[Official Guidance] Text of Spanish Language Version of DOL Form for Participants' Use in Requesting COBRA Premium Subsidy Denials (PDF) 11 pages. 'Solicitud de revisión acelerada de la negación a la reducción de la prima según COBRA al Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos." (Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor) [Guidance Overview] Arizona Lawmakers Move to End Domestic Partner Benefits Excerpt: "Senate President Bob Burns, R-Peoria, said legislative oversight is particularly important this year, with the state running a deficit, and given there is a cost involved. Department of Administration spokesman Alan Ecker said domestic partner coverage costs the state about $3 million a year on top of the $625 million Arizona spent on health insurance for other employees." (Bloomberg News via Arizona Daily Star) Senate Committee Hearing: 'Boon or Bane? Examining the Value of Long-Term Care Insurance' Includes written testimony and recorded video of the hearing. (U.S. Senate, Special Committee on Aging) Health Care Cover Mandate Needs Exemption for Small Businesses, Obama Says Excerpt: "'While I believe that employers have a responsibility to support health insurance for their employees, small businesses face a number of special challenges in affording health benefits and should be exempted,' President Obama wrote." (Business Insurance) Obama Warms to Idea of Mandating Purchase of Health Insurance Excerpt: "One day after signaling a fresh willingness to consider taxing employer-sponsored health insurance, President Obama indicated yesterday a new openness toward a nationwide requirement that every American have health coverage. . . . The approach tracks closely with a universal health program enacted in Massachusetts three years ago in which individuals must have coverage and businesses must either offer insurance to employees or pay into a state fund that provides coverage." (Washington Post; free registration required) Information and Case Management of COBRA Subsidy Denials Being Provided by Outsourced Private Firm Excerpt: "Although the CMS appeals information can be accessed at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/COBRAContinuationofCov, the key Web site for subsidy denial information is http://www.continuationcoverage.net. The latter site is managed by MAXIMUS Federal Services, Inc. -- 'a government contractor with experience in performing impartial reviews of benefit claim disputes.' CMS contracted with MAXIMUS to provide administrative case management services and answer the public's questions about premium assistance and COBRA coverage." (Thompson) [Opinion] Health, Life Insurers Hold Billions in Tobacco Stocks Excerpt: "A new article on insurance company holdings, published in today's New England Journal of Medicine, shows that U.S., Canadian and U.K.-based insurance firms hold at least $4.4 billion of investments in companies whose subsidiaries manufacture cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and related products. . . . 'These data raise a red flag about the prospects of opening up vast new markets for private insurers at public expense, as has happened in our state of Massachusetts, whose recent health care reform is often cited as a model for national reform.'" (Physicians for a National Health Program) [Opinion] The Massachusetts Model: Massive Spending on Nonbenefit Costs Excerpt: "Until we confront the billions wasted by matching hundreds of thousands of bills with thousands of differing plans, we will not achieve the savings needed to pay for covering everyone comprehensively. Our present course seems headed for reform in name only." (Physicians for a National Health Program)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in GeneralGuidance on Short-Selling by Executives Is Needed, GAO SaysExcerpt: "Actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission at the height of the market turmoil last year appear to have reduced abusive short-selling, but the agency should provide clearer guidance to the brokerage industry for applying the rules, congressional auditors concluded in a report issued Wednesday." (Washington Post; free registration required) Relax Restrictions on Shareholders Lawsuits Over Executive Compensation, House Subcommittee Chairman Urges Excerpt: "Shareholders should be given more power to bring lawsuits against companies for paying excessive compensation to executives, the chairman of the House subcommittee that has jurisdiction over securities matters said Tuesday, June 2." (Workforce.com) FASB Accounting Standards Codification to Officially Launch on July 1, 2009 Excerpt: "The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) [on Wednesday June 3] voted to approve the FASB Accounting Standards Codification(tm) as the single source of authoritative nongovernmental U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to be launched on July 1, 2009. The Codification will be effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009, which means that preparers must begin to use the Codification for periods that begin on or about July 1, 2009." (Financial Accounting Standards Board) Putting Healthcare Plans Out to Bid Can Reap Savings Excerpt: "Forcing vendors to aggressively bid against one another in an open, eBay-like platform such as the one that HighRoads operates invariably drives down prices, she says. The trick is to demystify the health plan shopping process and treat it more like a straightforward procurement effort similar to the way companies buy office supplies. The result is usually a reduction in costs, Dustin says." (Workforce.com) Webcasts and Conferences"Defined Benefit Plans for DC Practitioners" Web Seminar, A Two-part programNationwide on June 30, 2009 presented by SunGard Relius Mining your Health Plan Data for Jewels in Virginia on June 17, 2009 presented by Worldwide Employee Benefits Network (wash. Metro Chapter) Pensions: Is Retirement Becoming A Thing of the Past? Webcast Nationwide on June 4, 2009 presented by Standard & Poor's (Click to post your webcast or conference) Press ReleasesFinancial Engines Launches Broader Retirement Planning HelpFinancial Engines, Inc. MetLife Launches Online Open Enrollment Portal for Employers and Brokers MetLife Health Care Cost Increases to Continue at Double Digit Rates, According to Buck Consultants Survey Buck Consultants, an ACS Company ERISA Compliance Assessment Available to 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries Kelley Drye & Warren LLP (Click to post your press release) Employee Benefits JobsRetirement Plan Administrator/Consultantfor Pension Works, Inc. in VT (Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed of all jobs ) EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor) (Click on banner to learn more.)
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