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May 15, 2009 |
| Here are the Web's best new links about compliance and cost aspects of plan operation, design and policy. |
University Conference Services (Advert.)
Solving the Puzzle of Managing Health Care Benefits Today Managing your organization’s health and welfare plans can be compared to assembling a giant jigsaw puzzle —and never more so than in the current economic environment. Do you have all the pieces? How do they fit together? The Chicago Health and Welfare Plan Management for Mid-Sized Employers Conference, June 7–10, is the ideal place to turn the jigsaw pieces of your plan into a complete picture. |
[Official Guidance]
Text of IRS Rev. Proc. 2009-29: 2010 Inflation-Adjusted Amounts for Health Savings Accounts (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "For calendar year 2010, the annual limitation on deductions . . . for an individual with self-only coverage under a high deductible health plan is $3,050. . . . [F]or an individual with family coverage under a high deductible health plan [it] is $6,150. . . . For calendar year 2010, a 'high deductible health plan' . . . [is] a health plan with an annual deductible not less than $1,200 for self-only coverage or $2,400 for family coverage, and the annual out-of-pocket expenses (deductibles, co-payments, and other amounts, but not premiums) do not exceed $5,950 for self-only coverage or $11,900 for family coverage." (Internal Revenue Service)
[Guidance Overview]
Retiree Health Care Waiver Not Taxable Income
Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has ruled that an arrangement under which employees could give up the right to get retiree health benefits in exchange for a higher future pay rate does not represent a taxable event. That holding came in a private letter ruling, which only directly affects the individual taxpayer requesting the IRS opinion . . . . According to the IRS document, the employer's retiree health insurance program gives employees a chance within 15 days of starting work to waive retiree health care in exchange for a future pay increase. Electing the pay hike does not change the pay rate for employee services already performed." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
[Guidance Overview]
Mandatory Health Risk Assessments Violate ADA (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Many employers are implementing wellness programs that include health risk assessments, sometimes offering inducements to complete these assessments. In an informal letter, the EEOC said that making health risk assessments a prerequisite for health coverage would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) but confirmed that certain voluntary wellness programs are permissible under the ADA. Although the letter does not constitute an official opinion of the EEOC, it does reflect the agency's current thinking on the issue." (Buck Consultants)
Electronic Medical Record Systems Offer Three Kinds of Potential Benefits: Efficiency Savings, Drug Safety, and Improved Patient Health
Excerpt: "The charts [on the target page] compare only the efficiency savings to the total costs of adoption and implementation of electronic medical record systems by 90 percent of U.S. physician offices and hospitals -- a gradual process that would stretch over the next 15 years." (RAND Corporation)
The Promise of Health Information Technology for Cost, Quality, and Privacy
Excerpt: "Our focus is on the costs and benefits of HIT for the United States at a national adoption level of 90 percent, which might take 15 years to attain. Over those 15 years, we project total HIT costs of $115 billion, potential efficiency savings of $628 billion, and thus potential net savings of $513 billion or more. This translates to average annual costs of $8 billion, average annual efficiency savings of $42 billion, and average annual net savings of $34 billion or more. All these estimates are in 2004 dollars." (RAND Corporation)
House Health Subcommittee Considers Bill to Eliminate Pre-Emption for Medical Devices
Excerpt: "The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Tuesday heard testimony on the Medical Device Safety Act of 2009 (HR 1346), which would allow consumers to sue medical device manufacturers in state courts, CQ HealthBeat reports. The bill responds to last year's Supreme Court ruling that says medical devices with FDA pre-marketing approval can be pre-empted from lawsuits under state law, in accordance with the Medical Device Amendments of 1976." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Advert.)
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com is where the best employers find the best candidates!
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]Same-Sex Marriage: The Defense of Marriage Act and the States' Approaches
Originally published in BNA's Pension & Benefits Daily. (Utz, Miller, Kuhn & Eickman, LLC)
[Guidance Overview]
Supreme Court Turns Away USERRA Decision Appeal
Excerpt: "The U.S. Supreme Court has turned aside a request to review a 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling finding that an employer had run afoul of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by forcing a returning Army reservist to go through a three-week re-entry process. The 6th Circuit decision issued last year held that police officer Brian Petty had met all four of the prerequisites to invoke his rights under USERRA so the employer, the Metro Government of Nashville-Davidson County, could not delay his re-employment." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
IRS Grants Tax Relief to Victims of Severe Storms and Flooding in Florida
Excerpt: "The IRS has announced tax relief for taxpayers who reside or have a business in the federal disaster area of Calhoun, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Lafayette, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Walton, and Washington counties in Florida affected by severe storms, flooding, tornadoes, and straight-line winds on March 26, 2009." (Wolters Kluwer)
ERISA for Securities Professionals
Excerpt: "The provisions of ERISA of greatest concern to securities professionals are the labor-law fiduciary requirements contained in Title I of ERISA. These can be broadly divided into five major categories: Coverage and definitions; Reporting and disclosure; General fiduciary obligations, including co-fiduciary principles; Prohibited transactions Enforcement, including bonding requirements. Each of these areas is discussed in [this] article." (Groom Law Group)
Webcasts and Conferences
(Click to post your webcast or conference)2009 ERISA Update Seminar
in Hawaii on November 10, 2009
presented by TRI Pension Services
Around the World in 60 Minutes: Overview of Medical Tourism Webcast
Nationwide on May 28, 2009
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
Press Releases
(Click to post your press release)CEO Financial Fortunes Drop Sharply, Watson Wyatt Proxy Analysis Finds
Watson Wyatt
PBGC, LandAmerica Announce Pension Funding Agreement
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
Fi360 Annual National Conference Provides Fiduciary Insights, Advocates for Robust Fiduciary Standard
Fiduciary360 (fi360)
Employee Benefits Jobs
(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs |
RSS feed of all jobs )
Plan Document Specialist
for Boyce & Associates, Inc.
in AZ
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)
(Click on banner to learn more.)
| Where the best employers find the best candidates! |
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