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August 30, 2012 Get Retirement News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe  |  Past Issues  |  Search

Employee Benefits Jobs

401(k) Plan Administrator
for CecilCo 401(k) Managed Solutions - TPA in TX

Daily Valuation Administrator
for First Savings Retirement Services in PA

Recordkeeping Specialist
for AKT Retirement Plan Services in OR

401k Administrator
for CPEhr in CA

Project Manager, Defined Contributions
for The Newport Group in FL

Director, Benefits Planning
for Nationwide in OH

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Webcasts and Conferences

Current Challenges to Self-Funding: How to Be Prepared
Nationwide on October 10, 2012 presented by Thompson Publishing Group

Ethics Case Study
Nationwide on October 25, 2012 presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.

Ethics and Circular 230
Nationwide on December 13, 2012 presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.


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Doctor Shortage May Swell to 130,000 With Cap
"With a shortage of doctors in the U.S. already and millions of new patients set to gain coverage under President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul, American medical schools are struggling to close the gap. One major reason: The residency programs to train new doctors are largely paid for by the federal government, and the number of students accepted into such programs has been capped at the same level for 15 years." (Bloomberg)


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Employer-Provided Health Care Benefits: One Size Does Not Fit All
"Some call it 'culturally competent healthcare.' To others, it is described as 'targeted' health. Whatever it's called, the emerging trend is best defined as an approach that offers all participants in the healthcare process equal access and opportunity to receive quality care and medical purchasing efficiency. How? By eliminating structural/language barriers and respecting the cultural context of each individual employee or their family members." (Human Resource Executive Online)

Denial Notice Guidance for Non-Federal Governmental Health Plans
"The ERISA private right of action under section 502(a) is not available to participants or beneficiaries of non-federal governmental plans.... [S]uch plans must provide other contact information for assistance provided by the plan and either the contact information for the state's Consumer Assistance Program or the Department of Health and Human Services Health Insur.ance Assistance Team." (Haynes and Boone, LLP)

Census Bureau Small Area Health Insur.ance Estimates for Counties and States
"The Census Bureau's Small Area Health Insur.ance Estimates (SAHIE) program produces estimates of health insur.ance coverage for states and all counties.... SAHIE released 2010 estimates of health insur.ance coverage by age, se.x, race, Hispanic origin, and income categories at the state-level and by age, se.x, and income categories at the county-level." (U.S. Census Bureau)

Circumcision's Benefits Outweigh Risks and Reduce Health Care Costs
"Based on current rates, it appears an increasing number of parents are opting to skip the procedure.... [A recent study] found the 20-year decline may have already contributed to about $2 bil.lion in additional medical costs ... [I]f the trend continues to where only 10 percent of U.S. males are circumcised—rates similar to Europe—the country could face about $4.4 bil.lion in health care costs—an added $407 per man." (CBS MoneyWatch)

Compensation Under Profit Maximization and the Effect of Employer-Provided Health Insur.ance
"Consider a profit-maximizing firm ... that offers its employees compensation in the form of an annual salary ($50,000) and health insur.ance (annual $15,000 premium).... Now imagine a law is passed that outlaws employee-sponsored health insur.ance.... [N]ow the firm does not offer the $15,000 premium coverage. But, it still may offer a salary. Assume nothing else changes. If the firm is still profit maximizing, what salary does it offer under the new law?" (The Incidental Economist)

State Health Plans in Fiscal Austerity: The Challenge of Improving Benefits While Moderating Costs
"Like all employers, state and local governments must control health care costs while still offering competitive benefit packages that will attract and retain talented employees. Eight states that have adopted innovative practices to reduce costs and improve employees' health are featured in this publication, which comes out of a joint Center for Excellence-North Carolina State University symposium that addressed both national trends and a rich variety of lessons learned from state innovations." (Center for State & Local Government Excellence)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Is Working to Age 70 Really the Answer for Retirement Income Adequacy? (PDF)
"It would be comforting from a public policy standpoint to assume that merely working to age 70 would be a panacea to the significant challenges of assuring retirement income adequacy, but this may be a particularly risky strategy, especially for the vulnerable group of low-income workers." [Article starts at page 10 of linked PDF.] (EBRI)

IRS Launches Redesigned Website; Temporarily Takes Down Some Services
"Taxpayers and tax practitioners visiting the IRS online will find a redesigned IRS.gov website, which is scheduled to go live on Aug. 30; however, the IRS also announced that it is taking down several of its online services during the Labor Day weekend.... The IRS is moving its IRS.gov website to a new platform and adding new features and a new navigation structure to the site in an attempt to keep up with the growing demand for online services. The upgrades are part of a planned 10-year, $320 mil.lion overhaul of IRS web services." (Journal of Accountancy)

Oklahoma District Court Ruling Calculates Rotational Workweeks Broadly in FMLA case
"[The employer had] argued that FMLA leave calculation should not be based on an 'actual workweek' because if FMLA leave applied to only the weeks that [the individual truck driver] actually would have worked, then [the employer] would be required to hold his job open for twice as long: a total of 24 weeks instead of 12. [The employee] worked an 84-hour workweek schedule—with seven days on and seven days off—for more than four years ... before taking FMLA leave." [Murphy v. John Christner Trucking, LLC (OK Dist. Ct., Aug. 15, 2012)] (Thompson SmartHR Manager)

Hodgson Russ Employee Benefits Developments, August 2012
Monthly newsletter; this issue includes the following articles: Basing Matching Contributions to Qualified Plan on Employee Salary Deferrals to 403(b) Plan Subjects 403(b) Plan to ERISA; IRS Clarifies Treatment of Dividends and Dividend Equivalents Paid on Restricted Stock and Restricted Stock Units Under Section 162(m); Medical Plan Preauthorization Language Violates SPD Standards; Sixth Circuit Holds Employer Did Not Breach Fiduciary Duties in Transferring Investments From Stable Value Fund to New Qualified Default Investment Alternative; No Fiduciary Breach Where ESOP Trustee Was Not Acting in His Fiduciary Capacity (Hodgson Russ LLP)

Why Employees Stay on the Job
"Despite uncertainty in the job market, the top reasons working Americans say they stay with their current employers are work-life fit and enjoying what they do, according to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association. Fewer employees cited concrete reasons for remaining on the job, such as benefits, pay and a lack of other job opportunities." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)



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