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October 17, 2012          Get Retirement News  |  Advertise  |  Unsubscribe
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Employee Benefits Jobs

Retirement Plan Administrator
for PenSys, Inc. in NC

Conversion Consultant
for Aspire Financial Services in FL

401(k) Relationship Manager
for Leading Financial Services Firm in CA, IL, MO

Service Center Representative, Defined Benefits
for Savitz Organization in PA

Compensation Consulting Engagement Leader
for Verisight, Inc. in MN

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Webcasts and Conferences

Full Day Workshop with Ilene Ferenczy
in Texas on November 9, 2012 presented by ASPPA Benefits Council Dallas/Ft Worth

"ERISA Workshop 2012" - Charlotte
in North Carolina on November 14, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

"ERISA Workshop 2012" - Atlanta
in Georgia on November 15, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

"ERISA Workshop 2012" - Cincinnati
in Ohio on November 16, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius


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Eight Tips for Assessing Private Health Exchanges
"'Benefits consulting in its current form will have something to lose' if the private exchange market gets robustly developed, says Chris Calvert, health practice leader for Sibson Consulting. 'The key will be to transform, in the way that pension consulting did when companies moved to defined-contribution 401(k) plans. We are moving from assessing the differences among insurance carriers based on clients' needs, to assessing the proper platform -- exchange-based or traditional -- through which our clients should deliver health benefits.'" (CFO)


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Employers Opt for Medical Tourism
"Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest employer, will jump into medical tourism next year ... Wal-Mart is not alone: Lowes began an initiative in 2010 when it began offering workers the option to travel to Cleveland Clinic for cardiac procedures. PepsiCo announced in December of 2011 that it planned to offer its employees the option to travel to Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore for cardiac and complex joint replacement surgeries." (John Goodman's Health Policy Blog)

Health Care for All -- Without the Affordable Care Act
"The National Center for Policy Analysis has developed a proposal to provide essential health care for all. We can do this with the money that is already in the system. Unlike the Affordable Care Act ('ObamaCare'), it will require no new taxes, no new spending, no individual mandate and no employer mandate. This proposal would provide patients, health care providers and insurers with the tools necessary to control costs and improve the quality of health care -- without rationing by health care bureaucracies." (National Center for Policy Analysis)

Slower Growth in Health Costs Saves U.S. Billions
"National health expenditures rose just 3.8 percent from August 2011 to August 2012, according to an Oct. 11 report from the Altarum Institute. And Medicare spending increased by only 3.2 percent in the fiscal year ending in September 2012, according to the Congressional Budget Office.... These are remarkably low growth rates. Consider that over the past four decades Medicare spending increased by more than 10 percent a year." (Bloomberg)

'GDP Plus Zero': Prospects and Challenges of Bending the Health Care Cost Curve
"Economists and health policy experts have started to analyze the fiscal implications of applying Massachusetts' GSP+0 growth limits to [national health care expenditures]. This [article] builds on such analysis, looking specifically at the effects on the federal deficit and the Medicare HI Trust fund." (HealthAffairs Blog)

Transforming Medicare into a Premium Support System: Implications for Beneficiary Premiums
"[This study] examines potential changes in the premiums paid by Medicare beneficiaries under a payment approach that caps federal contributions per beneficiary based on the cost of the second lowest-bidding private plan or traditional Medicare, whichever is lower in their area.... To illustrate the potential effects on beneficiary premiums if such a system were fully implemented for all beneficiaries, the analysis layers the premium support proposal onto the current Medicare system reflecting beneficiaries' current plan choices, traditional Medicare expenditures by county, and the costs of providing Medicare benefits under private Medicare Advantage plans (known as 'bids'), drawing for actual data from 2010, the most recent year for which data are available." (Kaiser Family Foundation)

2011 Form 990's Schedule R Requires Disclosure of All Contributing Employers to a VEBA Not Just 10%-or-More Contributors
"A little-noticed change to the 2011 Form 990, Schedule R Instructions ... now lists separately 'Contributing Employer of a VEBA' as a related entity that must be reported on Schedule R, which is open to public inspection. This term is broadly defined as an employer that makes a contribution or contributions to the VEBA during the tax year. Previously, IRS only required disclosure ... [of] an organization that contributes 10% or more of the contributions or payments made to a VEBA during the year." (Groom Law Group)

[Opinion]

The Better Solution for 'Pre-Existing Conditions'
"The [ACA] established a federally funded risk pool -- the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan -- that allows individuals with such disqualifying conditions to buy a policy for the same premium a healthy person would pay. About 82,000 people have signed up as of July 31, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation ... That is not a misprint. Out of a population of more than 300 million, some 82,000 have the problem that was cited as the principal reason for spending $1.8 trillion over the next 10 years and in the process turning the entire health-care system upside down." (John Goodman in The Wall Street Journal)

[Opinion]

Kaiser Study on Medicare Premium Support Assumes Seniors Would Not Choose Lower Prices
"The Kaiser Family Foundation just released a study that grossly misrepresents the premium-support model of Medicare reform and apparently misunderstands normal market dynamics and the differences between efficiency, choice, and higher premiums. The Kaiser study assumes that an entire class of Americans -- senior citizens -- is insensitive to price.... Premium support encourages intense competition that will change premiums and hold down costs. The larger impact is that seniors would have a choice of the health options they want, while creating needed savings for themselves and the federal government." (The Heritage Foundation)

[Opinion]

Employers Need Flexibility and Workable Solutions in Implementing ACA's Shared Responsibility Provisions
"ERIC's members are concerned . . . that they will be required to make a significant investment of time and money in order to develop systems for complying with the shared responsibility rules at a time when many fundamental questions remain unanswered, and in circumstances in which vital safe harbors might be available only on a temporary basis[.]" (The ERISA Industry Committee)

[Opinion]

Text of Business Roundtable Letter to IRS on Determining Full-Time Employees for Purposes of ACA's Shared Responsibility Rule
"First, [BRT requests] that the IRS clarify that employers are permitted to apply varied lengths of lookback and stability periods for newly hired variable hour and seasonal employees, as compared to the lengths of the lookback and stability periods provided to ongoing employees.... Second, that the IRS clarify that the requirement regarding the stability period for employees determined to not be full time during the initial measurement period not apply as long as the initial measurement period was of equal or shorter length than the ongoing measurement period. Third, we suggest that until the IRS engages in a rulemaking on the definition of 'seasonal employee,' employers be permitted to use a good faith interpretation, as provided for in the Notice. Finally, we seek clarification on transition rules for employers with non-calendar plan years; specifically we would ask that this guidance is effective at the start of the plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2014." (Business Roundtable)

Benefits in General; Executive Compensation

Deadline Approaching for Correcting Release Timing Failures Under Section 409A
"Under transition relief, to the extent amounts are paid in 2012 under a non-compliant arrangement in effect on or before December 31, 2010, the arrangement will not be treated as failing to comply with Section 409A if (a) any amounts paid under the arrangement where the potential payment period spans two tax years are paid in the later tax year or, if paid in the first tax year, are treated as an operational failure and are properly corrected under prior IRS guidance ... and (b) if any amounts subject to the arrangement remain deferred after December 31, 2012 (other than any remaining installment, annuity, or other payments of an amount that has already become payable), the arrangement is corrected no later than December 31, 2012." (Drinker Biddle)

December 31 Deadline Nears for Documentary Correction of Payments Contingent on the Execution of a Release Under Section 409A
"[T]he IRS will allow the correction of such faulty provisions by amendment to provide for one of two payment timing methods: Payment on a fixed date, such as on the 60th day following separation from service, provided that the employee has executed the release; or Payment on a date within a period of not more than 90 days from the separation date ... where, if this period spans two calendar years, the payments must commence in the second year, regardless of when the release is executed. These corrections are necessary even if the arrangement provides for the 45-day or 21-day period of consideration and seven-day revocation period required under the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA)." (Littler Mendelson P.C.)

Significant Changes in the ISS 2013 Draft Policies (PDF)
This chart identifies differences between the 2012 and 2013 framework. (Winston & Strawn LLP)

Paid Sick Days: Cost Turns Out to be Very Small for New York City Businesses
"Proponents of paid sick days legislation say it would provide job and income security, particularly for low-wage workers, and reduce public health risks arising from the spread of illnesses to consumers and vulnerable populations. Opponents argue it would be costly for New York City employers and could lead to job reductions at a time when the city is struggling to increase employment.... The data clearly show that the potential cost is in fact extremely small relative to the total sales of a firm. In addition, available research shows potential savings for employers that provide paid sick days, largely resulting from reduced employee turnover." (Economic Policy Institute)

Social Security Benefit Increase for 2013 May be Offset by Medicare Part B Cost Increases for Many Retirees
"Despite the [1.7% COLA] increase, most Social Security recipients may not receive bigger benefit checks as the increase could be mostly offset by higher Medicare Part B premiums, which typically are deducted from Social Security benefits. Part B premium costs for 2013 will be announced in the near future, but estimates show an increase is on the horizon. The 2012 Medicare Trustees Report projected an increase of more than nine percent." (Insured Retirement Institute)

Informal Employee Questions Regarding Benefits Are 'Inquiries' Protected by ERISA Section 510
"A former employee's repeated complaints that money withheld from his paycheck was not deposited into his retirement account were 'inquiries' protected by the anti-retaliation provisions of ERISA Section 510, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago (CA-7) has held. As such, it reversed the district court's award of summary judgment to the employer, giving the employee the opportunity to prove his termination was in retaliation for his questions." [George v. Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, Inc. (7th Cir.)] (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

Press Releases

Advantages of Prepaid Legal Services
Hyatt Legal Plans, a MetLife company

CPI Names Director of Broker-Dealer Relationships
CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.



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