March 9, 2007

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Massachusetts Ok's 7 Low-Cost Health Plans for Uninsured
Excerpt: "The board overseeing healthcare reform yesterday gave its approval to seven health insurance plans that will offer relatively inexpensive coverage to residents who don't have health insurance through their employers or other sources." (The Boston Globe)

Minnesota Bill Would Mandate Health Coverage
Excerpt: "Minnesotans would be required to carry health insurance under a bill unveiled by a coalition of legislators and chief executives of state insurers, group practices, hospitals and health systems, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic." (Modern Healthcare; free registration required)

Text of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, H.R. 1367 (PDF)
44 pages. Excerpt: "To amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act, and section 9812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require equity in the provision of mental health and substance-related disorder benefits under group health plans." (U.S. House of Representatives via American Benefits Council)

Official Summary of the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, H.R. 1367 (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The bill amends the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 to eliminate discriminatory provisions that erect obstacles to accessing care for Americans with mental health and addiction disorders. The 1996 Act required equality only for annual and lifetime limits. This bill requires equality across the terms of the health plan." (American Benefits Council)

U.S. House Mental Health Parity Bill Differs from Senate Bill
Excerpt: "The mental health care benefits parity legislation introduced in the U.S. House on Wednesday would require group health plans to treat cost-sharing requirements for mental health and other medical conditions, but strays from the U.S. Senate version passed last month." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Workers Opt for Required Paid Sick Leave, According to WSJ Online/Harris Interactive Healthcare Poll
Excerpt: "Eighty percent of adults say some or all employers should be required to offer paid sick leave to their employees, but 52% admit this could have an adverse affect on small employers, according to a recent poll." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Sixth Circuit on Who Is the 'Administrator' for Purposes of Plan Information Requests
Excerpt: "In Gore v. El Paso Energy Corp., -- F.3d -- -, 2007 WL 549470 C.A.6 (Tenn.)(February 23, 2007), the Plaintiff, and LTD plan participant, argued that the district court erred in determining that his employer was the exclusive administrator of the plan. The parties had stipulated in an initial case management order that the employer, El Paso, was the 'administrator' of the LTD plan, and that El Paso delegated all duties of the administrator to Liberty.'" (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

Wal-Mart SPD Deemed 'The Formal Plan Document' but Release Terms Leave Open Issue on Remand
Excerpt: "Gamboa presents another saga in Wal-Mart's troubles with its 'wrap document', i.e., the Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Associates' Health and Welfare Plan Wrap Document , amended and restated on January 1, 2001." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

Employee on Short Term Disability Terminated Based on Video Surveillance
Excerpt: "from Spencer's Benefits Reports: An employer did not violate ERISA when it terminated an employee on disability leave based upon surveillance showing the employee engaging in physical activities beyond his supposed disabilities. This was the decision of the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Denham v. Sunoco, Inc. (No. 06-5040)." (Wolters Kluwer Law & Business)

Veterans Face Vast Inequities Over Disability
Excerpt: "Veterans face serious inequities in compensation for disabilities depending on where they live and whether they were on active duty or were members of the National Guard or the Reserve, an analysis by The New York Times has found." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Generous New Family Benefits Program Takes Effect in Germany
Excerpt: "A new government aid program that took effect on January 1, 2007, encourages working couples to take a break from work to care for newborns. The program aims to reverse a very low birthrate and the population decline in Germany." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)

Bulletin on ePHI Security Guidance from CMS (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued guidance on securing electronic protected health information (ePHI) that is stored on laptop computers and other off-premises or portable electronic devices or otherwise available remotely (i.e., away from the business site)." (The Segal Group, Inc.)

Health Insurance Plan Cost and Coverage Worksheet (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "This sheet will help you decide which plan provides the coverage you need at a cost you can afford. Answer the questions to compare each plan's cost and coverage. Often the answers to these questions are in the fine print at the back of the health insurer's marketing brochure. [The second page contains '25 BENEFITS QUESTIONS TOASK ABOUT EACH HEALTH PLAN.']" (Consumers Union)

CBO's Panel of Health Advisors
Excerpt: "Consisting of acknowledged experts in health care, CBO's panel of health advisers will meet periodically to examine frontier research in health policy and to advise the agency on its analyses of health care issues. The panel will thus help to further the reliability, professional quality, and transparency of CBO's work." (Congressional Budget Office)

Opinion: The Hard Choices of Health Care Reform (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "In summary, I do believe, regrettably, that successful health care reform is going to require some rebalancing of our national values with some resulting loss of personal control -- I hope limited -- over what kind of health care we get and how it's paid for." (American Academy of Actuaries)

New Jersey Bills Would Expand Benefits for Troops and Vets
Excerpt: "A package of bills to expand benefits and protections for military personnel and veterans was advanced yesterday by Assembly lawmakers who said that more needs to be done to help active military personnel, veterans and their families." (AP via philly.com)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

Executive Compensation: Bad Boys (and Girls) Get Clawed Back (PDF)
15 pages. Excerpt: "Bad boy provisions were found in compensation plans and agreements long before the enactment of SOA. The 2000 stock plan design and administration survey issued by the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals (NASPP) indicated that 23.8 percent of the companies surveyed in 2000 had stock option plans containing noncompete forfeiture provisions. [The articles was originally published in Summer 2005.]" (Benefits Law Journal via Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP)

IRS Provides Audit Results for Executive Pay by 501(c)(3)s
Excerpt: "The IRS has just issued a report detailing results of its audits of a sampling of tax-exempt organizations with respect to executive compensation issues, including the excise tax on 'excess benefit transactions' under IRC Section 4958." (Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP)

House Debates Executive Compensation Bill
Excerpt: "Requiring advisory shareholder votes on executive pay packages is necessary and would make U.S. markets stronger, Democrats and proponents of legislation that would mandate such a vote said . . . at a House Financial Services Committee hearing." (Investment News; free registration required)

Milliman's Monthly Benefit News and Developments, March 2007 (PDF)
2 pages. The newsletter provides a summary of the previous month's legislative, regulatory, and judicial information on employee Benefits. (Milliman)

Boston ERISA Law Blog: Equitable Relief Under ERISA in the First Circuit Post-Sereboff
Excerpt: "[I] will comment in particular on the court's discussion of the viability of claims for equitable relief in this circuit after Sereboff, particularly since the court points out that the First Circuit itself has not yet found reason to interpret and apply Sereboff, other than to cite the case for the proposition that 'what forms of relief are considered equitable is a matter in dispute.'" (Stephen Rosenberg via Boston ERISA Law Blog)

How Changes in Marriage, Divorce and Childbirth Are Redefining the Workplace
Excerpt: "According to a new study by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, professors of business and public policy at Wharton, marriage and divorce rates in the United States are both at historic lows." (Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)

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Newly Posted Events

Benefits Boot Camp 2007
in Georgia on April 24, 2007
presented by WEB (Worldwide Employee Benefit Network) Atlanta Chapter

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Newly Posted Press Releases

Hearing Notice: ?Challenges and Solutions to Health Insurance Coverage for Small Businesses?
U.S. House Small Business Committee

PSCA Commends Senators Smith and Bingaman for Introducing The Tribal Government Equality Act
Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA)

IBM Delivers Financial Education and Planning for All U.S. Employees
IBM

D.C. Court Rejects Effort to Overturn Pharmacy Benefit Manager Reform Law
National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA)

Application of Current Stock Option Backdating Methodologies Can Be Misleading, According to New NERA Economic Consulting Paper
NERA Economic Consulting

Hearings On 401k Fees Didn't Go Far Enough
Cloud Neff Management LLC

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Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings


401(k) Plan Administrator
for Pollard & Associates, Inc.
in MD

Assistant Pension Administrator
for Pollard & Associates, Inc.
in MD

Actuarial Analyst
for Lynchval Systems Worldwide Inc.
in VA

Retirement Plan Administrator
for Goodman & Company
in VA

Tax Manager - Employee Benefits, Global Employment Services
for Deloitte & Touche, LLP
in FL, GA

Director of Fulfillment, Retirement Services
for MassMutual Financial Group
in MA

401(k) Retirement Plan Administrator
for Medical-Dental Consultants, Inc.
in RI

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Handy Links:

• View Today's Active Message Threads
• Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research (hypertext article)
• Employee Benefits Library

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