Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter |
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| June 30, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy | ||
Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA) (Advert.)
EBIA's Recorded Web Seminars - Quality and Convenience! We know that employee benefits professionals have many demands on their time. To help ease the time-crunch, EBIA's recorded web seminars are available 24/7--any time and any place you have an internet connection. What's more, when you purchase a recorded web seminar from EBIA, you and your co-workers can view it as many times as you wish for 60 days after purchase! Visit our website and you can search for seminars by topic, experience level, or key word. |
Study Says High-Cost Cancer Drugs Have Little Benefit, Strain Health System
Excerpt: "'Crunching data from published studies, the authors found that treating a lung-cancer patient with Erbitux, a drug that costs $80,000 for an 18-week regimen, prolongs survival by only 1.2 months,' the Wall Street Journal reports. The study, which estimates that the life of each American who dies or cancer could be extended by one year at the cost of $440 billion, was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The high cost and relatively low benefit points to 'one of the thorniest questions facing lawmakers working on the overhaul of the U.S. health-care system': reducing growing health care spending in the last months of patient's lives." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Even in Iowa, Married G.ays Are Still Unequal in Work Benefits
Excerpt: "Three months have passed since the Iowa Supreme Court legalized same-s.ex marriage, and g.ay couples are finding out that being married doesn't necessarily translate into spousal health benefits. Of 27 major Iowa and Nebraska employers contacted by The World-Herald, four provide health insurance benefits to g.ay married couples. Most employers have not changed their health insurance benefits to include g.ay spouses and, according to federal law, they don't have to. . . . Most of these employers already offer domestic partner benefits, including health insurance, but that has drawbacks: Those receiving domestic partner health benefits pay higher taxes and must jump through hoops most married couples don't face." (Omaha World-Herald)
GASB Issues Guidance on Multi-Employer OPEB Plans
Excerpt: "The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued an exposure draft of a proposed statement that addresses issues related to the use of the alternative measurement method and the frequency and timing of measurements by employers that participate in agent multiple-employer other postemployment benefit (OPEB) plans. The proposed Statement would amend paragraphs 33 - 35 of Statement No. 45, Accounting and Financial Reporting by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions, to permit an agent employer that has an individual-employer OPEB plan with fewer than 100 total plan members to use the alternative measurement method, at its option, regardless of the number of total plan members in the agent multiple-employer OPEB plan in which it participates." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Recession Likely to Cause New Jersey Workers to Forgo Paid Leave
Excerpt: "Heralded as a victory for workers' rights and criticized as a potential drain on businesses, a law making New Jersey the second state in the nation to provide paid leave to care for new children or ailing relatives takes effect Wednesday. But the measure is not expected to dramatically alter the workplace right away, its champions and opponents agree. One reason: the recession." (New Jersey On-Line LLC)
BenefitsLink Newsletter (Advert.)
We Have Your Target Audience Have you considered advertising your company's products or services right here in the BenefitsLink newsletter? Our subscribers care about employee benefit plan compliance, administration, costs and design. Roles include in-house benefits directors and administrators, TPAs, consultants, attorneys, trust officers, auditors and investment managers. Your ad will show both your banner and a paragraph of text -- more exposure than you'll find anywhere else. And, of course, a clickable link to any page on your web site. Contact Mary Hall for details. |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Official Guidance]Letter on Making Work Pay Credit; Issues Related to Statutes Other Than Contained in Internal Revenue Code (PDF)
Excerpt: "I am responding to your inquiry dated April 7, 2009, on behalf of your constituent, a retired public school teacher, has questions about the Making Work Pay Credit and the credit for certain government retirees. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Act) provides that taxpayers with earned income in 2009 and 2010 may be eligible for the Making Work Pay Credit (section 1001 of the Act) in those years. The credit is the lesser of 6.2 percent of earned income or $400 for working individuals ($800 for married couples filing jointly). The credit begins phasing out for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income over $75,000 per year for working individuals ($150,000 for married couples filing jointly)." (Internal Revenue Service)
[Guidance Overview]
The Worker, Retiree, and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA) Provisions by Effective Date
Chart. (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)
Shareholder Empowerment Act of 2009 Introduced
Excerpt: "On June 12, 2009, U.S. Representative Gary Peters (D-MI) introduced the Shareholder Empowerment Act of 2009 (the Peters bill). The full text of the bill can be found here. The bill comes one month after the introduction of the Shareholder Bill of Rights Act of 2009 (the Schumer bill) by U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), summarized in this WSGR Alert. Like the Schumer bill, the Peters bill, if adopted, would dramatically alter the corporate governance of U.S. public companies. . . . The Peters bill, however, goes further than the Schumer bill on certain executive compensation issues. A summary of the Peters bill is found [in the target document], followed by a chart comparing the two bills." (Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati)
New Study Suggests That Employees Value Their Total Benefits Offering More Than Cash
Excerpt: "Of the supplemental benefits evaluated, employees ranked their dental insurance, 401(k)/retirement plans, vision insurance and group life insurance as most valuable, Sun Life said in a press release. Employees were asked to assume they had all the medical insurance their family needed and to distribute 100 points across other benefits based on how much they would value them. Only 33% of respondents assigned a value greater than 0 to cash -- and only 5% of the total assigned a value greater than 30 to cash. Cash was the least utilized category . . . ." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Webcasts and Conferences
Business Management Education (BME) Webcast: Strategies for TPAs that Ignite Growth in People and Profits. Where Do We Go From Here?Nationwide on August 5, 2009
presented by National Institute of Pension Administrators
(Click to post your webcast or conference)
Press Releases
Watson Wyatt Data Services Reveals Steady Rise in the Cost of BenefitsWatson Wyatt Data Services
CPI Qualified Plan Consultants Launches 2009 Marketing Strategy Targeting Fee-Based Adviser Retirement Channel
CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.
Pew Report Documents Challenges Faced by Philadelphia in Paying for City Workers’ Pensions and Health Care
Pew Charitable Trusts
Northern Trust Deploys Cross-Border Pooling Solution for U.S. ERISA Plans
Northern Trust
ING’s Taking Control® Helps Retirement Plan Sponsors Empower Their Employees in Transition
ING Retirement Services
Pricelock Offers New Recruiting/Retention Tool
Pricelock, Inc
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
Employee Benefits Administrationfor Primary Consulting, Inc.
in ANY STATE
Retirement Plans Analyst
for Saks Fifth Avenue
in NY
DC / 401(k) Compliance Consultant
for The Savitz Organization
in DE, NJ, PA
Senior Manager - Global Benefits, #13161
for Discover Financial Services
in IL
Pension Manager
for Girardot, Strauch & Co.
in IN
Senior Benefits Consultant / Manager - Health&Welfare
for Financial Services Firm
in NC
Financial Services Proposal Writer
for New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in MA
(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs |
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EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)
(Click on banner to learn more.)
| Where the best employers find the best candidates! |
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