If this message looks garbled to you or if the headlines in this message don't connect you to Web pages when you click on them, please request the "plain text" version of this newsletter ("Welfare Plans Edition") by emailing your request to publisher Dave Baker
July 26, 2001 - 6,231 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates for Group Health Plans (click)
House GOP to Delay Patients' Rights Vote
Excerpt: "House leaders, unable to win over enough votes to pass their own patients' rights legislation, suggested [on Wednesday] that they would postpone bringing up the bill until after the August recess." (Washington Post)
G.O.P. Postponing House Vote on Patients' Rights
Excerpt: "Lacking the votes needed for a quick victory, House Republican leaders said [on Wednesday] that they would delay action on a patients' bill of rights, possibly until after Labor Day." (New York Times; free registration required)
EEOC Reviewing Policy on Retiree Health Benefits
Excerpt: "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is reviewing its policy toward retiree health care benefits in light of the refusal by the US Supreme Court to rule on the Erie County court case.... 'A number of cases that we had been working on in Minnesota and Wisconsin have been closed pending further review by an internal task force studying the implications of the Erie decision on all stakeholders,' said a spokesperson at the EEOC." (PLANSPONSOR.com)
Corporate Shareholder Was Employee, So Disability Insurance Purchased by Corporation Was ERISA Plan
Sipma v. Massachusetts Casualty Ins. Co. (10th Cir. 2001). Excerpt: "The owner argued that ERISA did not apply because the policy did not cover any employee as required by the ERISA plan definition--the owner took the position that as shareholders, he and the other owner were employers, not employees." (EBIA Weekly)
Discounted Premiums in Otherwise Voluntary Employee-Pay-All Arrangement Does Not Create ERISA Plan
Excerpt: "This is another in a long line of cases addressing whether an individual policy issued by an insurance company through an arrangement in the workplace was part of an ERISA plan.... The only issue was whether the program became endorsed by the employer as a result of the employer's telling employees of the availability of the disability coverage and the insurance company's providing the coverage at lower premium rates than would apply to non-employees." (EBIA Weekly)
Two New Jersey Troopers Charged in Turnpike Shooting Seek Disability Pensions
Excerpt: "To qualify for accidental disability pensions, Hogan and Kenna must prove that they were 'involuntarily exposed to a violent level of force or impact which is not brought into motion by the [trooper],' and 'the source of the injury was a violent and uncontrollable power.'Hogan and Kenna say they stopped the van driven by Keshon Moore for speeding and feared for their lives when the van moved backward, striking Hogan in the leg." (The [Bergen County, N.J.] Record)
Commentary: Consumers Versus Managed Care-- the New Class Actions
Excerpt: "The plaintiffs in pending consumer class-action lawsuits against health maintenance organizations (HMOs) should fail in their claims for damages for fraud under federal anti-racketeering legislation. Although HMOs have regularly failed to disclose their business methods and have not strictly honored their contractual coverage promises, the circumstances in which they introduced cost controls into a market sadly lacking them suggest motives not deserving punitive sanctions." (Clark C. Havighurst in Health Affairs)
Opinion: Bush Campaign Position Incompatible With His HMO Reform Policy
Excerpt: "The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) wrote President Bush today challenging him to change his position on federal HMO reform because his policy stand would obliterate Texas HMO reform laws that Bush said, in his campaign for his office, were a model for the nation." (Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
Opinion: Important Differences between the McCain-Edwards Bill (S 1052) and Fletcher Bill (HR 2315)
Excerpt: "S 1052 (McCain-Edwards) ensures 'timely access' to specialists, while HR 2315 (Fletcher) ensures only 'timely coverage' for access to specialists.... Under Fletcher, plans are given broad freedom to restrict access to specialists in order to establish measures to control cost." (National Patient Advocate Foundation)
Data on Fatal Medical Errors Questioned
Excerpt: "The 1999 National Academy of Sciences report that blamed up to 98,000 patient deaths each year on medical errors may be misleading, according to the findings of study published in the July 25th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association." (Reuters via Medscape; free registration required)
American Benefits Council Says Significant Employer Concerns Remain with Ganske-Dingell-Norwood Bill
Excerpt: "Proponents of the Ganske-Dingell-Norwood version of the Patients' Bill of Rights claim that employer issues have been resolved by including several amendments approved by the Senate. Unfortunately, these amendments failed to cure many of the most fundamental flaws in the Ganske-Dingell-Norwood proposal. Major gaps and problems remain and the bill is still an extreme measure that should not be enacted." (American Benefits Council)
Drugmakers Defend Advertising at Senate Hearing
Excerpt: "During a Senate Commerce Committee meeting concerning the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising on pharmaceutical spending, the drug industry defended DTC ads as a means of informing individuals about potentially beneficial medicines, CongressDaily/AM reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Commentary: Parity Or Insurance Mandate? the Case For Mental Health Parity In Kansas
Excerpt: "A microcosm of the national debate on mental health parity played out in Kansas this year, and pro-parity forces won. (Sandy Praeger in Health Affairs)
Why Layoffs Can Cost More Than They Save
Excerpt: "Companies that capriciously cut key employees often lose the talent they need to compete effectively. Those that cut too many positions may also end up paying hefty severance packages and then have to spend even more to find replacements once the recovery occurs." (CareerJournal.com)
(Following items also appear in Retirement Plans Edition)
Benefits Items Crowd IRS's 2001 Agenda
Excerpt: "The guidance plan year now will run from July 1 to June 30, with the '2001 Priority Guidance Plan' year ending on June 30, 2002. Consequently, the IRS and Treasury should not be releasing the bulk of this guidance in late December and early January, as often has been the case in the past." (Deloitte & Touche)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings ( Post Yours! )
Newly Posted Webcasts ( Post Yours! )
Newly Posted Conferences ( Post Yours! )
Newly Posted Press Releases
Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc., but you may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole. This newsletter is edited by David Rhett Baker, J.D.
The BenefitsLink Newsletter -
Welfare Plans Edition
Welfare Plans Edition
July 26, 2001 - 6,231 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates for Group Health Plans (click)
Written by two leading employee benefits attorneys, HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates for Group Health Plans is the authoritative HIPAA resource for employers, administrators and advisors. In addition to HIPAA, this 772-page manual covers a wide array of other federal mandates that group health plans must worry about. HIPAA & Other Federal Mandates has all the information you need to bring your group health plans into compliance with HIPAA and other federal mandates. Click to order!
House GOP to Delay Patients' Rights Vote
Excerpt: "House leaders, unable to win over enough votes to pass their own patients' rights legislation, suggested [on Wednesday] that they would postpone bringing up the bill until after the August recess." (Washington Post)
G.O.P. Postponing House Vote on Patients' Rights
Excerpt: "Lacking the votes needed for a quick victory, House Republican leaders said [on Wednesday] that they would delay action on a patients' bill of rights, possibly until after Labor Day." (New York Times; free registration required)
EEOC Reviewing Policy on Retiree Health Benefits
Excerpt: "The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is reviewing its policy toward retiree health care benefits in light of the refusal by the US Supreme Court to rule on the Erie County court case.... 'A number of cases that we had been working on in Minnesota and Wisconsin have been closed pending further review by an internal task force studying the implications of the Erie decision on all stakeholders,' said a spokesperson at the EEOC." (PLANSPONSOR.com)
Corporate Shareholder Was Employee, So Disability Insurance Purchased by Corporation Was ERISA Plan
Sipma v. Massachusetts Casualty Ins. Co. (10th Cir. 2001). Excerpt: "The owner argued that ERISA did not apply because the policy did not cover any employee as required by the ERISA plan definition--the owner took the position that as shareholders, he and the other owner were employers, not employees." (EBIA Weekly)
Discounted Premiums in Otherwise Voluntary Employee-Pay-All Arrangement Does Not Create ERISA Plan
Excerpt: "This is another in a long line of cases addressing whether an individual policy issued by an insurance company through an arrangement in the workplace was part of an ERISA plan.... The only issue was whether the program became endorsed by the employer as a result of the employer's telling employees of the availability of the disability coverage and the insurance company's providing the coverage at lower premium rates than would apply to non-employees." (EBIA Weekly)
Two New Jersey Troopers Charged in Turnpike Shooting Seek Disability Pensions
Excerpt: "To qualify for accidental disability pensions, Hogan and Kenna must prove that they were 'involuntarily exposed to a violent level of force or impact which is not brought into motion by the [trooper],' and 'the source of the injury was a violent and uncontrollable power.'Hogan and Kenna say they stopped the van driven by Keshon Moore for speeding and feared for their lives when the van moved backward, striking Hogan in the leg." (The [Bergen County, N.J.] Record)
Commentary: Consumers Versus Managed Care-- the New Class Actions
Excerpt: "The plaintiffs in pending consumer class-action lawsuits against health maintenance organizations (HMOs) should fail in their claims for damages for fraud under federal anti-racketeering legislation. Although HMOs have regularly failed to disclose their business methods and have not strictly honored their contractual coverage promises, the circumstances in which they introduced cost controls into a market sadly lacking them suggest motives not deserving punitive sanctions." (Clark C. Havighurst in Health Affairs)
Opinion: Bush Campaign Position Incompatible With His HMO Reform Policy
Excerpt: "The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) wrote President Bush today challenging him to change his position on federal HMO reform because his policy stand would obliterate Texas HMO reform laws that Bush said, in his campaign for his office, were a model for the nation." (Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
Opinion: Important Differences between the McCain-Edwards Bill (S 1052) and Fletcher Bill (HR 2315)
Excerpt: "S 1052 (McCain-Edwards) ensures 'timely access' to specialists, while HR 2315 (Fletcher) ensures only 'timely coverage' for access to specialists.... Under Fletcher, plans are given broad freedom to restrict access to specialists in order to establish measures to control cost." (National Patient Advocate Foundation)
Data on Fatal Medical Errors Questioned
Excerpt: "The 1999 National Academy of Sciences report that blamed up to 98,000 patient deaths each year on medical errors may be misleading, according to the findings of study published in the July 25th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association." (Reuters via Medscape; free registration required)
American Benefits Council Says Significant Employer Concerns Remain with Ganske-Dingell-Norwood Bill
Excerpt: "Proponents of the Ganske-Dingell-Norwood version of the Patients' Bill of Rights claim that employer issues have been resolved by including several amendments approved by the Senate. Unfortunately, these amendments failed to cure many of the most fundamental flaws in the Ganske-Dingell-Norwood proposal. Major gaps and problems remain and the bill is still an extreme measure that should not be enacted." (American Benefits Council)
Drugmakers Defend Advertising at Senate Hearing
Excerpt: "During a Senate Commerce Committee meeting concerning the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising on pharmaceutical spending, the drug industry defended DTC ads as a means of informing individuals about potentially beneficial medicines, CongressDaily/AM reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Commentary: Parity Or Insurance Mandate? the Case For Mental Health Parity In Kansas
Excerpt: "A microcosm of the national debate on mental health parity played out in Kansas this year, and pro-parity forces won. (Sandy Praeger in Health Affairs)
Why Layoffs Can Cost More Than They Save
Excerpt: "Companies that capriciously cut key employees often lose the talent they need to compete effectively. Those that cut too many positions may also end up paying hefty severance packages and then have to spend even more to find replacements once the recovery occurs." (CareerJournal.com)
Benefits Items Crowd IRS's 2001 Agenda
Excerpt: "The guidance plan year now will run from July 1 to June 30, with the '2001 Priority Guidance Plan' year ending on June 30, 2002. Consequently, the IRS and Treasury should not be releasing the bulk of this guidance in late December and early January, as often has been the case in the past." (Deloitte & Touche)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings ( Post Yours! )
for CDM Retirement Consultants, Inc.,
in MD
in MD
for Clark Bardes Consulting - Compensation Resource Group
in TX
in TX
Newly Posted Webcasts ( Post Yours! )
on August 9, 2001
presented by Buck Consultants, Inc.
presented by Buck Consultants, Inc.
Newly Posted Conferences ( Post Yours! )
in CO
on January 3, 2002
presented by Law Education Institute, Inc.
presented by Law Education Institute, Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
1Point Launches the SR401K? Plan - A Fully Diversified, Socially Responsible 401(k) Plan
(1Point Administrative Services)
Subscribe to the Retirement Plans Edition, too (click)
Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc., but you may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole. This newsletter is edited by David Rhett Baker, J.D.
- How to Sponsor an Issue : reach 6,231 benefits professionals!
- How to Subscribe
- Privacy Policy
- Archive of Prior Issues