Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter |
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| June 26, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy | ||
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[Guidance Overview]
Employers Must Provide Paid Leave to New Jersey Employees Effective July 1, 2009
Excerpt: "The Paid Leave Act entitles covered employees taking paid leave to receive two-thirds of the employee's weekly pay or a maximum of $524 per week (or $74.85 per day for intermittent leave), whichever is smaller. An employee is covered by the Paid Leave Act if he or she (1) works at least 20 calendar weeks and earns at least $143 per week, or (2) earned at least $7,200 in the prior year." (Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C.)
[Guidance Overview]
Colorado Expands Parental Leave (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "On June 1, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed into law the Parental Involvement in K-12 Education Act (H.B. 1057). The new law, which will apply to the upcoming school year, requires covered employers to provide unpaid leave for parents to attend certain academic activities for or with their children. This law reflects a growing trend among states to expand employee leave entitlements for other than health-related reasons." (Buck Consultants)
[Guidance Overview]
Additional Guidance on COBRA Subsidy (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The IRS recently posted some new questions and answers to its website on the federal COBRA premium subsidy included in the stimulus package enacted earlier this year. The IRS provides some leeway for employers in determining involuntary terminations and some other clarifications on the availability of the subsidy and claiming the payroll tax credit. In addition, the DOL and CMS each released guidance on the appeals process, including forms that individuals can use if they are denied COBRA premium assistance." (Buck Consultants)
[Guidance Overview]
DOL Clarification of Notice Requirements Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The DOL recently released an opinion letter clarifying employee notice requirements under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. The DOL formally retracted an earlier opinion that allowed employees two business days after learning of the need for unforeseen leave to notify their employers in favor of a rule that generally allows employers to require their employees to follow established call-in procedures." (Buck Consultants)
Senators Reportedly Near Agreement on Health Bill: Report Reducing Overall Cost But Not Resolving Issue of 'Public Option'
Excerpt: "Senate health-care negotiators said yesterday they were closing in on a $1 trillion health-care bill that would be fully funded by tax increases, Medicare cuts and new penalties for employers who do not offer health insurance. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said members of the panel would consider a menu of policy and financing options over the Fourth of July recess, with the goal of producing a deficit-neutral 10-year bill shortly after Congress returns July 6." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Changes to Tax Exclusion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums: A Potential Source of Financing for Health Reform
Excerpt: "One of the challenges that Congress will face as it considers major health reform legislation this year will be identifying the necessary financing. Many have suggested that reducing or eliminating the tax exclusion of employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) could generate significant additional tax revenue to fund expansions in health insurance coverage. This paper focuses on two specific policy design elements: 1. a cap, or dollar limit, on the amount of employer-sponsored health insurance premiums excluded from taxable income; and 2. an index that determines how this cap might grow over time." (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
Three Out of Four Public Employers Consider Increasing Employee Deductibles, Co-Pays or Premiums
Excerpt: "Public employers nationwide are modifying their employee health care benefits to include more cost-saving measures, according to a recent survey conducted by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. The financial crisis and escalating health care costs are motivating public plan sponsors to change both their plan design and plan funding. The survey found that 72 percent of public employers are increasing or considering an increase in their employees' deductibles, coinsurance or co-pays. In addition, 74 percent of public employers are increasing or considering an increase in employee premiums." (Wolters Kluwer)
Bill Would Allow Dependent Children to Remain in the Federal Employee Health Plan Longer
Excerpt: "A House lawmaker has reintroduced a bill that would raise the age limit for coverage of dependent children under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program by three years. The bill (H.R. 2978), introduced by Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., would increase the cutoff age for coverage of unmarried dependent children from 22 to 25." (GovernmentExecutive.com)
Under Obama Health Reform Plan, Workers Can't Dump Employer-Provided Insurance
Excerpt: "Addressing a top health policy concern among employers, President Barack Obama said that employees would not be allowed to dump their job-based health coverage for a public plan, even if it were cheaper. Obama made his comments during a town hall meeting that aired the night of Wednesday, June 24, on ABC. 'One of the things that we've said is that if you are eligible for your employer plan, then you can't just go into the public plan,' he said. 'You can't decide that you're already having a pretty good deal in insurance and you're just going to dump that -- what's called a firewall.'" (Workforce Management; free registration required)
One Way to Lower Health Costs: Pay People to Be Healthy
Excerpt: "'We know that people in the short term have a lot of trouble changing their behavior in ways that is in their long-term best interest,' says Kevin Volpp, Wharton professor of medicine and health care management, and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. 'People aren't very good at making these tradeoffs between immediate gratification and delayed and often intangible benefits, such as good health 10 years from now.' Volpp -- with collaborators . . . -- may have found an answer to this problem: cash." (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
Recent Health Care Contracts Show How Performance Guarantees Have Evolved
Excerpt: "Employers have long bemoaned the fact that they pay more each year for health care services regardless of whether those services improve the health of employees. [Aligning] incentives represents the evolution of performance guarantees in health care contracts. Pioneered by employers, these contracts are helping to refocus the culture of health care so that instead of paying for a service, employers pay to improve a person's health. While overall costs may not go down, these kinds of guarantees mean employers will be spending their health care dollars more effectively. Rather than paying for health care services, employers will be paying vendors only if they can show they've improved the health of employees." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Economy Prompts More Firms to Waive Drug Co-Payments
Excerpt: "Ultimately, the thinking goes, making it easier for employees to pay for medicine that can keep them healthy will help them -- and their employers -- avoid costly hospitalizations in the long run. While data is still being gathered to show that employers can reduce overall medical costs by cutting co-pays for chronic conditions like diabetes and asthma, other studies have shown that patients forced to pay higher co-pays are less likely to take the medicine they need to stay healthy." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
GAO Testimony: Overview of Approaches to Control Prescription Drug Spending in Federal Programs
June 24, 2009. 16 pages. Testimony given by John E. Dicken, director, health care, before the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
[Opinion]
Why Employers Should Share the Responsibility of Paying for Health Care (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "There are five reasons why it makes sense to require employers to contribute to the cost of coverage, which is known as an 'employer responsibility requirement': 1. Employer assessments help to level the playing field so that all employers do their fair share to pay for coverage. 2. An employer responsibility requirement will discourage employers from dropping coverage and keep needed dollars in the health care system. 3. Employers that currently pay a share of their employees' health insurance cover a large portion of employees' health bills. 4. Employer assessments have been helpful in places that have implemented them. 5. Job-based health coverage is priced more equitably than individual coverage." (Families USA)
[Opinion]
Who Says Employers Should Make Health Insurance Available to Employees? House Democrats Do
Excerpt: "The House Democratic leaders have unveiled a draft health care reform plan that includes, among the numerous other provisions (850 pages of them), an employer mandate. A summary of the plan indicates that 'employers have a responsibility to help make health insurance available for their employees. Businesses that do not offer health coverage to their workers have an unfair competitive advantage over businesses that cover their employees.'" (Health Reform Talk)
[Opinion]
ERISA Preemption, Health Care Pay or Play, and the Supreme Court
Excerpt: "I have said it time and time again on this blog, that ERISA preemption serves the admirable, even if perhaps inadvertent, role of forcing health care to be tackled at the only level it can be adequately addressed, the federal one, and not at the level of state governments, which simply don't have the resources to pull it off . . . ." (Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm, LLC)
University Conference Services (Advert.)
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Good News in Hard Times: Indianapolis Company Shares $2M in Bonuses with All EmployeesExcerpt: "The good news for AIT employees likely will keep on coming. If the company remains profitable, as expected, employees will see another bonus at the end of the year. . . . Employees won't know the precise amount of their bonuses until they receive their next paychecks. Under the profit-sharing plan, the average production laboratory employee will earn an additional 40 percent of the first six months' salary. Those employees who have been with the company less than six months will receive a pro-rated amount." (IndyStar.com)
FASB Announces New Codification Structure, Superseding All Existing Statements
Excerpt: "The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has announced that its single source of authoritative nongovernmental U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the FASB Accounting Standards Codification, will be effective for interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009. The FASB expects that the new system will reduce the amount of time and effort required to research an accounting issue and will provide accurate information with real-time updates as new standards are released." (Wolters Kluwer)
Webcasts and Conferences
Jammed Access: Widening the Front Door to HealthcareNationwide on July 29, 2009
presented by MCOL
(Click to post your webcast or conference)
Press Releases
CWA Applauds House Tri-Committee Health Care BillCommunications Workers of America
RIIA Announces Award for Achievement in Applied Retirement Research
Retirement Income Industry Association
Micro-Businesses Offer Strong Opinions On Health Reform Proposals
National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE)
GM Retirees Call for Congressional Protection of Benefits
General Motors Retirees Association
CDC Introduces New Website to Help Employers Combat Obesity and Reduce Health-Related Costs
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Business, Health Care Leaders Call on Texas Employers to Cover Smoking Cessation Benefits for an Additional 100,000 People by 2010
Texas Coalition for Worksite Wellness
Many Business Leaders Don't Think Employer-based Coverage is Sustainable
HealthLeaders Media
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
Pension Administratorfor Pension Administration Firm located in Westchester, NY
in NY
Part-Time Plan Administrator
for Tenet Financial Group
in ANY STATE
Assistant Benefits Department Manager
for Laborers' National Pension Funds
in DC
Tead Lead II RP Administration
for The Standard
in OR
Account Manager I - SRS
for The Standard
in OR
401(k) Plan Administrator
for Capital Retirement Plan Services
in FL
Defined Contribution Retirement Plan Administrator
for Loren D. Stark Company, Inc.
in TX
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