Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter |
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| November 3, 2009 \ Compliance \ Costs \ Administration \ Design \ Policy | ||
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (Advert.)
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[Guidance Overview]
Medicare Part D Notices to Eligible Individuals Due Nov. 15 (PDF)
14 pages. Includes links to Model Individual Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notice and Model Individual Non-Creditable Coverage Disclosure Notice to be used in 2009. (Warner Norcross & Judd)
[Guidance Overview]
Economic Stimulus Package Contains New Parity Rules for Mental Health Benefits
Excerpt: "The article discusses the 'Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act,' which was part of the Economic Stimulus package enacted by Congress in October 2008. The Act increases and expands the protections for mental health benefits that were established under the 1996 Mental Health Parity Act." (Steptoe & Johnson)
[Guidance Overview]
ERISA Can Govern Individual Disability Insurance Policies in an Employment Setting
Excerpt: "A recent case decided in Tennessee serves as a reminder that an insurance arrangement does not have to be group insurance in order for ERISA to apply. In Alexander v. Provident Life and Accident Insurance Co. . . . (E.D. Tenn. Oct. 16, 2009), the court held that individual disability insurance contracts for physician employees constituted an ERISA plan." (Poyner Spruill)
[Guidance Overview]
Many Health and Welfare Plans to Remain Exempt from Filing New Schedule C of Form 5500
Excerpt: "While health and welfare plans funded through a trust will have to file Schedule C, plans exempt under existing guidance and regulations can continue to omit this form." (Mercer)
[Guidance Overview]
Bill Would Extend and Expand COBRA Subsidy Program
Includes link to the bill. Excerpt: "The temporary COBRA subsidy program would expand to cover more involuntarily terminated people for longer periods, under a recently introduced House bill. HR 3930 would increase the subsidy period from nine to 15 months and extend subsidies to people eligible for COBRA due to involuntary job loss between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2010. Under the current subsidy program, people losing their jobs after 2009 would not be eligible. The bill also would expand the maximum COBRA period from 18 to 24 months for certain individuals losing health coverage due to employment termination or reduction in hours." (Mercer)
[Guidance Overview]
FMLA Military Leave Rights Expand
Contains link to the statute. Excerpt: "New military FMLA leave rights enacted Oct. 28 by the National Defense Authorization Act grant 12 weeks of qualifying exigency leave to relatives of active-duty members of the Armed Forces - not just families of active Guard or Reserve members or retirees from the Armed Forces or Reserves. Military caregiver leave -- which provides up to 26 weeks when a relative incurs serious illness or injury in active duty -- now extends to families of veterans whose injury or illness occurred in the past five years. The law also gives certain federal employees retirement credit for unused sick leave." (Mercer)
[Guidance Overview]
Genetic Nondiscrimination Rules Affect Group Health Plan Practices
4 pages. Excerpt: "Employers may need to revise health plans to comply with the GINA regulations, which take effect Jan. 1, 2010, for calendar-year plans. This Update highlights the new rules and actions that group health plan sponsors can take to ensure compliance." (Mercer)
E-Health Privacy Regulations Draw Congressional Fire
Excerpt: "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued an interim final rule to beef up penalties for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA), as several Congressmen criticize the agency for leaving dangerous loopholes in the law." (Information Week)
Childhood Obesity Weighs on Benefit Budgets
Excerpt: "Childhood obesity weighs heavily on the financial scales when it leads to increased health care utilization and higher costs for employers. Further, poor child health will decrease employee productivity as working parents often must leave early or be absent to care for their child." (BenefitNews.com)
Availability, Contributions, Account Balances, and Rollovers in Account-Based Health Plans, 2006-2009
Excerpt: "The share of the adult population with private health insurance enrolled in account-based health plans (so-called 'consumer-driven' health plans, or CDHPs) remains small but continues to grow. In 2009, 4 percent of the adult population with private health insurance was enrolled in an health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) or had a high-deductible plan with an health savings account (HSA), up 1 percentage point from the previous year." (Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))
Senate Pressing Health Insurers on the Amount of Premiums They Spend on Care
Excerpt: "The health insurance industry likes to cite figures showing that 87 cents of every dollar in premiums is spent on medical claims. But a new Senate analysis suggests that for-profit insurance companies are spending much less than that, especially for policies sold to individuals and small businesses." (New York Times; free registration required)
BenefitsLink Vendor Directory (Advert.)
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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
[Guidance Overview]Deadline Approaches to Bring Qualified Performance-Based Compensation into Compliance with Section 162(m)
Excerpt: "In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service . . . issued Revenue Ruling 2008-13, which held that compensation arrangements that permit payment of performance-based compensation upon termination of the covered employee's employment (regardless of whether the performance goals are achieved) will not constitute qualified performance-based compensation, which is exempt from the $1 million per year deduction limit under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code . . . . Compensation arrangements covered by this Revenue Ruling generally should be amended by December 31, 2009 to avoid this adverse treatment." (Troutman Sanders)
[Guidance Overview]
The Perfect Storm Swirling Around Executive Compensation and the Related Corporate Governance
Excerpt: "In addition to [SEC and IRS] regulation, the Financial Accounting Standard Board issued Statement 123(R) in 2006 requiring companies to estimate the amortized expenses of stock options on their income statements and has continued to regulate the disclosure of post-retirement medical and other benefit obligations under FASB Statement 158. All these measures are ways in which executive compensation has been subject to increasing regulation and disclosure requirements." (Haynes and Boone)
[Guidance Overview]
Perform Year-End Review of Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans for 409A Operational Failures
Excerpt: "Employers that maintain nonqualified deferred compensation plans should strongly consider adding a review of operations for Section 409A non-compliance to their end-of-the-year to-do lists. If operational failures are identified and corrected before the year has run out, it may be possible to avoid some or all of the adverse consequences that would otherwise result under 409A by taking advantage of the relief provided under IRS Notice 2008-113." (Faegre & Benson)
IRS Requests Applications for IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities
Excerpt: "The Secretary of the Treasury invites those individuals, organizations, and groups affiliated with employee plans and tax-exempt organizations to nominate individuals for membership on the ACT. Nominations should describe and document the proposed member's qualifications for membership on the ACT. Nominations should also specify the vacancy for which they wish to be considered.' (Editor's note: the document is silent as to which vacancies exist, however.) (Internal Revenue Service)
Employee Ownership Update for November 2, 2009
NCEO Executive Director Corey Rosen discusses the following: defined contribution plan limits will remain unchanged in 2010; House Concurrent Resolution 204, expressing continued support for employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), has been introduced; NCEO board nominations are now open; and SARs may be better than stock options in closely held companies. (National Center for Employee Ownership)
Webcasts and Conferences
"2009 Required Minimum Distributions: Now We Know" Web SeminarNationwide on November 2, 2009
presented by SunGard Relius
(Click to post your webcast or conference)
Press Releases
US Labor Department Obtains Court Judgment to Restore More Than $1.2 million to El Vocero de Puerto Rico Union Employee Retirement PlanU.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
IRS Seeks Applications for TE/GE Advisory Committee
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Employer Contributions Shifting in Consumer-Driven Health Plans
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)
Retirement Security Project Available for Comment on GAO Report Promoting Improvements to Automatic Enrollment to Enhance Long-term Retirement Security
Retirement Security Project
EPIC Advisors, Mutual of Omaha Team Up with Banks to Offer New Retirement Solutions for Commercial Clients
EPIC Advisors, Inc.
BrightScope, Target-Date Analytics Create New Index
BrightScope
ABA Retirement Funds Announces Enhanced Investment Structure for Participants
ABA Retirement Funds
(Click to post your press release)
Employee Benefits Jobs
Compliance Testing Consultantfor Xcitek Consulting Services
in CT, MI, NJ, NY, OH, PA
Director, Retirement Plans
for Monsanto
in MO
ERISA/Benefits Attorney
for Baird Holm LLP
in NE
401(k) Plan Specialist
for Moneta Group Investment Advisors
in MO
Plan Administrator
for Consulting Actuarial Group, Inc.
in IL
(Click to post your job opening | View all jobs |
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