401(k) Plan Manager
for PenServ Plan Service, Inc. in SC

Qualified Plan Consultant
for The Newport Group in FL

Retirement Client Specialist
for Charles Schwab in TX

Participant Services Representative-Retirement Services
for Charles Schwab in TX

Participant Services Representative-Retirement Services
for Charles Schwab in OH

Participant Services Representative-Retirement Services
for Charles Schwab in AZ

Benefits Analyst
for Tegrit Retirement Plan Services/Tegrit Group in ANY STATE, OH

Administrator
for Benetech, Inc. in CA, VA

Consultant, Actuarial Services
for Tegrit Retirement Plan Services/Tegrit Group in ANY STATE, OH

Client Service Manager
for Tegrit Retirement Plan Services in ANY STATE, OH

Bilingual Benefit Communication Enrollment Specialist
for Benefit Communication Insourcing in AR, CA, KS

Benefits Billing & Data Administrator
for Catholic Healthcare West Medical Foundation (CHWMF) in CA

Senior Benefits Specialist
for Catholic Healthcare West Medical Foundation (CHWMF) in CA

Defined Benefit Pension Specialist
for Prudential in CT

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"SunGard Relius Form 5500 and 401(k) Plan Workshops" - Baltimore
in Maryland on May 17, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

401(k) Rekon Advisor Symposium - Orlando
in Florida on May 15, 2012 presented by 401(k) Rekon

Retiree Medical Exchange for Coverage Your Employees Want Webcast
Nationwide on April 18, 2012 presented by Mercer

"SunGard Relius Form 5500 and 401(k) Plan Workshops" - New York
in New York on May 15, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

CFDD

Proposed IRS Regs Address Mandatory Fees to Fund Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
"Specified insurers and plan sponsors will contribute $2 multiplied by the average number of covered lives under a policy or plan ... (for plan or policy years ending before October 1, 2013, the multiplier is $1). The proposed regulations clarify ... how health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and health flexible spending arrangements (health FSAs) will be treated under the fee rules [and] how plan sponsors and insurers may calculate the average number of lives covered under plans.... For plan sponsors of self-insured plans, must be filed by July 31 of the immediately following calendar year." (Practical Law Company)

Health care reform -- get the information you need now! June 20 - NYC   [Advert.]

Register now and learn about the latest developments including current enforcement efforts. This seminar is designed to give you the information you need to move forward in addressing the issues. Special discount for BenefitsLink readers!

Proposed HIPAA Regs Address Unique Health Plan Identifier and ICD-10 Compliance Date
"With little progress under the original HIPAA directive, health care reform prompted action by requiring HHS to implement a standard for a unique health plan identifier by October 1, 2012. The preamble to the proposed regulations notes that health plans will bear the administrative cost of complying with the HPID requirement, while providers (which must identify health plans for billing and other transactions) will likely reap most of the benefits through increased automation." (Thomson Reuters/EBIA)

How Rising Health Care Costs Affect Families with Employment-Based Private Insurance
The article concludes that rising health costs reduce employment-based health insurance availability and enrollment, and the financial protection provided by it, especially for middle-class families. (RAND)

The Effectiveness of Prompting Employees About Preventive Health Care
"[The authors] study whether prompts to form and recall a plan can increase individuals' responsiveness to reminders to make and attend beneficial appointments. At four companies, all employees due for a colonoscopy were randomly assigned to receive either a control mailing or a treatment mailing." (The National Bureau of Economic Research; paid subscription or individual purchase required to retrieve full text)

Critics Say Regs on 'Unaffordable' Employment-Based Health Insurance Would Make Millions Ineligible for Tax Credits
"At issue is a section of the law that outlines when low- and moderate-income employees can opt out of their employer's coverage and instead get federal subsidies to buy insurance through new state-based marketplaces, called exchanges." (Kaiser Health News)

Premiums Climb for Long-Term Care Insurance
"The long-term care insurance market is struggling, and some companies are dropping out of selling the insurance to individuals. Others are raising premiums, but nobody is raising them as high as John Hancock, where some long-term care premiums in other states are jumping as high 90 percent. The actuarial numbers used to create these plans years ago turned out to be wrong." (Star-Telegram)

Worker Wellness Improve Employers' Bottom Line, Insurers Say
"The latest evidence in support of wellness is a survey of 600 U.S. employers in 2011 ... It showed that a group of 'high performing firms,' those which embrace health care cost control strategies, including wellness, reduced their rate of growth of health care costs over several years to about 1 percent annually in 2010 compared with an average of 10 percent rates of cost growth among 'low performing' employers, or those which did not adopt such strategies." (Alaska Journal of Commerce)

Is Acupuncture an 'Essential Health Benefit'?
"HHS has decided that health insurers will have flexibility to adjust specific covered services in all ten statutory EHB categories.... It's possible, then, that even if the HHS doesn't grant the [American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine]'s request, various health insurers could determine that acupuncture fits at least one of the above categories, or states could choose a benchmark such as the [Federal Employee Health Benefits Program] plan that would cover it." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business / CCH)

Free Coverage of Health Care Costs for Uninsured in Massachusetts Not a 'Budget Buster'
"[The president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation] says the state has spent just $91 mil.lion more a year since 2006 to cover the uninsured, than it was spending before the law passed. The sum amounts to 1.4 percent of the state budget." (Kaiser Health News)

Strategies to Help CO-OPs (Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans) Compete in the Health Insurance Marketplace
"Despite their promise, CO-OPs face a number of business challenges that go beyond typical start-up hurdles. This issue brief lays out a number of innovative strategies CO-OP organizers are developing to increase the odds of long-term sustainability and economic success. These strategies--aimed at building market share, creating integrated provider networks, and achieving cost savings through payment reform--could establish CO-OPs as a viable new entrant in the health care field." (The Commonwealth Fund)

Consumers Still Struggling with Health Care Pricing
"As consumers shoulder a larger share of their healthcare costs, the ability to comparison shop is key to keeping that care affordable. Medical costs borne by U.S. employees have more than doubled since 2002 to more than $8,000 a year[.]" (Los Angeles Times)

Obesity Found Responsible for 21% of U.S. Health Care Spending
"The Cornell study reports that an obese person incurs medical costs that are $2,741 higher (in 2005 dollars) than if they were not obese. Nationwide, that translates into $190.2 bil.lion per year, or 20.6 percent of national health expenditures. The study appeared in the January issue of the Journal of Health Economics (31:1). Previous estimates had pegged the cost of obesity at $85.7 bil.lion, or 9.1 percent of national health expenditures." (Cornell University)

Massachusetts Legislature Eyes Mandatory Paid Sick Leave
"The Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care Financing is considering [a requirement for] companies with fewer than six employees to provide unpaid sick time, and all other employers to offer paid sick time." (ML Strategies, LLC)

Geographically Based Differences in Health Care Costs
"Perhaps the best-known study of the topic is the Dartmouth Atlas, which has analyzed Medicare data for geographic cost differences for more than 20 years. Following the Dartmouth methodology, Milliman performed a pioneering study in 2010 to examine geographic cost differences in private claims data." (Milliman)

Medical Bills Continue to be a Mystery and Contribute to Escalating Health Care Costs
"When insurance companies or government bodies try to control costs, they usually make across-the-board reimbursement cuts that ultimately are unsustainable because they have no connection to the true costs of delivering care. Providers themselves do not measure their costs correctly. They assign costs to patients based on what they charge, not on the actual costs of the resources, like personnel and equipment, used to care for the patient. The result is that attempts to cut costs fail, and total health care costs just keep rising." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Response: Medical Costs Are a Mystery But Microanalysis Is Not the Solution
"Robert Kaplan and Michael Porter are correct when they say that we need to understand costs rather than prices if we are to improve value in our health care spending. But is their approach on analyzing our costs an efficient method that can be applied throughout our health care system? ... Instead of using market principles with package prices for individuals based on meticulous cost analysis, we should dump the market nonsense and take advantage of the efficiency and equity of global budgeting of hospitals. That is really only possible if we get rid of our fragmented financing system and establish our own single payer national health program." (Physicians for a National Healthcare Program)

Why the Dramatic Recent Falloff in Health Care Utilization?
"If we are witnessing something other than the lingering effects of a weak recovery, then a likely explanation is the growth we have seen in cost-sharing and high-deductible plans. The share of workers in a plan with a deductible of $1,000 or more grew from 18% in 2008 to 31% in 2011, and from 35% to 50% in smaller firms." (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

Another Question is Answered in the Who's the Employer Q&A Column
Can the spouse of a limited partner in a limited partnership be treated as an employee? (BenefitsLink.com)

Non-Profit Organizations: Will Your Retirement Plan Cost You Extra Time and Money?
(Cedar Brook Financial Partners)

New Purchaser-led Coalitions in Arizona and Philadelphia Join NBCH Membership
(National Business Coalition on Health)

US Labor Department Celebrates 10 Years of Citizen Service Through Benefits.gov
(U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA))

Diversified Joins NAPA as Founding Partner
(Diversified)

CAPTRUST Adds Industry Veteran to Advisory Board
(CAPTRUST Financial Advisors)