Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter |
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| July 24, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy | ||
University Conference Services (Advert.)
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[Guidance Overview]
Nevada Expands Employee Leave Entitlements
Excerpt: "The Nevada law pertaining to parental leave for school-related activities has been amended to broaden the protections afforded parents, guardians and custodians of school-age children who attend certain school-related activities. Effective August 15, 2009, under amended Nevada Revised Statute 392.920, employers with at least 50 employees must give each employee who is a parent, guardian or custodian of a child in a public or private school up to four hours of leave each school year for each child." (Jackson Lewis LLP)
[Guidance Overview]
EEOC's Proposed Procedural and Administrative Regulations on Genetic Information
Excerpt: "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released proposed regulations on procedural and administrative issues under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA). The proposal would amend existing regulations to reflect GINA and update the language in the regulations. President Bush signed GINA into law on May 21, 2008. The act protects job applicants, current and former employees, labor union members, and apprentices and trainees from discrimination based on their genetic information. GINA applies to employers with 15 or more employees, employment agencies, labor unions and joint labor-management training programs, as well as federal employers. Its provisions regarding unlawful employment practices take effect on Nov. 21, 2009." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
[Guidance Overview]
Does MetLife v. Glenn's 'Structural Conflict' Holding Apply When Employee Benefits Are Funded from a Trust? (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Subsequent to the Supreme Court's decision in MetLife v. Glenn, 128 S.Ct. 2343 (2008), federal courts around the country have attempted to reconcile Glenn's holding - that a structural conflict of interest exists when an employer 'both funds the [employee benefit] plan and evaluates the claims' - with prior circuit court precedent holding that no conflict of interest exists when employee benefits are funded from a trust. With the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Holland v. International Paper Company Retirement Plan, ___ F.3d ___, 2009 WL 2050688, *5 (5th Cir., July 16, 2009), a circuit split now exists that may soon percolate up to the Supreme Court. Thus far, five circuits have weighed in on this issue: the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Eleventh." (Alston & Bird LLP)
Driving Quality Improvement and Accountability for Health Insurance Plans
15 pages. Excerpt: "To get a better sense of the scope and variety of health plan programs and initiatives targeting quality improvement, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) surveyed a representative sample of commercial and Medicare Advantage member health insurance plans representing more than 95,000,000 covered lives. The survey data, collected in 2009, demonstrate health plan activities and programs that improve quality of care, patient safety, and reduce costs to the health care system. The following report highlights data from the survey." (America's Health Insurance Plans)
Senators Seek Health Insurance Coverage for Alternative Therapies
Excerpt: "Naturopathic doctors, herbal healers, mind-body specialists, and acupuncturists often have been scorned by the US medical establishment, but growing numbers of Americans are seeking such care, and now an influential group of US senators believes the time has come to embrace an array of alternative therapies. Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who is a longtime supporter of nontraditional medicine, is at the forefront of the effort to win insurance coverage for such providers as part of national healthcare legislation." (The Boston Globe)
Why the Health Reform Debate Is Confusing
Excerpt: "Very smart people are zoning out of the health care reform debate because they think it's just too complicated. The latest poll out today from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health-care-policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente, says only 27 percent of the public has been following the health reform debate closely. Despite this, more than half (56 percent) of Americans think health reform is more important than ever." (CBS Interactive Inc.)
Health Mandate Will Kill Jobs, Most Small Businesses Argue
Excerpt: "As Democrats struggle to pass a sweeping health care bill, employer mandates are a key flash point. The House plan would make businesses cover their employees or pay an additional 8% payroll tax to help provide government-subsidized insurance. Employers' insurance would have to cover hospitalization, outpatient care, doctor visits, prescription drugs, rehab services, preventive services, and maternity and 'well baby' care. It could have no annual or lifetime limits on benefits." (Investor's Business Daily, Inc.)
Reconsidering Giving Away Soda at Work
Excerpt: "[Does it ever] worry you that the $.75 peps (yes, that's per employee per soda) that you spend on providing free pop is corroding the value of what you have been spending on prevention? Glucose, Fructose, or Sucrose? Whoknose? Does a sugar by any other name taste as sweet? Most of us forgot the difference between glucose, fructose and sucrose long ago while starring wistfully at our high school heartthrob during chemistry. It wasn't something we needed to know and, I mean come on, who can tell the difference right? All of them taste sugary. So, what's the difference? Well, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers from the University of California, Davis discovered that people consuming fructose-sweetened drinks showed an increase in a particular kind of fat that embeds itself between tissues in organs. They were also less sensitive to insulin, showed elevated blood levels of lipids, increased fat production in the liver, and elevated LDL (so-called 'bad' cholesterol) and larger increases in blood triglycerides. Yikes!" (BenefitsBuzz)
Insurer-Owned Consulting Firm Lewin Often Cited in Health Debate
Excerpt: "Generally left unsaid amid all the citations is that the Lewin Group is wholly owned by UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation's largest insurers. More specifically, the Lewin Group is part of Ingenix, a UnitedHealth subsidiary that was accused by the New York attorney general and the American Medical Association of helping insurers shift medical expenses to consumers by distributing skewed data. Ingenix supplied UnitedHealth and other insurers with data that allegedly understated the 'reasonable and customary' doctor fees that insurers use to determine how much they will reimburse consumers for out-of-network care." (The Washington Post; free registration required)
Medicare Part D Update : Lessons Learned and Unfinished Business
Excerpt: "Enacted in 2003, Medicare's Part D prescription drug benefit reflected an unprecedented and controversial new approach for Medicare, relying exclusively on private plans to provide health coverage and including an unusual gap in coverage. This analysis by Kaiser researchers examines in detail how the new model has worked since its launch almost four years ago. Published as an article in today's New England Journal of Medicine, the analysis by Kaiser vice president Patricia Neuman and principal policy analyst Juliette Cubanski assesses the evidence related to key policy questions arising from the Part D benefit. It also briefly discusses a number of potential policy changes to the Part D benefit that could arise as Congress and the Obama Administration weigh the program's future." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
[Opinion]
HR Policy Association Urges Senate to Consider Workplace Leave/Scheduling Mandates as Part of a 'Larger Framework' (PDF)
18 pages. Excerpt: "As the Chairman of the HR Policy Association's Employment Rights Committee, I am pleased to respond to your request regarding the Association's views on family and work-life balance issues. We appreciate your reaching out to us and others in the business community to achieve consensus-based, bipartisan solutions that work for employers and employees. . . . [W]e strongly advise against enacting new 'one size fits all' prescriptions in this area. Rather, a more productive approach would be to examine the existing laws to determine which statutes now in place are hampering the ability of employers to provide flexibility." (HR Policy Association)
[Opinion]
5 Freedoms You'd Lose in Health Care Reform
Excerpt: "If you read the fine print in the Congressional plans, you'll find that a lot of cherished aspects of the current system would disappear." (CNNMoney.com)
[Opinion]
Obama's New Term: 'Health Insurance Reform'
Excerpt: "If you haven't been paying attention, you might have missed it. But with the substitution of one word, President Barack Obama was able to redirect his health care message from uninsured Americans to those who already have insurance. In his Wednesday night address, Obama talked about 'health insurance reform' a noticeable shift from the 'health care reform' he had been talking up until late last week." (Capitol News Company LLC)
ALM (Advert.)
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]Proposed New SEC Rules Expanding Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance Disclosure Requirements
Excerpt: "The proposed amendments, which draw from similar requirements applicable to issuers participating in the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, would require companies to provide additional disclosure with respect to: Overall compensation policies and the impact of such policies on corporate risk taking; Stock and option awards made to executive officers and directors; Director and board nominee qualifications and prior legal proceedings; Company leadership structure; The board's role in the risk management process; and Potential conflicts of interests involving compensation consultants." (Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)
Flexibility Programs Gain Ground in Hard Times, According to Study
Excerpt: "Most companies are conducting layoffs and eliminating bonuses and salary increases to survive the recession, but they are preserving programs that allow workers to set their own schedules, according to a study. In a survey of 400 employers released Thursday, July 23, the Families and Work Institute in New York found that 81 percent have maintained flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, compressed workweeks, phased retirement and voluntary reduced hours. An additional 13 percent have increased flexibility programs, while 6 percent have eliminated them. Among employers with more than 1,000 workers, there has been a 25 percent increase in flexibility programs. The study was the centerpiece of a July 23 hearing of the congressional Joint Economic Committee." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Biography of Phyllis Borzi, Recently Confirmed as Head of DOL's Employee Benefits Security Administration
Excerpt: "Phyllis C. Borzi was confirmed on July 10, 2009 as Assistant Secretary of Labor of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). . . . Previously, Ms. Borzi was a research professor at George Washington University Medical Center in the Department of Health Policy's School of Public Health and Health Services. In that position, she was involved in research and policy analysis involving employee benefit plans, the uninsured, managed care, and legal barriers to the development of health information technology. In addition, she was of counsel with the Washington, D.C. law firm of O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue LLP, specializing in ERISA and other legal issues affecting employee benefit plans, including pensions and retirement savings, health plans, and discrimination based on age or disability." (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Future Compensation of the State and Local Workforce
Excerpt: "This article examines How the state and local government workforce has changed in recent years; Which occupations are or will be most needed by state and local governments in the next decade; Whether, if current trends hold, compensation and benefit packages offered by state and local governments will help or hinder their efforts to attract qualified, talented employees." (Center for State and Local Government Excellence)
Press Releases
Deadline Approaching for Commenting on GASB's Reexamination of Pension StandardsGovernmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
Huntington Mutual Funds Added to CPI Retirement Platform
CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.
SEC Proposes Measures to Curtail "Pay to Play" Practices
Securities and Exchange Commission
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
Pension Administratorfor Jordan & Associates
in CA
Administration Department Supervisor
for MidAmerica Administrative & Retirement Solutions, Inc.
in FL
ERISA Attorney
for Boutique Firm
in DC
Participant Account Manager
for The Joint Retirement Board for Conservative Judaism, a not-for-profit corporation
in NY
Employee Benefits Manager
for Citizens Bank & Trust
in MO
Director - Defined Contribution Services
for Coble Pension Group, LLC
in AZ
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