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Welfare Plans
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Welfare Plans
Newsletter
September 30, 2003 - 8,548 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's Cafeteria Plans
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
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(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Employers' Health Costs Expected To Rise 12% Next Year, New Survey Says
Excerpt: "Employers next year will pay an estimated 12% more for employee health care benefits, marking the fifth consecutive year of double-digit increases and a doubling of employer health care costs since 1999, according to a survey to be released Monday by Towers Perrin, the Wall Street Journal reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Group Calls for California Governor to Sign 'Pay or Play' Healthcare Law Before Recall Election
Press release. Excerpt: "The Davis Administration has expressed its concern with the cost of the legislation, something that could be fixed in the 2-year interim before the bill will take effect, according to the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) ..." (The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
Devil Is In the Details of California Healthcare Mandate
Excerpt: "Part-time workers ... could benefit greatly from California's new health insurance mandate, dubbed SB2, which Gov. Gray Davis is expected to sign soon. But questions remain about how affordable the benefit will be to part-time employees and how the state will enforce non-compliance. The bill requires companies with at least 20 employees to provide health insurance to workers logging at least 100 hours a month, or 25 hours a week." (Oakland Tribune via the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
The Tax Benefits of Flexible Health Spending Accounts
Excerpt: "With open-enrollment season starting, now's the time to consider signing up for plans that can save you hundreds of dollars." (Los Angeles Times; one-time registration required)
Overview: House Committee Approves Pre-Tax Deduction for Health Insurance
Excerpt: "The House Government Reform Committee approved a bill on September 25 that would let federal civilian and military retirees and active duty military employees pay for their health care premiums on a pre-tax basis. It awaits action by the House Ways and Means and Armed Services Committees before going to the House floor for a vote." (CCH Tax Newsletter)
Overview: Supreme Court Reverses Ninth Circuit's Adoption of the Treating Physician Rule (PDF)
At pp. 2-3 of 4-page document. Excerpt: "While the Black & Decker case clarified that a plan administrator need not give special deference to a claimant's treating physician or provide a detailed explanation why a treating physician's opinion was discounted, the Supreme Court also noted that a plan administrator still must credit a claimant's reliable evidence, including the opinions of a treating physician." (Trucker Huss)
Boiling Brew: Politics and Health Insurance Gap
Excerpt: "Even before the Census Bureau announced the numbers, showing that the number of uninsured Americans had risen by 2.4 million last year, to 43.6 million, most of the major Democratic presidential candidates were campaigning hard on the problems in health care. Not since the 1992 election has the issue drawn so much attention ..." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
F.D.A. Faults Quality of Imported Drugs
Excerpt: "Most imported drugs are counterfeit knockoffs that could seriously endanger the health of those taking them, say federal drug and customs officials who conducted a spot inspection over the summer that they disclosed yesterday." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
FDA Unlikely To Make Significant Changes Regarding Prescription Drug Ads, Critics, Supporters Say
Excerpt: "Following an FDA hearing last week on direct-to-consumer prescription drug ads, supporters of the ads said the agency will likely allow them 'to continue in much the same form,' and '[e]ven critics were not optimistic that the agency would make significant changes,' the New York Times reports." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Opinion: Health & Taxes Is Even Worse than Death & Taxes
Excerpt: "A government that provides for all of your body's health care needs will ultimately think and act as if it owns your body. Those who are uncomfortable with that idea need to understand that they need to reject the illusion of government handouts, and demand the right to spend their own dollars-- free of tax-- to provide for their own lives and health." (Americans for Free Choice in Medicine)
Opinion: Number of Uninsured Would Be Even Higher if Medicaid Had Not Picked Up Slack
Excerpt: "The primary factor behind the increase in the number of uninsured was an erosion in both adults' and children's private health insurance coverage, driven by the weak economy, rising unemployment and the increasing costs of health care. These developments made it harder last year for workers and their dependents to retain employer-sponsored health insurance coverage." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
Number of Health-Uninsured Goes Up
Excerpt: "The number of people without health insurance shot up last year by 2.4 million, the largest increase in a decade, raising the total to 43.6 million, as health costs soared and many workers lost coverage provided by employers, the Census Bureau reported today." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Medicare Beneficiaries Face Wide Cost Disparities For Identical Supplement Plans, Study Finds
Medicare beneficiaries continue to face significant differences among ten identical Medicare supplement insurance (Medigap) policies with statutorily standardized benefits, according to Weiss Ratings, an independent provider of ratings and analyses of financial services companies, mutual funds, and stocks. The rates analyzed by Weiss were annual premiums for a 65-year-old female. (Spencer Benefits Reports)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
FASB Proposes Additional Disclosures For Pension and Other Postretirement Benefit Plans (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "The additional information would include a breakdown of plan assets into broad asset classes and the expected rate of return for each class, projected benefit payments, expected employer contributions, and tables of significant actuarial assumptions. The project is on a fast track, with the proposal scheduled to become effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2003." (Buck Consultants)
7th Circuit: ERISA Did Not Prevent Employer's Contribution Obligation After Bargaining Agrmt Expired (PDF)
13 pages; Dugan v. R.J. Corman R.R. Co., No. 03-1011 (7th Cir. 09/22/03). Excerpt: "[W]e must consider the bearing of the fact that ERISA does not authorize contributions to a union welfare benefits plan other than in accordance with a written agreement ... [T]he cases hold that an expired agreement-- one that has no contractual force-- nevertheless can satisfy the statutory requirements ..." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit via FindLaw.com)
Overview: IRS Issues Final Split Dollar Regulations; Action Needed On Current Arrangements (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "To the disappointment of many, the final regulations are substantially similar to the proposed regulations issued in 2002 and earlier this year and will for the most part make new executive split dollar arrangements financially unattractive. However, the transition guidance issued in Notice 2002-8 still applies and employers still have options for existing split dollar arrangements." (Buck Consultants)
Opinion: Wait To Decide On Stock Option Expensing
Excerpt: "The tech industry faces a challenge that could undermine the Silicon Valley economy, as the board that sets accounting standards inches closer to requiring companies to count employee stock options as a business expense.... Tech industry leaders have rightly insisted that any change in the treatment of stock options ought to preserve their ability to provide broad-based option plans for rank-and-file workers." (The [San Jose] Mercury News)
Welcome to new BenefitsLink advertiser Aliquant
Excerpt: "Aliquant? Corporation provides a full range of cost-effective benefit administration outsourcing services including: flex and welfare benefits administration, interactive voice response (IVR) enrollment, Internet Web-based enrollment and employee self-service functions, employee call center, literature fulfillment, and flexible spending account (FSA) administration. Aliquant? uses state-of-the-art system technologies that allow for rapid implementation (less than 90 days in most cases)."
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Defined Contribution Plan Administrator
for Estate & Pension Advisory Board, Inc.
in PA
Sr. Benefits Analyst
for Global Company
in CA
Communications Specialist
for Marshall & Ilsley Corporation
in WI
Bilingual 401k Enrollment Coordinator
for Rocky Mountain Recruiters
in TX
Benefits Coordinator
for EarthLink, Inc. in Pasadena
in CA
Director, Benefits and Compensation
for Loyola College in Maryland
in MD
Newly Posted Conferences
( Post Yours! )
Does your Plan have Skeletons in its Closet?: Correcting Plan Errors
in OH
October 16, 2003
WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefits Network) with Midwest Pension and Benefit Conference
South Florida 401(k) Sales Leadership Conference
in FL
October 21, 2003
AUL Retirement Services and American Century Investment Services, Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
( Post Yours! )
Ben Stein Takes Over for Bob Dole as Honorary Chairperson for National Retirement Planning Week
(National Retirement Planning Coalition)
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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