In-House Assistant General Counsel
for OneAmerica Financial Partners in IN

Retirement Services Manager
for CUNA Mutual Group in WI

Director of Operations
for retirement advisory services corp in PA

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Fringe Benefits Design in MN

Director, Retirement Key Account Management
for Prudential in NJ

Plan Implementation Manager - Retirement Plan Services
for John Hancock Financial Services in MA

Account Manager II/III Small Markets
for Lincoln Financial Group in IN

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"Fundamentals of 401(k) and Other Qualified Plans" - Dallas
in Texas on June 20, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

Social Media at Work Seminar
in Massachusetts on June 14, 2012 presented by New England Employee Benefits Council

Health Benefits Laws Compliance Workshops
in Texas on June 29, 2012 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

COBRA Compliance Webinar
Nationwide on May 24, 2012 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Understanding Your Fiduciary Responsibilities under ERISA Webinar
Nationwide on May 24, 2012 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Health Benefits Laws Compliance Assistance Seminar
in Missouri on June 13, 2012 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Cafeteria Plan Nondiscrimination Rules: Design and Testing Fundamentals (Session I)
Nationwide on May 17, 2012 presented by Thomson Reuters / EBIA

CFDD

Text of Final IRS Regs on Health Insur.ance Premium Tax Credit
Scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on May 23, 2012. Until then, view the document by clicking on the words "pre-publication PDF version" on the linked page. Excerpt: "These final regulations provide guidance to individuals who enroll in qualified health plans through Affordable Insur.ance Exchanges (Exchanges) and claim the premium tax credit, and to Exchanges that make qualified health plans available to individuals and employers." (Federal Register)

Communicating Benefits Doesn’t Have to be Expensive.   [Advert.]

Benefit costs concern everyone – including us. That’s why BeneCom keeps your communication costs low. How? Let’s start with no hourly fees and guaranteed pricing. So discover the large impact BeneCom can have on your benefits, not your budget.

COBRA Claim Continues to Trial to Resolve Last-Known Address Issues
"This case highlights the importance of maintaining current and accurate address information for employees and qualified beneficiaries. Will this employer prevail due to the confusion the employee created, or will the inconsistency within the employer's own personnel records preclude it from establishing good faith compliance? Regardless of the outcome, the case reminds employers (and TPAs) with multiple record systems to ensure that addresses are consistent across all systems." (Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA))

Insurers Who Meet Or Exceed 2011 Medical Loss Ratio Standard Must Provide Notices Beginning July 1, 2012
"The notice is also intended to motivate insurers to spend as high a percentage of premium dollars on care and quality improvement as possible (rather than just enough to avoid paying rebates), because informing subscribers that they can view insurers' MLRs on www.HealthCare.gov increases transparency." (Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA))

Self-Insured and Insured Medical Plans, Including Stand-Alone Retiree Plans and HRAs, Becoming Subject to $1 Fee Per Covered Life
"The fee will be imposed on: Insured and self-insured medical and prescription drug plans; Retiree-only plans; HRAs offered in tandem with insured arrangements (but not on HRAs offered in tandem with self-insured arrangements); Governmental plans; and FSAs to the extent they are offered on a stand-alone basis and not offered in connection with conventional group coverage (and subject to certain limits)." (Davis Wright Tremaine LLP)

Plan Sponsors Working Diligently and in Good Faith on Summary of Benefits and Coverage Will Not Face Penalties During First Year
"The Departments will not impose penalties for failure to provide an SBC or Uniform Glossary on plans and issuers that are working diligently and in good faith to comply.... Plan sponsors with 'carve-out' arrangements, such as a carved-out outpatient prescription drug program or mental health program, may provide multiple partial SBCs during the first year, as long as the multiple SBCs together provide all relevant information to meet SBC content requirements.... The Departments will not enforce penalties for failure to provide an SBC with respect to expatriate coverage during the first year of applicability." (The Segal Company)

7th Annual Executive Forum on the Business of Wellness - July 24-26 - Chicago   [Advert.]

Meaningful worksite wellness programs motivate behavior change and combat ever-increasing health care costs. This event delivers a roadmap to achieve measurable outcomes and meaningful, individual behavior change.

IRS Rule Addresses Affordability, Joint Tax Returns With Regards to Health Insur.ance Premium Tax Credits
"A new rule from the Internal Revenue Service addresses several issues with regards to the health insur.ance premium tax credits that individuals will be able to use to offset the cost of health care in the health insur.ance exchanges starting in 2014. The final rules follow the proposed rule issued on August 17, 2011. The regulations discuss the issue of affordability in employer-sponsored coverage, deferring a determination regarding potential changes to the proposed rule on that issue." (Kaiser Health Reform)

IRS Regs Describe New Fees Payable by Health Plan Sponsors and Insurers
"The fees payable by health insurers [to finance research into comparative clinical effectiveness, required by the health care reform law] are described in a new Section 4375 of the Tax Code, while a new Section 4376 describes the fees imposed on sponsors of self-funded health plans. Regulations recently proposed by the IRS would apply substantially similar rules under both of these provisions. This article will therefore focus on the fees payable by self-funded plans." (Spencer Fane)

HHS Guidance Includes Draft Blueprint for State-Based Insur.ance Exchanges
"On May 16, 2012, HHS released new guidance on the health insur.ance exchanges established by health care reform... Among the new materials are: A draft blueprint for approval of affordable state-based and state partnership insur.ance exchanges; General guidance on federally-facilitated exchanges; [and] An updated website featuring an interactive map with state-by-state information on grants to establish insur.ance exchanges." (Practical Law Company)

COBRA Claim Continues to Trial to Resolve Last-Known Address Issues
"This case highlights the importance of maintaining current and accurate address information for employees and qualified beneficiaries. Will this employer prevail due to the confusion the employee created, or will the inconsistency within the employer's own personnel records preclude it from establishing good faith compliance? Regardless of the outcome, the case reminds employers (and TPAs) with multiple record systems to ensure that addresses are consistent across all systems." (Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA))

Insurers Who Meet Or Exceed 2011 Medical Loss Ratio Standard Must Provide Notices Beginning July 1, 2012
"The notice is also intended to motivate insurers to spend as high a percentage of premium dollars on care and quality improvement as possible (rather than just enough to avoid paying rebates), because informing subscribers that they can view insurers' MLRs on www.HealthCare.gov increases transparency." (Employee Benefits Institute of America (EBIA))

Inaugural Health Care Cost and Utilization Report Summarizes National Trends in Health Care Utilization and Cost
"Key findings from this report: Per capita health spending among people under 65 is growing moderately, up 3.3 percent from the previous year but still nearly three times the rate of general inflation. Higher spending was mostly due to price increases, rather than changes in the use of health care services: Prices for hospital admissions, outpatient care and prescription drugs all grew at a much faster rate than general inflation in 2010. Health care spending grew fastest among those who are 18 and younger." (Health Care Cost Institute)

What Could Revolutionize Health Care? This Database
"This morning a new nonprofit called the Health Care Cost Institute will roll out a database of 5 bil.lion health insur.ance claims (all stripped of the individual health plan's identity, to address privacy concerns). Researchers will be able to access that data, largely using it to probe a critical question: What makes health care so expensive?" (The Washington Post; free registration required)

Data Trove Might Shed Light on Health Care Cost Uncertainties
"How much do hospitals and doctors actually charge insurers for their services? How much and which of those services are privately-insured patients using? And, most significantly, what drives changes in health-care use, costs, and total spending? They are among the most vexing questions in American health care. And a recently amassed trove of data from insur.ance companies could soon shed new light on them." (The Washington Post; free registration required)

Genetic Test Results Do Not Trigger Increased Use of Health Services, Says Government Study
"People have increasing opportunities to participate in genetic testing that can indicate their range of risk for developing a disease. Receiving these results does not appreciably drive up or diminish test recipients' demand for potentially costly follow-up health services, according to a study performed by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and colleagues at other institutions." (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes on Health)

Health Care Costs Reported in Recent Milliman Medical Index Incite Fear, Car Comparisons
"The Gaston Gazette compares the cost of healthcare in Atlanta to the cost of a Honda Civic. Forbes (which already has one car comparison on the books) compares healthcare costs to a new Chevrolet Cruze, with a caveat...." (Healthcare Town Hall)

Health Reform Would Bring a Windfall for Insurers
"Health insurers will gain $1 tril.lion in new revenue over the next eight years under the 2010 health care law, assuming it is upheld by the Supreme Court, according to a Bloomberg Government study.... About 9 percent of the insur.ance industry's total revenue from 2013 to 2020 hinges on whether the health law stands, according to the study." (Kansas City Star)

Making Gene Mapping Part of Everyday Care
"The price to get a full genetic map currently starts at about $3,000, and many experts predict this could quickly fall to $1,000, roughly equivalent to the cost of an MRI. Insur.ance is expected eventually to help cover the cost of doctor-ordered tests." (The Wall Street Journal)

Health Care Savings Advice for Individuals
"Money magazine gives you strategies to cut your costs as much as 70% in six big areas—from doctor visits to prescription drugs to dental care—that are major sources of cash drains. This is the first of a two-part series on how to lower your medical expenses." (CNNMoney.com)

Consumer-Directed Health Plans Shown to Be Money-Savers
"A large study of the medical spending patterns of consumer-directed health plan enrollees, published in the May Health Affairs, found that CDHP enrollees did indeed spend less on care, saving them and their employers money. But the declines were not restricted to unnecessary and redundant tests. The drop also was due to fewer preventive tests and screenings." (American Medical Association)

Broken Promise: Why ObamaCare Will Force Americans to Lose the Health Care Coverage They Have and Like (PDF)
"[N]ew analysis of the health care costs of Fortune 100 companies indicates the Democrats' health care law threatens the stability and sustainability of the employer-based health insur.ance system—even among the nation's most prosperous companies. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) asked for and received, on a confidential basis, information on the cost and coverage of the health insur.ance plans for the Fortune 100 companies." (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means)

Links to Witness Testimony at House Hearing on 'Health Care Consolidation and Competition after PPACA'
From the statement of Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX): "I expect the testimony at today's hearing will demonstrate how the Administration's regulatory approach reduces competition and leads to higher medical costs and lower quality care. The first victim of Obamacare's regulations will be the small, independent and innovative insur.ance companies and health care providers." (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet)

Text of Additional Comments by American Academy of Actuaries on Proposed Health Care Costs Calculator (PDF)
"[T]hese comments address issues related to whether the AV calculator needs to incorporate plan designs with benefit limits, whether different claim distributions should be used for plans in the individual and small group markets, how many geographic pricing tiers would be appropriate, whether induced demand should be incorporated into the calculator, and how Health Savings Account (HSA) and Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) contributions should be incorporated. We also provide recommendations regarding ways to enhance the calculator's transparency." (American Academy of Actuaries)

Court of Appeals Rejects Equitable Remedies When SPD Promises More Generous Benefits Than Pension Plan Document
"In some ways, the Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Skinner v. Northrop Grumman Retirement Plan B is a garden-variety example of a classic fact pattern: the terms of a summary plan description ('SPD') promise better benefits than the plan document it summarizes, and participants sue for the difference. Skinner demands our attention, however, because it is the first decision by a federal court of appeals to interpret the Supreme Court's most recent high-profile decision on ERISA remedies: CIGNA Corp. v. Amara." (Spencer Fane)

DOL Releases Preliminary 2009 Versions of Pension and Health Plan Bulletins and Form 5500 Data
"Statistical summary of Form 5500 data on Direct Filing Entities (DFEs) including counts of DFEs, counts of private pension plans invested in DFEs, and asset counts." See the various links entitled "2009 - Preliminary," which appear under these headings: "Reports", "Excel Tables" and "XML Tables." (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Segal Rogerscasey Expands in Atlanta
(Segal Rogerscasey)

HR360 Releases 2012 Employee Benefit Plan Compliance Calendar
(HR360, Inc.)