[Guidance Overview]
Appeals Process Guidelines Issued under Early Retiree Reinsurance Program
"[E]mployers may appeal adverse reimbursement determinations [including] complete or partial denials of reimbursement requests; whether an individual listed by the employer as an early retiree for purposes of ERRP reimbursement actually meets the substantive criteria for that classification; whether a given diagnosis, procedure or other code . . . is acceptable . . . [and more]."
(Practical Law Company)
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[Guidance Overview]
Medicare Part D Notices Must be Distributed by October 15
"The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted revised model notices on its website, which reflects the new dates. CMS has not made any other changes to the notices.'
(Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.)
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[Guidance Overview]
Updated Version of IRS Form 8928 and Instructions
"To help keep excise tax risks to a minimum, cautious plan sponsors (and others who may be liable) should follow an approach to compliance designed not only to prevent errors but also to catch and correct mistakes that may occur."
(Thomson Reuters/EBIA)
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[Guidance Overview]
Seattle Paid Sick Time and Paid Safe Time Ordinance Adopted
"Minimum leave accruals vary by employer size and are based on an employee's hours worked. Employers may impose caps on an employee's usage and year-end carry over of accrued paid time, which vary depending on the employer's size. . . . The accrual rates and caps under the ordinance are [outlined in a chart]."
(Littler Mendelson P.C.)
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Opposition Mounts to Merger of Pharmacy Benefit Managers
"Opponents continue to protest—most recently at a U.S. House subcommittee hearing—that the merger of two of the three largest pharmacy-benefits managers would reduce consumer choice, increase costs and decrease overall satisfaction. The outlook for approval looks positive, however."
(Human Resource Executive Online)
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Top Five Unnecessary Health Care Costs
"What did the researchers say was the No. 1 most over-used activity by primary care physicians? Prescribing a brand-name cholesterol-lowering drug without trying a less expensive generic first, according to the research posted on-line by the Archives of Internal Medicine."
(The Wall Street Journal)
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Will San Francisco Mayor Veto Legislation That Helps Workers and Protects Consumers?
"After the Board of Supervisors . . . to bar San Francisco businesses from pocketing money they and their patrons set aside for employee health care, Mayor Ed Lee faces a tough but telling choice: Whether to heed business community demands that he veto legislation that has wide labor and consumer support."
(San Francisco Bay Guardian Online)
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Surveys Find Health Care Premiums Have Substantially Increased, but Rate of Increase will Decelerate in 2012
"According to Mercer, the cost increase slowdown may be attributed to an overall decrease in the use of health services by employees. Mercer reports that some analysts believe the economic downturn in conjunction with generally higher deductibles and other forms of cost-sharing lead to less disposable income to use for non-urgent health services. Alternatively, the decrease in health care utilization may be the result of programs and services aimed at improving health."
(Littler Mendelson P.C.)
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Companies Turning to Technology to Help Keep Workers Well
"Consultant Limeade Inc. of Bellevue, Washington, provides social media-based wellness programs that allow employees to engage in healthy activities, take quizzes about health conditions such as diabetes or about nutritional food choices, and participate in challenges, including committing to eat five vegetables daily."
(Workplace Management: free registration required)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Adverse Tax Consequences for Certain Executives Covered by NDCPs as Result of DB Plan Funding Status
"Companies that sponsor nonqualified deferred compensation plans with associated rabbi trusts should identify the qualified pension plans within their control group and be aware of such plans' funded status. In addition, companies should review their nonqualified deferred compensation plans, rabbi trust agreements, and agreements with third-party service providers to determine how the funding restrictions could impact their deferred compensation plan administration."
(Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP)
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IRS Publishes Rules on Business Expenses
"The [IRS] has issued Revenue Procedure 2011–47 which provides rules for employees, volunteers, and partners who are reimbursed for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses, or meals and incidental expenses only, while traveling away from home."
(PLANSPONSOR.COM)
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Comparing Wealth in Retirement: State-Local Versus Private Sector Workers
"The question of comparability of compensation in the state-local and private sectors was the focus of a recent Issue in Brief. The conclusion was that wages for workers with similar characteristics, education, and experience were higher in the private sector than the public, but benefits for state-local workers roughly offset the wage penalty."
(Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)
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Press Releases
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