Employees Without Health Insurance Among Concerns as Flu Season Approaches
"In light of the coming influenza season, employers should be aware that there is a growing employee population without health insurance, and the lack of insurance will likely negatively affect their willingness to get flu shots ... an increasing number of employers are covering the cost of flu shots for their part-time and contract workers."
(Bloomberg BNA)
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Michigan Public Employer 2013 Health Plan Caps (PDF)
"[Michigan law] limits the amount that public employers may contribute towards health benefits of its employees. The bill [enacted last year] took two funding approaches of a hard dollar cap and an 80/20 contribution split and provided public employers with the option.... For 2013, the limits have been adjusted to $5,692.50 for employee only coverage, $11,385 for employee and spouse coverage, and $15,525 for family coverage[.]"
(Kushner & Company)
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'Cost Disease' Offers a Case for Health Care Calm
"[C]osts of health care ... depend largely on human evaluative skills -- a 'handicraft element' that is not easily replaced by machines. These costs consistently rise at a rate much greater than that of inflation because the quantity of labor required to produce these services is hard to reduce, while costs in other areas of the economy can be brought down via technology or other factors ... If health care costs continue to increase by the rate they have averaged in the recent past, they will rise from 15 percent of the average person's total income in 2005 to 62 percent by 2105."
(The New York Times; free registration required)
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The Problem of the Uninsured
"The problem of the uninsured—those eschewing the purchase of health insurance policies—cannot be fully understood without considering informal alternatives to market insurance called 'self-insurance' and 'self-protection', including the publicly and charitably-financed safety-net health care system.... [R]esults indicate that policy analyses that do not consider the role of self-efforts to avoid health losses can grossly distort the success of the ACA mandate to insure the uninsured and to improve the health and welfare outcomes of the previously uninsured."
(National Bureau of Economic Research; purchase required)
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A New Benefits Trend
"Now, a new form of benefit is finding its way to employers' radar screens: transgender health benefits.... According to the Human Rights Campaign's 2012 Corporate Equality Index, 207 U.S. companies offer transgender health benefits to their employees, compared to 85 last year and 49 in 2009."
(Human Resource Executive Online)
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Critical Decisions Await Patient, Family Members When Medicare Deadline Looms
"When a spouse or parent signs up for Medicare, it is often perplexing—and unnerving—for the rest of the family who may have grown used to cushy employer-sponsored coverage.... [B]uying an individual plan can be daunting for older adults in their late 50s or early 60s who are more likely to have some health problems. They are at the mercy of the private insurance market."
(Kaiser Health News)
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Time Keeps on Slippin' for Reform Law Deadlines
"Although Oct. 1 was supposed to be the deadline for states to select a benchmark health plan that will serve as the basis for required essential health benefits (EHBs) under the health reform law, only 23 states and the District of Columbia have at least made a preliminary recommendation as of Oct. 5 ... With more than half the states not meeting the deadline ... this [may be] foreshadowing for future delays to come in having the health insurance exchanges ready for primetime."
(AISHealth.com; free registration required)
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Trends in U.S. Health Care Spending Leading Up to Health Reform
"Using the 2001-2009 MEPS, [this study examines] a variety of trends that illustrate patterns of health care use in the U.S. and find that growth rates in per capita spending varied by type of service.... [T]he majority of the increase in per capita health spending over the decade is explained by factors (e.g., technology growth) outside [this] model."
(Urban Institute)
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Implications of the Affordable Care Act for American Business
"Updated results from [the authors'] Health Insurance Policy Simulation model show that, contrary to critics' claims, the law has a negligible impact on total employer-sponsored coverage and costs, leaves large business costs-per-person-insured largely untouched and makes small businesses-for whom coverage expands the most-financially better off, through tax credits and market efficiencies that lower premiums. Only among mid-size businesses do ACA's penalties noticeably increase costs, largely due to increased enrollment."
(Urban Institute)
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Alternative Assumptions for Present Value Calculations of Lifetime Medicare Benefits
"These tables show how lifetime Medicare benefits net of premiums vary based on three sets of assumptions. Two estimates are presented using current law assumptions, as is presented in the 2012 Medicare Trustees Report and the National Health Expenditure Accounts. A third estimate is based on an alternative scenario by CMS in which scheduled cuts in benefit payment rates are not implemented and productivity adjustments required under the Affordable Care Act are not fully achieved."
(Urban Institute)
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[Opinion]
Text of Comments to HHS on the Application of the Reinsurance Fee to Employer Group Health Plans
"The definition of Group Health Plan should specifically exclude employee assistance programs, disease management programs and wellness programs.... 'retiree-only' plans ... [and] health flexible spending arrangements.... The calculation of Reinsurance Contribution Enrollees [RCEs] should account for the various methods that group health plans use to determine covered employees and their covered dependents.... [T]he definition of RCE should specifically exclude individuals who are Medicare-eligible.... Individuals who are not residents of the United States should be excluded from determining the number of [RCEs]."
(Kilpatrick Townsend)
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Benefits in General; Executive Compensation
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[Guidance Overview]
NYSE and NASDAQ Propose New Rules for Compensation Committees Under Dodd-Frank (PDF)
"Notably, NASDAQ is proposing that compensation committee members be prevented from accepting, directly or indirectly, any consulting, advisory or other compensatory fee from the issuer or any subsidiary. This independence standard already applies to audit committee members under both U.S. and Canadian rules, but by contrast, the NYSE is not proposing to extend the prohibition to compensation committee members."
(Torys LLP)
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Shareholder Activism Brings Changes to Executive Compensation
"Today, the speed of public comment and reaction means that company pay policies, which were defined according to criteria which may have been valid a year—or even months—before, might now attract intense public scrutiny and criticism. Legislators and companies are being forced to improve their responsiveness."
(Mercer)
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NYSE and NASDAQ Issue Proposed Listing Standards to Implement Exchange Act Rule 10C-1 Relating to Independence of Compensation Committees and Their Advisers (PDF)
"Under the proposed [NYSE] rules, in affirmatively determining the independence of any director who will serve on the compensation committee, the board must consider all factors specifically relevant to determining whether a director has a relationship to the issuer that is material to that director's ability to be independent from management in connection with the duties of a compensation committee member ... In a new turn of events, NASDAQ-listed companies would be required to have a compensation committee consisting of at least two independent directors. Companies would no longer be permitted to have a majority of independent directors determine executive compensation."
(Alston + Bird LLP)
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401(k) Participants with Health Savings Accounts Continue to Outpace Average 401(K) Savings Levels
"The average 401(k) balance for participants earning $40,000 to $60,000 per year and saving in both their workplace savings plan and an HSA was $63,600. In contrast, those in the same income bracket who saved only in a 401(k) had an average balance of $46,100, 28 percent less. Similarly, those earning $100,000 to $150,000 per year and saved in both vehicles had an average 401(k) balance of $226,800. But for those saving in a 401(k) alone, the average balance was $174,200, 23 percent less."
(Fidelity via BusinessWire)
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Planning for Health Care Costs in Retirement
"It's not news that health care costs are increasing. Yet several recent studies show that few people factor those rising costs into their retirement plans.... For a 65-year-old couple retiring this year, the cost of health care in retirement will be $240,000, 6 percent more than that same couple retiring in 2011 would pay."
(The New York Times; free registration required)
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2012 Corporate Governance of Global Employee Benefits Study
"Key Findings: (1) Execution of global benefits strategy to achieve desired outcomes, such as reduced financial and operational costs and risks, was noted as the single largest benefits governance challenge. (2) The most common reason by far for sponsoring employee benefit plans is to be competitive in local markets. (3) Financial costs and risks due to employee benefits are driving corporate involvement in local country benefits decisions more so than other factors, including centralisation trends and operational risks."
(Aon Hewitt)
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Employee Education Subsidies: Tax Implications
"Educational reimbursement programs are a common employee benefit among health care organizations. Programs can be established to assist employees in paying for tuition, books and fees in the pursuit of continuing education while on the job. If your organization sponsors such an arrangement, is it getting the best bang for its buck? If structured correctly, these arrangements can provide tax-favored benefits from both an employee and employer perspective."
(Holland & Hart)
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Press Releases
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