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BenefitsLink
Welfare Plans
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Welfare Plans
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April 25, 2003 - 8,138 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's HIPAA Portability & Privacy
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New HIPAA Privacy Rules! Are Your Health Plans in Compliance? New laws and regulations impose far-reaching requirements on group health plans, employers, plan administrators, and insurers--and EBIA is here to help! Our HIPAA Portability & Privacy manual is the best resource available. Written and edited by top employee benefits attorneys, HIPAA Portability & Privacy has over 900 pages packed with the information you need to bring your group health plans into compliance with all of HIPAA's rules. Click above for details.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
CalPERS To Consider Plan Proposals To Cut Health Costs
Excerpt: "U.S. employers, long-time observers of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) as a benchmark for effective health care strategies, are awaiting the CalPERS board's new plan for making its health plan more cost-effective." (BenefitNews.com)
Health Care Costs on the Rise: What CPAs Should Know
Excerpt: "CPAs can help suggest cost-saving strategies to reduce the impact of insurance premiums on the bottom line." (Journal of Accountancy)
Obesity Linked to Cancer Risk, Study Says
Excerpt: "Obesity plays a much larger role in developing cancer than previously thought, accounting for 14% of cancers in men and 20% in women, according to a study published April 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Los Angeles Times reports. The findings make excess weight second only to smoking as a preventable cause of cancer." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Opinion: Blue Shield's Universal Health Care Plan Means More Pork for Insurers
Excerpt: "[On April 23, 2003,] Blue Shield of California's CEO, Bruce Bodaken, announced details of his plan to raise taxes to pay for universal health insurance but failed to promise to rein in excess administrative costs and overhead." (The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights)
A Call for Action to Cover the Uninsured and Improve Health Insurance for All Americans
Press release. Excerpt: "An innovative framework to provide automatic, affordable health insurance to nearly all Americans is outlined today in a Web-published Health Affairs article [that] would build on existing sources of public and private health coverage by combining tax credits for private insurance, public program expansions, and a new mechanism to make enrollment more automatic." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Opinion: Universal Healthcare is the Road Not Taken
Excerpt: "Why shouldn't the American people favor a proposal like Mr. Gephardt's? Never mind the details; why shouldn't the typical citizen, faced with a choice between Bush-style tax cuts and a plan to provide health insurance to most of the uninsured, choose the latter?" (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Proposals Attach a Price to Universal Health Care
Excerpt: "The debate over providing health care for the 41 million Americans without insurance moved into the realm of dollars and cents [on April 23, 2003] as sponsors of several plans for universal insurance coverage produced cost estimates for the first time." (The New York Times; one-time registration required)
USA Today Looks at Response to FDA Plan To Make Antihistamines Available
Excerpt: "USA Today on April 24 reports on the response to media reports from April 23 that the FDA is moving to make the prescription antihistamines Allegra and Zyrtec available without a prescription, against the wishes of drug makers Aventis Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Overview: HIPAA Enforcement Rule Published (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "HHS will issue additional installments of the Enforcement Rule to address the substantive requirements for determining whether the Privacy, Electronic Transactions, Security, and Identifier Rules have been violated and the appropriate CMP for such violations. Unlike the procedural provisions just published, the substantive provisions of the Enforcement Rule will be subject to the 'notice and comment' rulemaking process ..." (Michael Best & Friedrich LLP)
Another Question is Answered in Eldercare: the Work/Life Issue Q&A Column
A woman here in Arizona cares for her partner, who cannot take care of himself due to a stroke. Supposedly the state pays her for the care she is providing, which she would not receive if she were married to the gentleman. My question is: Do you know if any such program actually exists and how do I contact them to see if I would qualify? I care for my aging mother, but I also have a full-time job. (BenefitsLink.com)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
A Shopper's Guide to Web-Based Tax Research
Excerpt: "[H]ow do you choose among the many available products? Before making a decision on selecting a subscription service, here is some background you need to know." (Journal of Accountancy)
Under Fire for Perks, Chief Quits American Airlines
Excerpt: "After a week of sharp criticism from unions about executive benefits, Donald J. Carty resigned yesterday as chairman and chief executive of American Airlines, which continued to struggle to avoid a bankruptcy filing." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Verizon Retirees Defeat Company at Annual Meeting Winning
Press release. Excerpt: "By a margin of 59 to 41 percent retiree members of the non-profit Association of BellTel Retirees Inc. were victorious in its efforts to get executives to trim what retirees call overly generous executive compensation packages and golden parachutes." (The Association of BellTel Retirees Inc.)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser MK Recruiting
Excerpt: "MK Recruiting provides contingency recruiting of permanent placement hires and outplacement services to companies in the Retirement Plan and Benefits Administration industry. We are affiliated with a network of over 350 offices nationwide specializing in a variety of industry groups. MK Recruiting is a division of MK Consulting, Inc. which has provided consulting services in the retirement plan industry for over ten years."
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
401(K) Administrator
for Caribbean Pension Consultants, Inc.
in FL
Project Manager - New Business Installation
for Transamerica
in CA
Communication Consultant
for Aon Consulting
in MD
Communication Specialist
for Aon Consulting
in MD
Vice President Medical Management National Sales
for Corporate Benefit Services of America, Inc. - Third Party Administrator
in FL, MN
Health and Welfare Analyst
for Aon Consulting
in MD
Senior Plan Administrator
for Clark, Schaefer, Hackett & Co.
in OH
401(k) Plan Administrator
for AAS Pension Services
in AZ
Newly Posted Conferences
( Post Yours! )
EPCRS and the New Rev Proc - an IRS Presentation
in CA
May 13, 2003
Sacramento Chapter of NIPA
"Benefits...And All That Jazz!"
in CA
May 16, 2003
San Diego Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Conference
Newly Posted Press Releases
( Post Yours! )
Karen Warlin Joins BeneCom as Regional Communication Consultant
(BeneCom Associates, LLC)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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