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August 6, 2012 Get Retirement News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Specialists
for Los Angeles TPA Firm in CA

Strategic Communications Consultant
for New York Life Retirement Plan Services in MA

Defined Contribution Peer Reviewer and Compliance Resource Specialist
for The Angell Pension Group, Inc. in ANY STATE

Pension Consultant & Daily Valuation Administrator
for M.L.Kerns & Associates, LLC in TX

401(k) Support Administrator
for Malcolm Thompson & Associates in TX

New Business Specialist
for Benetrends, Inc. in PA

Manager of Trust Reporting
for Charles Schwab in TX

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Webcasts and Conferences

IRA Amendments: Ready, Set, Whoa!
Nationwide on August 8, 2012 presented by Convergent Retirement Plan Solutions, LLC


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[Guidance Overview]

Planning for Open Enrollment: The Summary of Benefits and Coverage
"Generally, you must provide a separate SBC for each health plan option that you make available to your employees.... You must provide the SBC and a Uniform Glossary no later than the first day that individuals can begin making their elections for the coming plan year.... The same ERISA rules that apply to your summary plan description also apply to the SBC. Thus, you must use a method this is reasonably calculated to result in actual receipt of the SBC by those enrolled in or eligible to be covered by your health plan." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)


Executive Forum on Creating A Culture of Health - October 8-9, Chicago   [Advert.]

Sponsored by World Congress

Shifting organizational norms and behaviors to embody a true Culture of Health results in an exponential rise in employee health, engagement and performance. Gain perspectives to restructure resources and chart next steps in transforming your workforce.


Wellness in the Workplace 2012: Research Update (PDF)
"This study was designed to document: The current range of health and wellness program offerings; Differences in administrative approaches at large and small companies; Projected near-term trends; Observed three-year trends 2009-2011.... [Findings include:] On average, 49 percent of eligible employees participate in company wellness programs, significantly more than the 42-43 percent participation reported in previous years.... Small companies have a higher average participation rate than large ones (61 vs. 45 percent)." (OptumHealth)

One Doc's Prescription For Hassle-Free Health Care: Email-Accessible Physician Groups
"Sherpaa is just trying to make health care more affordable and more accessible. So it's 24/7 email and phone access to a group of doctors. And 70 percent of the time, we solve the problem over the phone or the Internet. And the other 30 percent of the time, we have a group of about 100 handpicked specialists here in New York that we think are great.... The estimate's about 70 percent of all office visits are unnecessary with - if you just have good communication. But the issue is doctors get paid to see you in the office. They don't get paid to communicate with you." (National Public Radio)

Does It Matter If Your Health Insurer Is For-Profit? Effects of Ownership on Premiums, Insur.ance Coverage, and Medical Spending
"[I]ncreases in local for-profit market share induced by conversions of Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates in 11 states (and 28 distinct geographic markets) had no significant impact on average premiums, uninsurance rates, or medical loss ratios. However, ... in markets where the converting BCBS affiliate had substantial market share, fully-insured premiums for employer plans increased significantly. The results suggest that the welfare effects of subsidies for new not-for-profit insurers, such as those in the [ACA], are likely to depend on entrants' eventual market share." (National Bureau of Economic Research; purchase required)

Employers Who Receive MLR Rebates Should Act With Care
"The DOL has issued guidance on the use of MLR rebates, and failure to follow this guidance may result in a breach of fiduciary duties and penalties. Note: This issue is a concern for employers who sponsor insured health plans or HMOs. Employers who sponsor only self-insured health plans are not affected and will not receive MLR rebates." (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)

From Sibson: Noteworthy Developments of Interest to Employers That Provide Health Coverage (PDF)
Health Plan cost and trend rates; ACA Compliance News; and What Employers are Doing to Manage Costs: Selected Strategies. (Sibson Consulting)

Blue Cross of North Carolina Files for 10 Percent Rate Hike for Individual Health Insur.ance Policies
"Blue Cross and Blue Shield of N.C. said today it has filed a rate hike of almost 10 percent with the N.C. Insur.ance Department, affecting individual customers and those who use a health savings account. The increase of 9.94 percent—if approved—would end four years of rate declines for HSAs and two years of rate declines for individuals.... The rate requests are likely to have ripple effects within employer-based coverage since the insurer and United Healthcare together control about 81 percent of the state's commercial health-insur.ance policies." (InsuranceNewsNet)

Federal Officials Brace for Huge Task of Operating Health Exchanges
"Federal and state officials and health policy experts expect that the federal government will run the exchanges in about half of the 50 states—a huge undertaking, given the diversity of local insur.ance markets. The federal exchanges will vary from state to state. The Obama administration will not define a single uniform set of 'essential health benefits' that must be provided by all insurers, but will allow each state to specify the benefits within broad categories." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Generics Saved $193 Bil.lion
"Savings could continue to skyrocket, since certain blockbuster products such as cholesterol drug atorvastatin (Lipitor) and antipsychotic olanzapine (Zyprexa) only became generic late in 2011, and other high-profile drugs such as the blood thinner clopidogrel (Plavix) continue to have generic versions.... [T]he fresh numbers are the industry's attempt to place renewed importance on generic drugs and their possible role in crafting federal savings through health policy." (MedPage Today)

Flawed COBRA/Leave Policy Still Leaves Employer With Unpaid Stop-Loss Claims
"An employer whose COBRA/leave policy did not align with a stop-loss policy's terms continues to be on the hook for a COBRA qualified beneficiary's medical claims that were rejected by the stop-loss insurer.... In affirming the lower court decision, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted (in an unpublished opinion) that part of the employer's predicament was that it offered COBRA coverage at the wrong time." [Clarcor, Inc. v. Madison Nat. Life Ins. Co., Inc. (6th Cir., July 31, 2012)] (Thompson SmartHR Manager)

Philadelphia Paid Sick Leave Mandate Now in Effect; Applies to Private Contractors (PDF)
"[Starting] July 1, 2012, certain employers doing business with the City of Philadelphia [are required to] provide a minimum amount of paid sick leave to eligible full-time employees. The new law generally applies to the City of Philadelphia, businesses that amend or enter into service contracts with the City on or after July 1, and other entities that receive City subsidies." (Buck Consultants)

Answers to Employer Questions About Health Care Reform (PDF)
Q&A from a July Webinar on health care reform, including questions about the summary of benefits and coverage, Form W-2 reporting requirements, the medical loss ratio, the preventive services mandate, the high-cost-plan tax, the employer shared-responsibility penalty, and insured plan nondiscrimination rules. Also included are findings from a poll of Webinar participants about what they are thinking about certain aspects of health care reform. (Buck Consultants)

City Bankruptcies Target Retiree Health Care Costs
"Lifetime retiree health care from an employer, rare in the private sector, is an important benefit [for] public employees... In 2007 [the California state Controller] made the first estimate of the cost of providing retiree health care for current state workers and retirees: $50 bil.lion over the next 30 years. Last February his actuaries increased the estimate to $60 bil.lion." (CalPensions)

[Opinion]

IRS Potentially Oversteps Legal Authority, Creates Loophole for Employers to Dump Employees Onto Exchanges
"[O]ne of the most curious provisions in the entire health reform law is the one that requires employers to pay a penalty if they hire workers with a family income ... below a variable threshold—but only if the employer does offer them health coverage. The IRS has issued proposed regulations designed to fix this ... provision by essentially rewriting the statute without Congressional approval. The rewrite would, perhaps unintentionally, make it possible for virtually any employer to escape a large portion of the mandate to provide health coverage at all, and make a much larger percentage of the employed population eligible for taxpayer-funded premium subsidies than contemplated by the law's proponents." (Forbes)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Changes for Upcoming Proxy Season: Shareholder Say-on-Pay Begins to Apply to Smaller Reporting Companies
"[B]eginning for the 2013 proxy season, the transition rule exception for Smaller Reporting Companies will expire and the Shareholder Say on Pay [SSOP] provision of the Dodd-Frank Act will begin to apply to those companies. Under the SEC's final rule, Smaller Reporting Companies become subject to the SSOP requirements, including frequency of SSOP, as of the first annual or other meeting of shareholders at which directors will be elected occurring on or after January 21, 2013." (Winston & Strawn LLP)

City College of San Francisco Spends 92 Percent of Budget on Salaries, Benefits
"[W]hile higher education observers say many community college districts have scaled back benefits for retirees in the last 20 years, City College has not, for the most part.... [O]n average, these costs eat up roughly 85 percent of spending at community college districts in California. But ... it's an issue of local control that the chancellor's office doesn't manage." (The Huffington Post)

Benefits Groups Plead to Keep ERISA Discretionary Authority to Interpret Ambiguous Plan Provisions
"Four groups—the ERISA Industry Committee, the American Benefits Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable—filed an amicus brief July 26 to urge 2nd Circuit judges to support the principle of deference to plan administrators' decisions over benefit plans.... The plaintiffs (joined by the U.S. Department of Labor) argued that the plan's discretion can be overturned when it ignores participants' reasonable reading of ambiguous plan provisions." [Conkright v. Frommmert, 2nd Cir. 12-0067-CV] (Thompson SmartHR Manager)

Cypen & Cypen Newsletter, August 2, 2012
Covers employee benefit developments with an emphasis on governmental plans. Topics in this issue include: The Role of Defined Benefit Pensions in Reducing Elder Economic Hardships; 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey of State and Local Government Workforce; Women Still Face Retirement Security Challenges; Most Worry About Outliving Retirement Money; Defined Contribution Plans Will Not Save Maryland Taxpayer Dollars; In State Pension Reform, Did New Workers Pay for Past Mistakes?; Workers With Paid Sick Leave Are Healthier. (Cypen & Cypen)



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