Medicare Benefit Advisor
for Northwestern Benefit Corporation of Georgia in GA

Senior Manager, Wellness and Healthcare Solutions
for Kohl's Department Stores - Corporate in WI

Pension Administrator/Employee Benefits Consultant
for CliftonLarsonAllen in IL

Assistant General Counsel
for 1199SEIU Family of Funds in NY

Pension Administrator
for ExpertPlan, Inc. in NJ

Retirement Plan Specialist
for Transamerica Retirement Services in OH

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"457(b) Plans for 401(k) Practitioners" Web Seminar - Encore Presentation
Nationwide on August 23, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

CFDD

 

[Official Guidance]

Text of Proposed OPM Regs Extending Coverage for Children of Same-S.ex Domestic Partners Under Federal Employees Health, Dental and Vision, and Flexible Benefits Programs
"The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a proposed rule to amend the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB) regulations regarding coverage for children up to age 26 and for children of the same-s.ex domestic partners of FEHB enrollees. The regulations also allow children of same-s.ex domestic partners to be covered family members under the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insur.ance Program (FEDVIP)." (U.S. Office of Personnel Management)

Benefit Administrators & HR Managers Easily Locate Lost Plan Participants   [Advert.]

We quickly locate current address, name changes, and living/deceased status for your lost plan participants and/or past employees. Easily meet IRS/GATT/ERISA compliance regulations for $10 per name within 24 hours and pay no sign-up fees or minimums.

[Official Guidance]

Child Care Benefits for Federal Employees Now Include Children of Same-S.ex Domestic Partners
"The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is adopting as final changes to its regulations concerning alcohol and drug abuse counseling programs for employees and changes to its regulations concerning agencies' use of appropriated funds to provide child care subsidies for lower-income civilian employees. The changes would clarify the scope of regulations for alcohol and drug abuse programs for Federal civilian employees; change the definition of 'child'; expand regulations to extend coverage to child care services for children of same-s.ex domestic partners of Federal employees; make certain technical corrections; and make other changes designed to render the regulations clearer and more concise." (U.S. Office of Personnel Management)

[Official Guidance]

Text of Interim Final OPM Regs Extending Eligibility for Federal Employees Health Benefits to Certain Part-Time Firefighters
"This interim final rule immediately extends eligibility for health insur.ance coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program to temporary firefighters and fire protection personnel.... Under current OPM regulations, individuals serving under temporary appointments have generally been excluded from coverage, with limited exceptions not relevant here. Accordingly, the only circumstances under which temporary employees previously could secure coverage under the FEHB program are those set forth in 5 U.S.C. 8906a, which allows temporary employees who have completed one full year of continuous employment to secure coverage at their own expense. Temporary firefighters and fire protection personnel do not generally qualify for coverage under 5 U.S.C. 8906a because they do not work for full one-year periods. Thus, they are not eligible for coverage under the FEHB program at all. This regulation would for the first time provide FEHB coverage to these firefighters and fire protection personnel, as well as their families, pursuant to OPM's broad regulatory authority under 5 U.S.C. 8913(b), allowing them to obtain health insur.ance through their employer." (U.S. Office of Personnel Management)

[Guidance Overview]

Medical Loss Rebates: Fiduciary and Tax Implications (PDF)
"In deciding on how to apply the rebates, the DOL guidance notes that a plan 'may properly weigh the costs to the plan and the ultimate plan benefit as well as the competing interests of participants or classes of participants provided such method is reasonable, fair and objective.' The guidance goes on to provide some helpful examples of reasonable methods for allocating MLR rebates that are plan assets, which plans and their sponsors should consult in deciding how to allocate and apply MLR rebates that are plan assets." (Groom Law Group)

HHS Issues Final Rule on Benchmarking Essential Health Benefits
"Data from insurers that offer the three largest small group products will be used to identify the benchmark plan for each state for establishing EHBs that must be offered beginning in 2014 by health plans in the online exchange marketplace as well as in individual and small group health insur.ance policies. Insurer size is gauged by total enrollment as of March 31, 2012." (HealthLeaders Media)

Medicare Beneficiaries Less Likely To Experience Cost And Access Problems Than Adults With Private Coverage
"Thirty-seven percent of working adults with employer-sponsored coverage reported at least one access problem due to cost, compared to 23 percent of elderly adults with Medicare. Among Medicare beneficiaries, those with traditional plans were significantly less likely to report problems accessing care than those opting for Medicare Advantage (23 percent versus 32 percent). For those with employer insur.ance, 27 percent reported difficulties paying bills, compared to 13 percent of Medicare beneficiaries. Just one-quarter (25 percent) of adults with employer-sponsored coverage reported receiving excellent quality of care, compared to 37 percent of elderly Medicare beneficiaries." (HealthAffairs Blog)

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.

Private Health Insur.ance Exchanges and Defined Contribution Health Plans (PDF)
"This Issue Brief examines issues related to private health insur.ance exchanges, possible structures of an exchange, funding, as well as the pros, cons, and uncertainties to employers of adopting them. A summary of recent surveys on employer attitudes is examined, as are some changes that employers have made to other benefits that might serve as historical precedents for a move to some type of defined contribution health benefits approach." (Employee Benefits Research Institute)

[Opinion]

Text of Comments by American Academy of Actuaries on Proposed Revisions to ASOP No. 6, 'Measuring Group Benefit Obligations and Determining Retiree Group Benefits Plan Costs or Contributions' (PDF)
"Many of the changes to the current ASOP No. 6 to make it consistent with the proposed ASOP No. 4 are not appropriate or necessary, and given the added volume of text, could be a distraction to the more critical points covered by the current ASOP No. 6. This suggests that the applicability of ASOP No. 4 concepts to [retiree group benefits (RGB)] may be less relevant than the ASB thought—or that ASOP No. 4 concepts need to be revised to make them more universal.... For example, one professional concern among pension practitioners in recent years has been inadequate sponsor-contribution allocations (to meet long-term funding targets). RGB practitioners generally do not have this concern, since many plans are not funded in advance. Rather, they have the professional concern that payment levels to beneficiaries are not properly analyzed in determining the basis of long-term projections, which does not seem to be a concern addressed in ASOP No. 4." (American Academy of Actuaries Joint Committee on Retiree Health)

More Shareholders Are Just Saying No on Executive Pay
"One important reason investors are looking at pay more closely is that the question is being presented to them more directly. For the second year, shareholders in 2012 had a 'say on pay,' a nonbinding vote on executive compensation, as required by the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law. The key word here is nonbinding. Even a 100 percent vote against a pay plan imposes no obligation on the company's board of directors to make changes. Four companies whose shareholders rejected a pay plan in 2011 got a second no vote this year." (Bloomberg)

One Surefire Way to Sabotage a Retiree's Financial Plan
"[O]ne of the hottest topics in today's marketplace is how to plan for healthcare expenses. Yet the majority of financial advisers shy away from the topic because they don't know how to do it. Talk about the elephant in the room! Health-related expenses are the second largest component in the budgets of most older Americans after housing-related expenses—and the costs tend to rise with age[.]" (Investment News; free registration required)

2012 ESOP Legal Update
This issue brief, written by a group of well-known practitioners, summarizes judicial and regulatory developments in 2011 affecting ESOPs and 401(k) plans that invest in employer stock. Cases analyzed include the Supreme Court's decision in CIGNA v. Amara, a number of stock drop cases, several fiduciary breach claims, and other ESOP-related cases. The section on regulatory developments analyzes IRS guidance affecting ESOPs and addresses the Department of Labor's proposed regulation expanding the definition of a "fiduciary" under ERISA. (National Center for Employee Ownership)

Sentinel Investments Added to CPI Retirement Platform
(CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.)