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October 28, 2003 - 8,609 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's COBRA: The Developing Law
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COBRA's New Notice Requirements! Are You Ready? The DOL's proposed COBRA regulations, expected to be finalized early next year, impose new notice requirements--and EBIA is here to help! Our COBRA: The Developing Law manual is the best resource available. Written and edited by top employee benefits attorneys, our COBRA manual (updated quarterly) has over 1,000 pages packed with information and sample documents to help keep your group health plans in compliance with COBRA's requirements. 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)
Health Savings Accounts Rejected by Medicare Conferees
Excerpt: "Congressional negotiators struggling to find a compromise on Medicare prescription drug legislation have rejected a $163 billion plan favored by House conservatives that would create a major tax break for Americans who set up savings accounts for their medical expenses, according to congressional sources." (Washington Post)
Negotiators on Medicare Bill Fear That Premiums Might Vary
Excerpt: "Lawmakers have agreed on the basic structure of drug benefits to be offered to 40 million elderly and disabled people under Medicare. But they have been unable to agree on sweeping changes in the overall structure of Medicare, which would require the traditional government-run program to compete directly with private health plans." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Opinion: Health Tax Provision In Medicare Conference Poses Threat To Employer-Based Health System
10/27/03 - Excerpt: "Studies by three highly respected institutions have found that if use of Medical Savings Accounts becomes widespread, this could cause premiums for comprehensive employer-based health insurance to more than double.' [More recent reports indicate the MSA provision is being dropped by the conferees, however -- Editor] (Center on Budget & Policy Priorities)
Opinion: the Doughnut's Hole, as Applied to Prescription Drugs
Excerpt: "'As you ramble on through life, brother,' goes advice on coffee shop walls, 'whatever be your goal-- keep your eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole.' That wisdom is at the heart of the compromise that may be struck in a Congressional conference on a low-premium prescription drug benefit for people over 65." (William Safire in the Washington Post)
HMO Mergers Augur Shift of Power Toward Insurers
Excerpt: "Two big acquisitions in the health insurance industry signal a shift in the balance of power toward insurers and away from hospitals, physicians and drug companies, industry experts said Monday." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Mergers Are Continuation of Health Care Trend
Excerpt: "The two giant health care mergers announced yesterday reflect, in part, the jockeying for power among players in the health care field. They also illustrate the continuing struggle of managed care to live up to the promises made for it 15 years ago as a mechanism for delivering quality medical care and controlling costs, experts say." (Washington Post)
American Medical Association 'Alarmed' by HMO Merger
Press release, 10/27/03. Excerpt: "'The proposed merger will create a giant company on a scale not seen in an industry where competition has already been dramatically reduced,' said AMA President Donald J. Palmisano, MD. 'The model of a traditional not-for-profit health plan, which operated for the benefit of the community, seems to be disappearing.'" (American Medical Association)
Beware the Hidden Dangers of Model COBRA Forms
Excerpt: "The [EBSA] has posted a proposed model general notice of COBRA continuation coverage rights and a proposed model COBRA continuation coverage election notice to its Web site.... But, as a recent case illustrates, trouble looms for plan administrators that use these and other model forms without making any necessary changes to the forms to ensure they are consistent with the plan sponsor's circumstances and the plan's terms." (Deloitte's Human Capital Advisory Services)
Steering Employers Toward Telework
Excerpt: "[M]any [D.C.-area] traffic experts say businesses, federal agencies and other employers could do far more to help reduce traffic backups almost immediately and relatively cheaply by allowing more employees to work from home or from a telework center even one day a week.... Even with promising data on time savings, increased productivity and greater accessibility to high-speed Internet from home computers, the idea hasn't taken hold with most employers." (Washington Post)
Opinion: Let's Think About a National Healthcare Technology Assessment Institute
Excerpt: "Deemed 'medical breakthroughs,' the technologies flooding the marketplace often seem promising at first blush. But closer examination reveals a significant problem[--] ... new technologies are being released to, and used by, the medical community without the presence of a governing body that can affirm that these technologies are both safe and effective. The unsubstantiated use of these new technologies has only succeeded in generating new costs without clear health benefits." (Healthplan via Medscape; one-time registration required)
3d Circuit OKs Administrator's Interpretation of Disability Setoff Language to Include RRB Benefits (PDF)
10 pages; McElroy v. SmithKline Beecham Health & Welfare Benefits Trust Plan for U.S. Employees, No. 02-3421 (3d Cir. 10/3/03). FindLaw.com's summary: 'In a disability benefits case challenging an ERISA plan administrator's interpretation of the plan, the administrator's conclusion, that certain Railroad Retirement Board disability benefits should be deducted from plaintiff's long-term disability payments, was reasonable." (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, via FindLaw.com)
Federal Regulators Criticize Illinois Report on Reimportation
Excerpt: "As expected, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) on Monday released an 85-page report containing data that supports a plan for the state to reimport lower-cost U.S.-manufactured prescription drugs from Canada, but the report was 'swiftly criticized' by federal regulators, the Chicago Tribune reports ..." (KaiserNetwork.org)
For Many, Open Enrollment Season is Just a Concept
Excerpt: "November is open season, the time when many Americans evaluate their health coverage and get a chance to change plans.... There's no choice of plan for the nearly 44 million people in the United States who have no health insurance. There's no choice for about half the workers in the private sector -- about 80 million people. Only 40 percent of workers in private companies are offered a choice of two or more plans ..." (Washington Post)
When Changing Health Plans Hurts
Excerpt: "[A] study published in the September/October issue of the Annals of Family Medicine suggests that switching plans may be more than just a hassle. It may also be damaging to your health -- associated with more doctor visits, less preventive care, more avoidable hospitalizations and even higher health care expenditures." (Washington Post)
Disease Management: Extra Healthcare for the Costliest
Excerpt: "The practice ... works like this: Aetna identifies which McCormick employees have certain chronic ailments -- such as asthma, diabetes and coronary artery disease -- that can be very expensive, disruptive and disabling if left untreated but controllable with lifestyle and medication changes. The health plan (or its disease management subcontractor) then starts reminding those employees to keep up with their prescriptions, doctor visits or weight-loss regimens." (Washington Post)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Opinion: HR Execs Are Part of the CEO Compensation Problem
Excerpt: "Human resources failures helped former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers enrich himself at company expense. But the problem wasn't unique to WorldCom. Human resources executives should show some backbone, and just say no to overblown CEO compensation packages." (Douglas P. Shuit on Workforce.com; one-time registration required)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Sr. Benefit Consultant - NY Metro Region
for Buck Consultants a Mellon Financial Company
in NY
Sr. Health & Welfare Consultant/Claims Administration
for Buck Consultants a Mellon Financial Company
in NY
Retirement Plan Education & Enrollment Specialist
for Southwest Investment Partners Inc
in AZ
Benefit Consultant (for TPA clients)
for Unified Trust Company, N. A.
in KY
Account Executive
for Transamerica-The Winning Organization
in IL
Pension Administration - Supervisor
for The Nolan Company
in KS
New Business Consultant
for Cigna
in CT
Vice President, Participant Services
for New York Life Investment Management LLC
in MA
Newly Posted Conferences
( Post Yours! )
Obesity Claims
in DC
January 29, 2004
American Conference Institute
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