Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter |
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| October 8, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy | ||
ALM (Advert.)
Complete Benefits Law Guidance from Law Journal Press The nation's workforce and health care system are constantly evolving and so are the legal issues. Law Journal Press helps you handle any benefits law question with up-to-date, authoritative books on all aspects of the field. Get legal and practical advice from leading experts on everything from COBRA to ERISA, "contingent" employees to family and medical leave, and more. Browse our product listings for detailed information and special offers. |
[Guidance Overview]
Do Your Health and Wellness Plans Violate GINA? (PDF)
4 pages. (Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.)
[Guidance Overview]
Third Circuit Holds It Was Fiduciary Breach to Fail to Disclose Reservation of Rights Clause at Retirement Meetings (PDF)
Pages 3-4 of 5 pages. Excerpt: "Although several courts have held that fiduciaries do not have to continuously communicate reservation of rights clauses when discussing retiree health benefits with employees, this case illustrates that courts nonetheless may closely scrutinize retirement communications to determine if retirees were making fully informed decisions to retire." (Proskauer Rose LLP)
[Guidance Overview]
SPD Limit on Court Challenges Was Clearly Enough Displayed, 9th Circuit Rules
Excerpt: "An employer's inclusion of a one-year limit on worker lawsuits over disability benefit denials in its summary plan description (SPD) was reasonable, a federal appeals court ruled. The 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals also chose not to apply the California regulation requiring that insurers explicitly inform covered individuals about statutes of limitations. There was no need to bring in the California rules because ERISA already contains -- and the plan followed -- broad and detailed disclosure rules to protect plan beneficiaries, the court decided in Scharff v. Raytheon, 2009 WL 2871229 (9th Cir., Sept. 9, 2009)." (Thompson Publishing Group, Inc.)
[Guidance Overview]
New GINA Regs Curtail Health Risk Assessments
Excerpt: "The regulations impose significant limitations on the use of health risk assessments (HRAs) making many current practices illegal. Congress enacted GINA in response to a concern that employers, insurers, and benefit plans might collect and misuse genetic information. Genetic information is broadly defined to include family medical histories. Because virtually all HRAs request information about an individual's family medical history and are frequently used as part of a wellness feature in an employer's medical plan, most HRAs are subject to GINA's rules." (Nixon Peabody LLP)
[Guidance Overview]
Mental Health Parity Guidance Delayed; GINA and EEOC Present Issues for Employee Health Risk Assessments
Excerpt: "The Health and Human Services Secretary issued a statement on October 2, 2009 indicating that employers awaiting guidance before implementing changes to medical plans required by the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 ('MHPAEA') should not expect regulations to be issued until January 2010 - after the law goes into effect for calendar year plans. Although the law required that regulations be issued by October 3, 2009, HHS and the Labor and Treasury Departments are still working to develop them. In the absence of regulations, plan sponsors should make a reasonable 'good faith' effort to adhere to the law's intent." (Holland & Hart LLP)
Age Rating Under Comprehensive Health Care Reform: Implications for Coverage, Costs, and Household Financial Burdens
Excerpt: "Congressional proposals health care reform proposals have differed in the premium rating rules that would be applied to non-elderly adults. Some have proposed allowing premiums for the older adults to be as much as 5 times as high as those for younger adults (5:1 rating), while others would limit the highest premiums to be twice that of the lowest (2:1 rating). This analysis uses the Health Insurance Policy Simulation Model (HIPSM) to compare the financial implications of the premium rating choice (5:1, 2:1, and 1:1) for households of different ages, incomes, and sizes." (Urban Institute)
CDC's LEAN Works! A Workplace Obesity Prevention Program
Excerpt: "'CDC's LEAN Works! Leading Employees to Activity and Nutrition' is a FREE web-based resource that offers interactive tools and evidence-based resources to design effective worksite obesity prevention and control programs, including an obesity cost calculator to estimate how much obesity is costing your company and how much savings your company could reap with different workplace interventions." (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Preliminary Analysis of the Chairman's Mark for the America's Healthy Future Act, as Amended (PDF)
27 pages. Excerpt: "The amended mark would take several steps designed to increase the number of legal U.S. residents who have health insurance. Starting in July 2013, the proposal would establish a requirement for such residents to obtain insurance and would in many cases impose a financial penalty on people who did not do so. The proposal also would establish new insurance exchanges and would subsidize the purchase of health insurance through those exchanges for individuals and families with income between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL)." (U.S. Congressional Budget Office)
Opal Events (Advert.)
The Future of Medicare Advantage under the New Administration Opal Events brings together the best and brightest of the Medicare Advantage community to discuss the problems and solutions facing the managed care industry today. Topics to be covered include: logistics of transitioning members from PFFS to a network; MIPPA interpretations; risk-adjusted reimbursement issues; compliance specific to Part D; and HR6331. |
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Few Employer Changes in Retirement and Health Plans, Despite Rising Costs, According to SurveyExcerpt: "Despite the economic upheaval, employer matching contributions were unchanged in 2009 in 90% of the 401(k) plans recently surveyed by Aon Consulting. Of the remaining plans that provide employer matching contributions, 3% increased their match and 7% decreased it. These are among the findings of Aon's 2009 Benefits and Talent Survey, conducted in March 2009 with 1,300 participating employers." (Wolters Kluwer)
Webcasts and Conferences
"Aggregation Aggravation: Controlled Groups in 2009" Recorded Web SeminarNationwide on October 7, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
"ERISA Workshop" in Charlotte
in North Carolina on November 13, 2009
presented by SunGard
"ERISA Workshop" in Chicago
in Illinois on November 13, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
"ERISA Workshop" in Detroit
in Michigan on November 13, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
"ERISA Workshop" in Knoxville
in Tennessee on November 10, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
"Plan Forms, Notices, and Amendments: Streamlined, Effective, Timely" in Charlotte
in North Carolina on November 12, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
"Plan Forms, Notices, and Amendments: Streamlined, Effective, Timely" in Chicago
in Illinois on November 12, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
"Plan Forms, Notices, and Amendments: Streamlined, Effective, Timely" in Detroit
in Michigan on November 12, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
"Plan Forms, Notices, and Amendments: Streamlined, Effective, Timely" in Knoxville
in Tennessee on November 9, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
2009 Open Enrollment: Best Practices
Nationwide on October 6, 2009
presented by Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc.
Cammack LaRhette 403(b) Curriculum
Nationwide on October 9, 2009
presented by Cammack LaRhette Consulting
Workplace Wellness: How to Implement a Cultural Transformation Webcast
Nationwide on October 22, 2009
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans
(Click to post your webcast or conference)
Press Releases
New Book: The Future of Public Employee Retirement SystemsPension Research Council
85% of People Would Consider Medical Tourism
AllMedicalTourism.com
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
Illustration & Product Specialistfor AUL/OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc.
in IN
(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs |
RSS feed of all jobs )
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)
(Click on banner to learn more.)
| Where the best employers find the best candidates! |
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
- Employee Benefits Library
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