Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter |
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| July 1, 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. |
Panel Suggests 100 Priorities for Comparative Medical Treatment Effectiveness Research
Excerpt: "An Institute of Medicine panel released a list of 100 priorities for comparing the effectiveness of medical treatments as part of a $1.1 billion, stimulus-funded research program on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. The recommendations - which are not official, but will likely influence government decisions - include comparing treatments for atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, prostate cancer, age-related hearing loss, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and lower back pain." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Hidden Costs of Health Care: Why Americans Are Paying More but Getting Less (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "With each passing year, Americans are paying more for health care coverage. Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate three times faster than wages. In 2008, the average premium for a family plan purchased through an employer was $12,680, nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job. Americans pay more than ever for health insurance, but get less coverage." (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)
Senators Consider Dropping Required Employer Coverage from Health Care Reform Bill
Excerpt: "In its place would be a 'free rider' provision requiring employers to pay for employees who get their health care with government assistance, according to an outline of the committee's policy proposals. The legislation from the Senate Finance Committee is expected to be released after the July Fourth holiday. Two other drafts of health care legislation, one in the Senate and another in the House, would require employers to provide health insurance to employees. Retailers and other businesses that have minimum- or low-wage employees, such as Wal-Mart, oppose the free-rider clause, which they are describing as a backdoor mandate, says a source who asked not to be named but who is familiar with Wal-Mart's health care policy stance. Around 2.5 percent of Wal-Mart employees receive Medicaid, according to the company." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Using Wellness Programs to Create Employee Engagement (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Historically, employers' commitment to Wellness Programs has been dependent on establishing a meaningful and verifiable ROI that is sustainable over the long run. We posit that although making better lifestyle choices will improve health and lead to more productive employees that an alternate perspective is useful as well." (Thomson Reuters via Hay Group)
House Committees Examine Draft Legislation, While Senate Committees Delay Mark Ups
Excerpt: "Congress has now recessed for a one-week break from its healthcare reform deliberations, in most cases having fallen short of their self-proclaimed goals for legislative progress. The following is a short recap of where the three major bills are at this point in time." (The ERISA Industry Committee)
State Health Care Reform Update
Excerpt: "For the last few years, states have been leading the way toward more comprehensive health care coverage to ensure that more people have or can obtain health insurance. Because of the potential impact of this ongoing activity on employer-provided health insurance benefits, Spencer's Benefits Reports provides regular updates about state health care reform[.]" (Wolters Kluwer)
West Virginia Considering Alternatives to Dropping Retiree Health Care for New State Employees
Excerpt: "Newly hired state employees in West Virginia would have to pay the entire cost for their health insurance after retirement under a current proposal by the state Retiree Health Benefit Trust and Public Employees Insurance Association Finance Board. West Virginia's share of Other Post-Employee Pension debt, affecting state employees, is estimated at $7 billion, and the RHBT and PEIA Finance Board is seeking alternative suggestions to eliminating retiree health insurance benefits for new hires." (The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register)
Health Insurance Tax Is Focus of New Labor Ads
Excerpt: "One labor union will begin airing ads in two states Tuesday that deal with an . . . explosive issue: Taxing health benefits. The Laborers' International Union of North America will run the ads at least through Thursday in North Dakota and Montana, according to spokesman Jacob Hay. In a demonstration of the fine line labor is walking on this issue, the ads first praise Congress for taking up the health care debate but then criticize an idea that could be included in one draft of the legislation to tax health care premiums." (USA Today)
Insurance Lobbyist at Center of Health Debate
Excerpt: "The face of the insurance industry in Washington is a slight, soft-spoken former AFL-CIO employee benefits director with a penchant for data-driven logic. She has the confidence and intellectual agility of a skilled debater, but prefers to dwell on areas of agreement. On healthcare, Karen Ignagni often sounds like the lifelong Democrat that she is." (The Boston Globe)
The Push for Time Off Work Gains in Many States
Excerpt: "Governors in Colorado and Nevada signed laws within the past month that give employees unpaid leave for school-related events, becoming the first states to do so in a decade. Wisconsin lawmakers will take up similar legislation this fall. Lawmakers in roughly a dozen other states are debating measures that would require employers to grant paid family or sick leave; President Barack Obama campaigned in support of such laws last year." (The Wall Street Journal)
San Francisco Aims for Universal Health Coverage
Excerpt: "Three years ago, this city turned itself into a laboratory for remaking the country's health care system with a bold experiment to expand services to the uninsured, working poor and medically underserved. Mayor Gavin Newsom touts Healthy San Francisco as a signature accomplishment - worthy as a model for the nation. It's too early to tell whether he is right, with researchers only beginning to evaluate the program's early successes and longer-term limitations." (The Sacramento Bee)
Visteon Seeks to Terminate Retiree Health Care
Excerpt: "Visteon Corp. has asked a bankrup.tcy judge today for permission to terminate its health care and life insurance plans that cover 6,650 hourly and salaried retirees, their spouses and dependents, as well as benefits for 700 potential retirees. [Visteon], in court papers, called the programs a 'crippling financial and competitive burden.' Cutting them, the company said is an unavoidable part of its cost-saving plan." (Detroit Free Press)
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]New TARP Executive Compensation Rules: Who's Covered
Excerpt: "This Alert focuses on two fundamental threshold questions: (1) which entities and programs are generally covered by the executive compensation standards under TARP; and (2) which TARP requirements apply to which entities, and when do covered entities escape such coverage?" (K&L Gates LLP)
Section 457A Plan Sponsors Face June 30 Deferred Compensation Vesting Decision
Excerpt: "Sponsors of nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans subject to Section 457A must act by June 30 to take advantage of a transition rule for certain NQDC amounts vesting after Dec. 31, 2008. When 457A applies, NQDC provided to US taxpayers employed by foreign companies is taxable at vesting -- or later in some cases, with even harsher results. Sponsors can soften the blow for some NQDC recipients by retroactively accelerating vesting to a date before Jan. 1, 2009. Employers opting to do so must amend plans by June 30 and apply the changes consistently to all employees in similar plans." (Mercer LLC)
2009 Employee Benefits Survey Report
Excerpt: "SHRM's 2009 Employee Benefits survey report provides comprehensive information about the types of benefits U.S. employers offer to their employees. In 2009, 274 benefits were explored, covering the areas of health care and welfare benefits, preventive health and wellness benefits, financial and compensation benefits, paid time off benefits, family-friendly benefits, flexible working benefits, personal services benefits, housing and relocation benefits, and business travel benefits. The report breaks the benefits down by organization staff size and organization sector and covers trends in benefits offerings over the last five years." (Society for Human Resource Management)
Concerns Voiced About Integration of Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin
Excerpt: "Experts say the creation of such a large company will end up diluting the services that clients get -- at least in the short term. The combined company's new president says processes are in place to make the integration go 'as smoothly as possible.'" (Workforce Management; free registration required)
DOL Set to Begin Transition to Form 5500 E-Filing on July 1
Excerpt: "As the transition to EFAST2 -- the second-generation e-filing system for Form 5500 -- gets underway, benefit plan sponsors and other filers could see an immediate impact: As of July 1, the Department of Labor (DOL) will eliminate an informal correction process that has allowed filers 30 to 60 days to correct deficiencies in their reports before substantive review begins. Starting with reporting for the 2009 plan year, DOL generally will accept only electronically filed Form 5500 annual reports for retirement, health and welfare plans." (Mercer LLC)
Philadelphia Confronts the Cost of Employee Benefits
Excerpt: "To help inform the public discussion, the Philadelphia Research Initiative, with assistance from the Pew Center on the States, sought to update the situation regarding pension and health-care conditions in Philadelphia and the comparison cities, based on interviews with officials as well as the latest available documents. We reviewed policy changes and proposals that have arisen regarding Philadelphia over the past year and a half. We interviewed two dozen experts on employee benefits from across the spectrum, and three of the four major unions that represent Philadelphia city workers provided varying amounts of information." (The Pew Charitable Trusts)
Webcasts and Conferences
2009 Retirement Research Consortium (RRC) Conferencein District of Columbia on August 10, 2009
presented by Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
Fiduciary Best Practices: A Guide for Small Employers
in Washington on July 8, 2009
presented by Spectrum Pension Consultants, Inc.
(Click to post your webcast or conference)
Press Releases
PBGC Assumes Pension Plans at Precision Custom Components LLCPension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
PBGC Protects Pensions at Sencorp
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)
BeneTrac Celebrates Decade of Success, Million Member Milestone for Online Benefits Management Platform
BeneTrac
The SPARK Institute Releases Three New 403(b) Plans Best Practices Documents
The SPARK Institute
Fringe Benefit Group Launches New Web Sites Providing Educational Resources for Government Contractors Bidding on Economic Stimulus Projects
Fringe Benefit Group
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
Pension Administratorfor AKT Retirement Plan Services LP
in CA
Manager - Benefits
for Energy East
in NY
Controller
for Multi-employer Benefit Fund
in NY
Defined Contribution Client Manager
for Markley Actuarial Services, Inc.
in PA
(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs |
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EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)
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| Where the best employers find the best candidates! |
Handy Links:
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- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
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