Sr. Manager Retirement Education Sales
for Charles Schwab in TX

Retirement Plan Sales Consultant
for Trinity Pension Consultants in OH

Vice President, Client Transition
for Prudential in CT, IA, NJ, PA

Product Director, Stable Value
for Prudential in NJ

Enrolled Actuary
for Cash Balance Actuaries, LLC in ANY STATE, MN

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Brokers Should Prepare for “Hyper Mode” - An EBA Podcast with Craig J. Davidson, CEBS
Nationwide on June 29, 2012 presented by Davidson Marketing Group -- FutureOffice Network

Postal Workers Protest Up-Front Funding of Retiree Health Care Liability
"Some U.S. Postal Service workers in Washington, D.C., launched a four-day hunger strike on Monday to urge that massive upfront retirement program payments be dropped as a way to bolster the cash-strapped mail agency. The hunger strike by 10 postal workers is part of days of protests aimed at pressuring Congress to eliminate a 2006 requirement that the agency pay retiree health benefits 75 years in advance." (The New York Times; free registration required)

DATAIR’s FlexPlus System – Makes Administration Profitable   [Advert.]

Proposals, Testing, Claims Processing, Debit Cards and more!
Plus CafeDocs/SPDs and 5500s/SARs
(888) 328-2474   Sales@DATAIR.com   www.DATAIR.com

House Ways and Means Committee Members Have Questions for AARP on Role in Health Care Bill
"Health Subcommittee Chairman Wally Herger (R-CA) and Ways and Means Member Dave Reichert (R-WA) [have asked] AARP's Chief Executive Officer Barry Rand [for] additional information from the organization related to AARP's role in the formulation and advancement of the Democrats' health care law. The call for information comes as a separate Congressional investigation uncovered internal AARP communications with the White House, which contradict responses AARP provided to Ways and Means Committee members during a lengthy Congressional investigation." (U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means)

Life After the Supreme Court Opinion: Accountable Care Organizations Already Catching a Wave
"Some of the biggest names in health care are putting aside what the Supreme Court says about President Obama's health care law by forging ahead with a new health care delivery system that rewards doctors and hospitals for working together to improve quality And the timing may be just right for this new model to now take off. With employers and government health plans either unwilling or unable to spend more on care, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are becoming an important option over costly fee-for-service medicine." (Forbes)

Enrollment in ACA's PCIP Program Shows Deep Need for Health Care by Adults with Pre-Existing Conditions
"A recent report on the PCIP program reveals the deep need for such coverage, and the striking difference in health care utilization between PCIP participants and those in established plans.... Illustrative of the need for care by the PCIP enrollees is a comparison between enrollees in the federally administered PCIP and those in an established health plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits plan." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)

7th Annual Congress on On-Site Employee Health Clinics   [Advert.]

Strategically building & expanding on-site health clinics -- incorporating innovative strategies to reduce costs and ensure employee satisfaction. July 19–20, 2012, Boston, MA

Supreme Court Decision Will Shake Up Health Care Plans, One Way or Another
"If the court upholds the mandate, the hinge point upon which much of the Act rests, compliance with its multi-year litany of reforms will continue for both health insurers and employers. If not, the court could rule that other parts of the legislation must fall, including elements companies have already complied with. Longer term, the fate of whatever does remain, if anything, will be subject to the results of this fall's presidential and Senate elections. That means making corporate decisions on health-care benefits too soon may be a risky exercise. Forewarned is forearmed." (CFO.com)

HR's Growing Role In Delivering Health Reform (PDF)
"[T]he way your health benefits strategy intersects with new legal and economic realities can send ripples into the makeup of your workforce, the role of HR, and your company's ability to compete. Health care is an employer's biggest-ticket people item apart from pay, and its most complex. But until now, that hasn't been enough to promote it from a maintenance activity—primarily a back-office concern. If HR seizes the initiative now, it will not only meet head-on the new challenges but can also expand its sphere of influence." (Deloitte)

Deloitte Health Care Reform Memo, June 25, 2012
Describes recent developments in various health plan and health insur.ance matters at the federal and state levels. This issue includes a discussion of the potential effects of the Supreme Court decision; upcoming CMS actions to monitor consumer satisfaction; HHS funding awards to expand community health centers; and more. (Deloitte Center for Health Solutions)

[Opinion]

If ACA Goes, What About the Loss of Insur.ance Subsidies?
"On June 28, the Supreme Court will release its ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. If the full Act is repealed, individuals who would have purchased plans in the state insur.ance exchanges will receive neither their premium subsidies nor their tax credits for out-of-pocket expenses. What precisely would they be losing?" (Physicians for a National Health Program)

[Opinion]

Why Prices Matter, Part II—Definition of Health 'Insur.ance' Blurs
"[H]ave you ever seen a commercial for health insur.ance that focused on why you actually need health insur.ance? That is, have you ever seen a health insur.ance commercial that told you that you need a really good insurer in case you get cancer, heart disease, AIDS, etc.? ... [T]he casualty insur.ance market is a real market in which real insur.ance is bought and sold. The health insur.ance market is an artificial market in which the product being exchanged is not real insur.ance at all. In fact, in many ways, it is prepayment for the consumption of health care." (John Goodman's Health Policy Blog)

[Opinion]

If ObamaCare Survives, Legal Battle Has Just Begun
"Even if the Affordable Care Act survives its first Supreme Court test ... the lawsuits won't end.... [One] potential lawsuit poses as great a threat to the law as the case now before the high court. Under the guise of implementing the law, the Internal Revenue Service has announced it will impose a tax of up to $3,000 per worker on employers whom Congress has not authorized a tax. To make things more interesting: If the IRS doesn't impose that unauthorized tax, the whole law could collapse." (Cato Institute)

[Official Guidance]

Text of IRS Rev. Proc. 2012-29: Sample Language for Section 83(b) Election; Examples of Resulting Taxes (PDF)
"This revenue procedure contains sample language that may be used (but is not required to be used) for making an election under Section 83(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. Additionally, this revenue procedure provides examples of the income tax consequences of making such an election." (Internal Revenue Service)

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Adopts New Rule and Disclosure Requirements on Compensation Committees
"The new rule, adopted as Exchange Act Rule 10C-1, directs stock exchanges to establish listing standards that require each member of a listed issuer's compensation committee to be an 'independent' member of the board of directors. The new rule does not require a listed company to formally designate a compensation committee; however, in the absence of a designated compensation committee, the listing standards must apply to the directors, or group or committee of directors, who oversee executive compensation matters. As in other instances, the SEC generally defers to the specific definition of 'independent' to be adopted in the listing standards of the applicable stock exchange." (Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP)

[Guidance Overview]

SEC Issues Final Regs on Compensation Committee Independence Requirements Under Dodd-Frank
"[T]he final regulations require the stock exchanges to issue listing standards requiring a listed corporation's compensation committee to take into account the independence of compensation consultants, legal counsel and other advisers before any of these service providers can be engaged by the committee. There are real dangers if this is not done on a formal basis." (Fox Rothschild LLP)

Text of IRS Rev. Rul. 2012-19: Dividends and Dividend Equivalents on Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units (PDF)
"Issue: Whether dividends and dividend equivalents relating to restricted stock and restricted stock units (RSUs) that are performance-based compensation under Section 162(m)(4)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code must separately satisfy the requirements under Section 162(m)(4)(C) to be treated as performance-based compensation." (Deloitte via BenefitsLink.com)

SEC Adopts Final Rules Implementing Dodd-Frank Provisions on Independence of Compensation Committees and Their Advisers (PDF)
"The Commission received 58 comment letters on its proposed rules, which were published in March 2012. The final rules reflect a number of changes in response to these comments, as discussed below. In several areas, the changes reflect the Commission's cognizance of the economic effect of the rules and the burden they may place on cost and competitiveness." (Alston + Bird LLP)

Executives Would Choose Fixed Pay Over Potentially Larger Bonus
"[A] recent PricewaterhouseCoopers and London School of Economics study ... found only 28 percent of executives indicating they would opt for a more ambiguous pay package with a potentially higher bonus over a clearer, fixed pay package.... [T]he findings should remind HR leaders of the value executives place on the 'sure thing,' [said a management consultant]. 'This comes into play in annual and long-term incentive plan design when companies are determining how to set some basic value floor, whether it's where to set threshold performance levels, or providing a core level of less-variable equity incentives like time-vested restricted stock[.]'" (Human Resource Executive Online)

IRS Guidance Clarifies When Dividends Are Qualified Performance-Based Compensation
"[R]evenue ruling [2012-19] addressed ... plans that granted eligible employees restricted stock or restricted stock units (RSUs).... [D]ividends and dividend equivalents with respect to the restricted stock and RSUs granted to the employees [which] were payable before the stock vested regardless of whether the performance goals were met ... were includible as applicable remuneration for purposes of applying the $1 mil.lion limitation." (Journal of Accountancy)

SEC Final Regs Will Change the Way Compensation Committees Work with Outside Counsel
"The SEC's final rules do not require a Compensation Committee to retain independent legal counsel. However, the SEC rule provides that a Compensation Committee is required to conduct the independence assessment ... with respect to any compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser that provides advice to the compensation committee, other than in-house legal counsel. Wow. In corporate America, most Compensation Committees still seek and receive advice from executive compensation partners at the company's regular corporate law firm. Many Compensation Committees have retained independent legal counsel in recent years, but certainly not the majority of them. Those Compensation Committees who have not retained independent legal counsel will need to grapple with [questions discussed in this article], just as they once did for their compensation consultant." (Winston & Strawn LLP)

EBSA's Consumer Assistance Web Page
Includes a well-organized set of links to participant-focused EBSA publications and information, and links to an online form to use to ask a question about benefits, submit a compliant about a possible denial of benefits, or report a problem with a pension or health plan. Excerpt: "We are here to provide you with quick information about our programs and services, provide answers to your questions, and to assist you if you believe you have been denied a health or retirement benefit inappropriately. We have a staff of Benefits Advisors ready to help." (Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Lockheed Contract Wins Approval of Union Bargainers: Trading Retirement Plan Cutback for Health Plan Enhancement
"A bargaining committee for the union machinists on strike at Lockheed Martin's fighter jet plant in Fort Worth has recommended that members vote for a new contract that would eliminate traditional pensions for newly hired employees, according to a summary posted Monday on the union's Web site. That is a victory for the company, the nation's biggest military contractor, which had pushed for the pension change to cut costs as military budgets decline. Lockheed agreed, in turn, to add a health insur.ance option that covers out-of-network services. The company would also extend the contract to a fourth year, with pay raises totaling 11 percent over the four years." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Supreme Court to Wade into ERISA Subrogation Dispute
"The Supreme Court agreed Monday to determine whether an employee benefits plan is subject to equitable limitations when it demands reimbursement of benefits paid a covered employee who recovers money from third parties." (Courthouse News Service)

Supreme Court Grants Certiorari: Can Equitable Principles Override Plan's Terms Requiring Reimbursement by Participants?
The issue presented in this case: "Whether the Third Circuit correctly held—in conflict with the Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits—that Section 502(a)(3) of [ERISA] authorizes courts to use equitable principles to rewrite contractual language and refuse to order participants to reimburse their plan for benefits paid, even where the plan's terms give it an absolute right to full reimbursement." [U.S. Airways, Inc. v. McCutchen (3rd Cir. 2011).] (SCOTUSBlog)

Independent Contractor Misclassification: States Are Cracking Down
"[A]lthough the [DOL] and the IRS have increased their efforts to curtail the use of misclassified independent contractors (ICs), state legislators and regulators have taken a leading role in cracking down on companies that continue to classify workers as ICs without properly documenting or structuring their relationships with these individuals. Indeed, companies that use freelancers, consultants, per diems, long-term temps, and other contingent workers may be unaware that their greatest exposure is from violating state laws, not federal statutes." (Law Firm Of Pepper Hamilton LLP)

Enrolled Actuaries Report, Summer 2012 (PDF)
Articles include: Laser View of Longevity; New Scale Offers an Updated Snapshot of Life Expectancy; PBGC Trends and Perspective; Tales From Beyond Normal Retirement; Fiduciary Responsibility: Understanding the Risks; Working with Auditors; and Plan Termination: End or Beginning? (American Academy of Actuaries)

New England Employee Benefits Council Names 2012 Scholarship Winners
(New England Employee Benefits Council)

RPG Consultants Is Certified To Industry Best Practices
(Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX))

Web Benefits Design Creates Easy-to-Use Summary of Benefits Software Solution for the Insurance Industry
(Web Benefits Design Corporation)