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October 12, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy

Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA) (Advert.)

EBIA's Recorded Web Seminars - Quality and Convenience! (clickable image)

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.


[Guidance Overview]
HHS's Reporting Form for HIPAA Breaches

Excerpt: "[The Department of Health and Human Services] has now published an online form for reporting breaches of unsecured PHI. The HHS form provides a checklist for plan sponsors who experience a breach of unsecured PHI. Plan sponsors can use the form to help them track breaches and to assure that appropriate preventive measures are in place." (The Segal Group, Inc.)


[Guidance Overview]
Breach Notification Under the HITECH Act: Action Points for Employers Who Sponsor Self-Insured Group Health Plans (PDF)

Excerpt: "Because the Rule is currently effective and because sanctions will be imposed by HHS for failure to provide required notifications for breaches that are discovered on or after February 22, 2010, what should employers who sponsor self-insured group health plans begin doing now to comply?" (Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
State Court Next Stop for Union Plan Wrongful Payment Suit

Excerpt: "A Taft-Hartley plan is not permitted to recoup more than $13,000 in wrongly paid health plan claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), but may be able to take the dispute into New York state court, a federal judge in New York has ruled. The decision came in a suit by the N.Y. State Teamsters Council Health & Hosp. Fund against Daniel Williams and his ex-wife Nicole Ferren, with allegations that Williams and Ferren submitted $13,287.43 in medical claims for Ferren after the two were divorced and that the plan mistakenly paid them. The suit said Williams never informed the plan of the divorce." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


[Guidance Overview]
Towers Perrin Monthly Health & Welfare Regulatory Round-Up, September 2009 (PDF)

8 pages. Excerpt: "The Monthly Regulatory Round-Up is a high-level summary of legal and regulatory developments that occurred during July 2009 that may be relevant to large employers. Developments are sorted according to federal legislative developments, federal regulatory guidance, other developments (e.g., significant litigation, studies, select state law developments)." (Towers Perrin)


Employer Wellness Programs Get Boosted and Blindsided in the Same Week
Excerpt: "Carper/Ensign Amendment # C2 is a provision added to America's Healthy Futures Act, the Senate Finance Committee health reform bill that is scheduled for a vote . . . . The provision would increase wellness program rewards from 20% to 30% of the cost of employee-only coverage under the plan, and it would allow the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, and Department of the Treasury the discretion to increase the reward up to 50% of employee cost. . . . [And then there is] GINA, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, for which regulations were issued on October 7. According to these regulations, wellness programs that provide rewards for completing Health risk assessments that request genetic information, including family medical history, violate GINA. This is true even if rewards are not based on the outcome of the assessment, a plan design that is allowed under the 2006 final HIPAA nondiscrimination rules regarding wellness programs." (Wolters Kluwer)


Estimated Revenue Effects of Revenue Provisions Contained in Title VI of the 'America's Healthy Future Act of 2009,' As Amended Through October 2, 2009
3 pages. Under Consideration by the Committee on Finance. (U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Taxation)


During Open Enrollment Season, Rethink Your Health Insurance Options to Trim Costs
Excerpt: "'History tells us that most workers . . . default to their previous year's benefits,' says Sara Taylor, health and welfare strategy leader at benefits consulting firm Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire, Ill. 'In doing so, they may be losing out on a huge opportunity to save money and fully maximize the benefits available to them.' Hewitt estimates that the employee share of healthcare costs will rise 10% next year, from an average of $3,656 to $4,023, when higher premiums and co-pays are taken into account." (Los Angeles Times)


Employers Offering More High-Deductible Plans This Enrollment Season
Excerpt: "When open enrollment rolls around again this year, workers may be faced with more health insurance choices: 'more employers may include a new type of plan that can chop premium payments by nearly 20 percent and give consumers a tax break,' The Associated Press reports. 'The tradeoff is higher deductibles, which have the potential to swamp customers with big bills. The plans, called consumer-directed health plans, vary from employer to employer and require careful comparison with other choices before making the switch.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)


Small Businesses Worry About Proposed Health Insurance Mandates
Excerpt: "Small business owners are concerned that mandates requiring employers to provide insurance to workers might put a strain on business, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. 'While small businesses around the country have rallied around legislative measures that would force insurers to accept all applicants and offer government subsidies to low-income workers, they've winced at mandates to provide coverage for every employee or pay a penalty equal to as much as 8 percent of payroll.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)


CBO's Analysis of the Effects of Proposals to Limit Costs Related to Medical Malpractice (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "This letter responds to your request for an updated analysis of the effects of proposals to limit costs related to medical malpractice ('tort reform'). Tort reform could affect costs for health care both directly and indirectly: directly, by lowering premiums for medical liability insurance; and indirectly, by reducing the use of diagnostic tests and other health care services when providers recommend those services principally to reduce their potential exposure to lawsuits. Because of mixed evidence about whether tort reform affects the utilization of health care services, past analyses by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) have focused on the impact of tort reform on premiums for malpractice insurance. However, more recent research has provided additional evidence to suggest that lowering the cost of medical malpractice tends to reduce the use of health care services. CBO has updated its estimate of the budgetary effects of proposals for tort reform to reflect that new information." (U.S. Congressional Budget Office)


COBRA Assistance May Be Extended: President, Congress Weighing Options on Premium Subsidy
Excerpt: "Last week, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Obama is looking into whether the subsidy, embedded in economic stimulus legislation that the president signed into law in February, should be extended. 'There are a number of ideas that have been implemented that are coming to a legislative end,' including the COBRA premium subsidy, which the administration is analyzing, Mr. Gibbs said. In addition, Washington sources say, the House Democratic leadership is considering extending the COBRA subsidy." (Business Insurance)


Insurance Industry Attacks Health Care Legislation
Excerpt: "In a blistering new attack, the health insurance industry said Sunday that health care legislation drafted by Senate Democrats would drive up premiums, rather than making coverage more affordable, as the White House contends. A lobby for the industry, America's Health Insurance Plans, focused its criticism on a bill likely to be approved Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee." (The New York Times; free registration required)


In Equitable Distribution, Ex-Spouse's Sick Leave/Vacation Should Be Present-Valued in Accordance with Employment Agreement
Excerpt: "The appellate court concluded that it was in the best interest of the parties to utilize the method of present valuation set forth in the employment contract and equitably to distribute assets now as opposed to waiting until the former husband terminated employment. (It seems that the court could have done the math, and directed a specific number; our best guess is the number is about $40,000.) Dye v. Dye, 34 Fla. L. Weekly D2017 (Fla. 2d DCA, October 2, 2009)." (Cypen & Cypen)



EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Advert.)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]
What is the Top-Paid Group Election?

Excerpt: "Even when using the 'top-paid group election' to determine highly compensated employees, the 5% owners rule must be considered since 5% owners may not be in the top 20% group. How can these rules be reconciled?" (McKay Hochman Co., Inc.)


[Guidance Overview]
Towers Perrin Monthly Regulatory Round-Up on Executive Compensation, September 2009 (PDF)

3 pages. Excerpt: "The Monthly Regulatory Round-Up is a high-level summary of legal and regulatory developments that occurred during July 2009 that may be relevant to large employers. Developments are sorted according to federal legislative developments, federal regulatory guidance, other developments (e.g., significant litigation, studies, select state law developments)." (Towers Perrin)



Webcasts and Conferences

Retirement Plan Distributions Phone Forum
Nationwide on October 28, 2009
presented by Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

The "New" Miller Bill: How Will the 401(k) Fair Disclosure and Pension Security Act of 2009 Affect Plan Fiduciaries and Their Providers?
Nationwide on October 15, 2009
presented by Fiduciary Risk Management, LLC

(Click to post your webcast or conference)

Employee Benefits Jobs

Product Development Manager
for AUL/OneAmerica Financial Partners, Inc.
in IN

(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed for jobs RSS feed of all jobs )


EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com (Sponsor)

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Where the best employers find the best candidates!

Where the best employers find the best candidates!


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