the error! Excerpt: "Draft administrative rules detail Milwaukee's new paid leave ordinance, which requires employers to provide employees in the city one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked (or 40 hours if fewer than 10 employees), up to a maximum of 72 hours per calendar year." (Mercer)


House Legislation Proposes Up to 12 Weeks of Annual Paid Leave for U.S. Workers (PDF)
Excerpt: "On March 25, 2009, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), chair of the Committee on House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, introduced the Family Leave Insurance Act of 2009 (HR 1723), a bill that would provide workers up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave benefits annually. Workers who need time off to care for a new child, recover from an illness, care for an ill family member (including a domestic partner or the child of a domestic partner), or deal with an exigency caused by the military deployment of a family member could receive benefits under the proposed legislation." (Sutherland)


2009 Health Insurance Plan Satisfaction Study
Excerpt: "A new study by J.D. Power and Associates shows that customer satisfaction with health care providers varies widely across the United States. The J.D. Power and Associates 2009 National Health Insurance Plan StudySM reports on the results of more than 33,000 health plan subscriber interviews, conducted online between December 2008 and January 2009." (J.D. Power and Associates, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.)


Southern California Towns See Millions in Retiree Healthcare Liabilities
Excerpt: "What governments are finding in many cases is that the cost estimates are far bigger than they expected. Many are only now coming to terms with the fact that if they don't start saving now, or reduce benefit packages, taxpayers will be harder hit in the future." (Whittier Daily News)


Appellate Court Declines to Disturb AK Steel VEBA
Excerpt: "A federal appellate court has refused to invalidate a plan by AK Steel Corp. to establish a $663-million voluntary employees' beneficiary association (VEBA) to fund retiree health benefits. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to disturb a lower court's decision approving an out-of-court settlement of a suit filed by retirees in an effort to block the company's intention to curb its retiree health package. In its decision, the 6th Circuit said that the lower court judge was right in turning away an effort by a separate smaller group of retirees for permission to get involved in the case as a separate party so they could try to hold up formation of the VEBA to which they objected." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


Employers See Substantial Savings from Dependent Eligibility Audits
Excerpt: "Mercer is seeing a dramatic rise in the number of inquiries and new business involving health plan dependent eligibility audits, with the number of Mercer-conducted audits more than doubling every year since 2006. According to a Mercer news release, the immediate and long-term savings gained from these audits can be substantial. Mercer conservatively estimates that 3% to 8% percent of covered family members (spouses and dependents) cannot produce valid verification of eligibility during an audit, and $1,900 is the average annual cost of providing health coverage for one dependent, based on data from Mercer's National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


[Opinion]
Exposing the Myths of Universal Health Coverage

Excerpt: "Recent health care reform proposals have largely focused on achieving universal coverage through a combination of private-sector mandates, regulation of insurance premiums and expansion of government insurance. Proponents argue that adding more regulations and spreading costs across a wider insurance pool will make coverage more affordable. Reality belies these myths." (National Center for Policy Analysis)


[Opinion]
The Folly of Health Insurance Mandates

Excerpt: "Many of the nearly 46 million uninsured say they are unable to afford health insurance. Advocates of various state regulations claim their proposals would make health coverage more affordable. These regulations include mandates that employers offer their employees health insurance or that individuals obtain health coverage, and requirements that health plans and insurers cover specified benefits or accept anyone who applies for insurance. However, rather than make coverage more affordable, these regulations drive up the cost of insurance." (National Center for Policy Analysis)


[Opinion]
Should HR Executives Care About Budget Reconciliation for Health Care Reform?

Excerpt: "Yes! Most of the changes in retirement and health programs over the past 29 years have come about through budget reconciliation. That's because reconciliation short-circuits most of the normal legislative processes that make it difficult for Congress to pass legislation. And that is why the GOP is now making such a big deal about not wanting it to be used. They know that they used the process over three decades, while controlling one or the other house of Congress, to make program changes the Democrats did not want." (Dallas Salisbury via Human Resource Executive Online)


[Opinion]
The First Showdown on Health Care Reform

Excerpt: "Republican senators are hyperventilating over the possibility that Democrats might try to pass health care reform with only a majority vote -- depriving them of the chance to try to block legislation with filibusters that can only be overcome with the votes of at least three-fifths of all senators. . . . There are reasons to be wary about resorting to the expedited process, known as budget reconciliation. But it is a weapon that the Democrats would be foolish to give up without evidence that Republicans will truly cooperate in fashioning meaningful reform. Not one Republican in the House or the Senate voted for the budget resolutions, and only three supported the stimulus bill." (The New York Times; free registration required)



University Conference Services (Advert.)

Taking a Closer Look at Your Health Care Dollars (clickable image)

Taking a Closer Look at Your Health Care Dollars

With an uncertain economy, premium increases that continue to outpace inflation, and a new administration in the White House pushing for change, offering a strong health care plan isn’t easy—or cheap. But making the most of your health care dollars has never been more critical. The Boston Health and Welfare Plan Management for Mid-Sized Employers Conference, April 26–29, is your source for solutions to the formidable challenges you face.

Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General


[Guidance Overview]
IRS Interim Guidance on Certain Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Programs

Excerpt: "Last fall, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, also known as the Bailout Bill, became law. Among other things, it closed what some viewed as loophole in Code Section 409A by providing for similar tax penalties for tax indifferent parties. In this article, we review the IRS's first guidance under new Code Section 457A." (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)

[Guidance Overview]
Monthly Regulatory Round-Up on Executive Compensation, March 2009 (PDF)

3 pages. Excerpt: "The Monthly Regulatory Round-Up is a high-level summary of legal and regulatory developments that occurred during January 2009 that may be relevant to large employers. Developments are sorted according to federal legislative developments, federal regulatory guidance, other developments (e.g., significant litigation, studies, select state law developments)." (Towers Perrin)


Layoff Binge Spurs Severance-Policy Flux
Excerpt: "With so many companies laying off workers, revising severance-pay policies is in vogue as well. And while a majority of employers will save money under their new provisions, a sizable minority will not, according to a new survey. Among 180 companies surveyed by Hay Group, a human-resources consultancy, 15% had altered their severance policies in the year before the survey was conducted, around February 1, and an additional 22% said they are considering making changes." (CFO.com)


Benefits Widen Public, Private Workers' Pay Gap
Excerpt: "The pay gap between government workers and lower-compensated private employees is growing as public employees enjoy sizable benefit growth even in a distressed economy, federal figures show. Public employees earned benefits worth an average of $13.38 an hour in December 2008, the latest available data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says. Private-sector workers got $7.98 an hour. Overall, total compensation for state and local workers was $39.25 an hour -- $11.90 more than in private business." (USA Today)



Webcasts and Conferences

(Click to post your webcast or conference)

2010 Health and Welfare Planning: What Should Employers Be Doing Now?
Nationwide on April 28, 2009
presented by Kilpatrick Stockton LLP

CFDD Advisor Conference: Adapt, Survive & Prosper: A Bull Market In BOR Changes
in Arizona on October 5, 2009
presented by Center for Due Diligence

DC Plan Design Alternatives for Small Employers
Nationwide on April 23, 2009
presented by McKay Hochman Co.

Revised and Updated IRA, HSA, and Coverdell ESA Webinars
Nationwide on April 28, 2009
presented by Collin W. Fritz & Associates, Ltd.


Press Releases

(Click to post your press release)

CAPTRUST Expands Virginia Operation
CAPTRUST Financial Advisors

Callan Associates Hires Consulting Veteran
Callan Associates

Unite's Reaction to Aon's Plans to Cut Pension Payments
Unite the Union

Nearly 30% of Homeowners Seeking Counseling Recently Tapped Retirement Funds Early
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta


Employee Benefits Jobs

(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed for jobs RSS feed of all jobs )

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Firm in South Kansas City
in MO

401(k) Wholesaler
for Howard Simon & Associates, Inc.
in IL

Account Manager- Retirement Services
for The Plexus Groupe
in IL

Vice President, Finance
for New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in MA

Retirement Plan Administrator
for S & A Administrators, Inc.
in PA

Actuarial Consultant
for Tepfer Consulting Group, Ltd.
in IL

Team Leader, Participant Communication
for The Standard
in OR

Defined Contribution Analyst I
for The Standard
in OH

National Account Specialist
for The Standard
in GA



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