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2014: End of the (Health Care) World as We Know It?
Nationwide on December 8, 2011 presented by ABA Joint Committee on Employee Benefits

The Rising Tide of Pension Contributions: An Investigation of US Single-Employer Defined Benefit Plan Funding at the System Level Webcast
Nationwide on November 16, 2011 presented by Society of Actuaries

Philadelphia Becomes Most Recent City to Adopt Paid Sick Leave Requirements for Some Employers
"Before making any changes to their sick leave policies, employers should determine whether they are covered . . . . Those providing services to the City, either through a direct contract or a subcontract, will need to consider the size of the contract, the amount of the employer's gross receipts, and whether the business is a for-profit or non-profit entity." (Littler)

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Preparing for the Four-Page Benefit Summary Requirement for Group Health Plans
"Action Items: Assess which group health plans are subject to the [summary of benefits and coverage, or 'SBC'] requirement and prepare an SBC for each benefit package; Allocate responsibility for preparing and distributing the SBC. This could require changes to service provider agreements; Determine if foreign language requirements apply; Consider whether to revise plans and SPDs to coordinate with the uniform glossary to prevent confusion; . . . [more]." (Snell & Wilmer)

Employer-Based Health Insurance Continues to Trend Down
"The percentage of American adults who get their health insurance from an employer continues to decline, falling to 44.5% in the third quarter of this year." (Gallup)

HHS Office for Civil Rights Announces HIPAA Audit Initiative
"OCR intends to select a broad range of covered entities for audit [for compliance with the privacy and security requirements under (HIPAA), as amended by the (HITECH) Act] . . . including health care providers and health plans of all sizes. Although business associates will not be targeted as part of this audit initiative, they are otherwise eligible for audit." (Thompson Hine LLP)

Supreme Court Not Yet Decided as to Date for Hearing Appeal Over Health Care Reform Law
After an Thursday conference among themselves, the Justices did not announce a decision, or even whether it had been discussed. (AP via New York Times)

New Census Poverty Measure Shows Medical Expenses Push 10 Mil.lion More Americans into Poverty
"This finding provides evidence that health care costs have become one of the most significant living expenses faced by poor families. In a recent report, The Commonwealth Fund found that in 2010 fully half of working-age adults with incomes below poverty spent 10 percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket health care costs and insurance premiums, which is more than double the percentage of those who spent that much in 2001." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Life Insurance Premium Changes on The Way for Some Federal Employees, Retirees
"All [Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program] enrollees receive basic insurance, which includes coverage totaling the employee's annual pay, rounded to the nearest $1,000, plus an additional $2,000. Enrollees also can elect additional plans." (GovExec.com)

Comments to HHS on Implications of GINA Application to Long-Term Care (PDF)
A joint work group comprised of members of the SOA Long-Term Section Council and the Academy's Federal Long-Term Care Task Force submitted a letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius regarding the department's extension of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) to long-term care insurance in proposed regulations. (American Academy of Actuaries)

Federal Guidance and Regulation of State Health Benefit Exchanges: Comments and Highlights
"The Affordable Care Act (ACA) establishes a plan to facilitate the purchase and sale of qualified health coverage in the individual market, and to provide options for small business through American Health Benefit Exchanges." (National Conference of State Legislatures)

House Defeats Executive Compensation Bill
"Earlier this week, the House of Representatives defeated an amendment (scroll down) to a bill that would have required issuers in private securities transactions to disclose the compensation of the issuer's executive officers to prospective investors." (Just Compensation Blog (McGuireWoods))

EBSA Creates New Consumer Assistance Web Page
"The page includes links to various tools and publications with information on benefit plans, as well as answers to questions about 'hot topics.' Users also have the option to submit a question, file a complaint, or report a problem with their plan." (PLANSPONSOR.com)

New IRS Voluntary Worker Reclassification Program: Think It Through (PDF)
"While the [Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP)] provides significant protection from potential federal employment tax liability, reclassifying independent contractors as employees often raises a whole host of issues that are not ameliorated by VCSP. For example, state and local taxes are not covered by the VCSP. Moreover, participation in the VCSP is not binding on any other governmental agency. Consequently, employers that participate in the VCSP could be subject to claims for unpaid unemployment taxes and other governmental payments for individuals reclassified as employees." (Paul Hastings)

Highlights of NCEO's 2011 Private Company Equity Compensation Survey
Earlier this year, the NCEO conducted a pathbreaking survey of equity compensation practices at hundreds of private companies. This page presents the highlights of the results, from the demographics of the respondents to the distribution of equity at their companies. (National Center for Employee Ownership)

Are Federal Government Employees Overpaid?
"The size and scope of the federal government and the money being paid to its workers is an issue on the presidential campaign trail. . . . The federal government recently reported that on average the gap has widened between the federal and private sectors — with government employees falling further behind." (Washington Post)

Majority of Employees Enroll for Benefits Online
"Sixty-two percent of workers now enroll online for their employee benefits, compared to only 29% in 2005, according to the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)

Teachers Paid Much Less Than Their Peers? Not So.
"The study that posed this question — presumably with a straight face — could only do so by inflating data on what teachers earn — by including pension costs that are not available to teachers during their working years and are never accessed by about 40 percent of them — and by underestimating the actual hours that teachers work . . . ." (Prof. Linda Darling-Hammond, in US News and World Report)

Equity Compensation Report for November 2011
This is the last of the three introductory issues of the NCEO's new equity compensation newsletter; starting in December, it will be available only to NCEO members. It features an interview with Dan Walter and articles on the NCEO's private company equity compensation survey, determining whether secondary markets are right for your company, and communicating valuation. (National Center for Employee Ownership)

PBGC Releases Long-Term Projections, Forecasts Some Additional Plan Failures and Higher Deficits
(Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC))

US Department of Labor’s EBSA Creates New Consumer Assistance Web Page
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))

Employers Say Retirement Plan Success Fueled By Tax Deferrals
(Principal Financial Group)

bswift to Lead Discussion at AHIP on Role of Health Plans in Coming Health Exchanges
(bswift)