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BenefitsLink Health & Welfare Plans Newsletter
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HHS Unveils Medical Loss Ratio Rule
"According to an HHS press release, the rule will ensure that health insurance companies spend at least 80 percent of consumers' health insurance premiums on medical care rather than on income, overhead and marketing expenses."
(The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)
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7th Annual Employer Health & Human Capital Congress [Advert.]
Find solutions to empower improved health outcomes, restructure benefits to achieve cost sustainability and implement measurable wellness and benefit designs that stand up to CFO-scrutiny. February 7-9, Washington, DC
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Under Health Reform, Will Companies Drop Sick Employees?
"'For example, an employer might provide very generous coverage of preventive, wellness and health maintenance services, while imposing large cost-sharing requirements that high-risk individuals are likely to utilize, such as hospitalization.' Limiting the number of specialist visits and raising co-pays are all pretty great ways to scare sick people away from your health insurance plan."
(The Washington Post; free registration required)
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House Committee Votes to Repeal CLASS Act
"While some Democrats have argued for restructuring the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS) and the White House opposes repealing the program, Republicans insist on scrapping it in its entirety, saying the law would be a long-term drag on the federal budget."
(The Washington Times)
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Health Insurers and Employers Are Beginning To Embrace Defined-Contribution Model
"Within days of each other, a pair of regional health insurers last week began promoting their 'private insurance exchanges,' through which employers will give workers a fixed dollar amount and ask them to choose from a variety of coverage options — at various prices — from within the insurer's portfolio. Such defined-contribution strategies are increasingly being developed by insurers to help them retain clients, and are being explored by employers looking for greater predictability in coverage costs."
(Atlantic Information Services, Inc.)
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Health Care for a Changing Work Force: The Freelancers
"Today, the Freelancers Insurance Company . . ., which is wholly owned by the Freelancers Union (a nonprofit), has revenues of roughly $100 mil.lion and covers 25,000 independent workers and their family members in New York State, offering them premiums that the company calculates are more than a third below the open market rate."
(The New York Times; free registration required)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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Two Updates on Compensation Clawbacks
"First, the SEC announced that the former Chairman and CEO of CSK Auto Corporation has agreed to return $2.8 mil.lion in bonus compensation and stock profits that he received while the company was committing accounting fraud to O'Reilly Automotive, which has since acquired CSK Auto. . . . This was the SEC's first SOX clawback case against an individual who was not alleged to have otherwise violated the securities laws."
(Michael S. Melbinger via Winston & Strawn LLP)
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Financial Literacy: The Investment of a Lifetime (PDF)
"Ensuring people have adequate financial literacy skills means building a foundation in reading and numeracy in school. But this is only the beginning. Studies show that financial literacy programs work best when they are well targeted and well timed - right before a financial decision is made."
(Toronto-Dominion Bank Group)
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Updated List of Employee Ownership Plans in Major Public Companies
This list, updated and released in December 2011, shows which of the 900 largest publicly traded companies (the S&P 500 and the S&P mid-cap 400) have various forms of employee ownership, including stock options, stock purchase plans, ESOPs, 401(k) plans, and more.
(National Center for Employee Ownership)
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Employee Ownership Update for December 1, 2011
NCEO Executive Director Loren Rodgers discusses Berkshire Hathaway's impending acquisition of employee-owned Omaha World-Herald Co.; the NCEO's revised list of employee ownership plans in large public companies; Oxford awards for job creation in employee ownership companies; and NCEO board nominations.
(National Center for Employee Ownership)
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Press Releases
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