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Sponsored by: Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)

(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)

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Audio: Oregon Bill Grants Domestic Partnerships
Excerpt: "Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski is expected to sign a bill this week that will grant domestic partnerships to same-sex couples." (Day to Day via National Public Radio)

Appellate Judges Uphold Beneficiary Designation for Employer-Sponsored Life Insurance Policy
Excerpt: "A federal appellate court has upheld a lower court ruling that the ex-wife of a dead life insurance plan participant is the proper beneficiary of the participant's benefits. In an opinion written by Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals turned aside claims by the participant's father that the participant's divorce from his ex-wife nullified his designating her as beneficiary of his employer-sponsored life insurance policy." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

ERISA Preemption Means COBRA Applies, not State Law
Excerpt: "The case of Aucoin v. RSW Holdings presented the question of which continuation law applied when an employee resigned, and the employer's insurance plan terminated shortly thereafter." (Infinisource)

California Faces $47.9 Billion in Retiree Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "California faces an unfunded liability of $47.9 billion over the next 30 years to fund health care benefits for current and future state retirees, according to a report released Monday by State Controller John Chiang (D), the Sacramento Bee reports." (California HealthCare Foundation; free registration may be required)

Nationwide Launches Oncology Treatment Management Program
Excerpt: "Nationwide Better Health has announced the launch of an oncology management program to supplement its disease management offering. . . . Nationwide Better Health's oncology disease management program is focused on helping people undergoing cancer treatment learn to better manage the side-effects of the treatment." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

The Return of the House Call
Excerpt: "Rather than have employees misuse emergency rooms for minor ailments, Microsoft and some other employers are beginning to contract with providers who can deliver health care to employees via the old-fashioned house call. Technology makes it easy to transport a doctor's tools of the trade, visits are unhurried, and the cost is far less than an ER visit." (Workforce Management; free registration required)

Patients Support Secure Exchange of Electronic Health Information -- with Emphasis on 'Secure'
Excerpt: "According to the study, 70% of consumers report that they favor the secure exchange of electronic health information, while 21% say they oppose its development." (AISHealth.com)

More People Leave the U.S. for Surgery: 'Medical Tourists' Say Savings Can Be Big
Excerpt: "Few studies about medical travel exist, and no government agency tracks the numbers. Some news publications have printed estimates ranging from 150,000 to 500,000 people traveling abroad each year, but it's unclear where those numbers come from." (tennessean.com)

Opinion: Limited Benefits: Do Insurers Peddle 'Limited Health Care' to America's Working Poor?
Excerpt: "Limited benefits plans boast annual coverage caps as low as $1,000, with more common caps ranging from $2,000 to $15,000, and 'internal caps' that put further dollar restrictions on specific types of care, such as prescriptions or hospital stays." (Center for American Progress)

Berkeley, California May Add Sex Change Surgery to Benefits
Excerpt: "City Council members Darryl Moore and Kriss Worthington are asking the city manager and the city's personnel board to explore what it would cost to offer the health care benefit to the city's approximately 1,500 employees. The council will get a report back in six months." (insidebayarea.com)

Reduction or Elimination of Prescription Drug Copays for Some Chronic Disease Medications Begins
Excerpt: "The Wall Street Journal [yesterday] examined how an increased number of employers and health insurers have begun to reduce or eliminate copayments for certain medications for chronic diseases as part of an effort to 'curb soaring health care costs' by 'preventing costly health crises down the road.'" (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Testimony: Medicare Part D: Enrolling New Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries in Prescription Drug Plans
Excerpt: "GAO was asked to testify on (1) CMS's process for enrolling new dual-eligible beneficiaries into PDPs and its effect on access to drugs and (2) how CMS set the effective coverage date for certain dual-eligible beneficiaries and its implementation of this policy. This testimony is based on a GAO report that is being released today, Medicare Part D: Challenges in Enrolling New Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries (GAO-07-272)." (U.S. Government Accountability Office)

GAO Report: Medicare Part D: Challenges in Enrolling New Dual-Eligible Beneficiaries
Excerpt: "GAO analyzed (1) current challenges in identifying and enrolling new dual-eligible beneficiaries in PDPs, (2) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) efforts to address challenges, and (3) federal and state approaches to assigning dual-eligible beneficiaries to PDPs. [Highlights of the report are at http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07272high.pdf.]" (U.S. Government Accountability Office)

Prescription Drug Reimportation Amendments Pass Requiring Safety of Reimported Drugs To Be Certified
Excerpt: "The Senate . . . voted 49-40 to approve a second-degree amendment to a bill (S 1082) to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act that would not allow prescription drug reimportation from other nations until the HHS secretary certifies that the practice would 'pose no additional risk to the public's health and safety' and would significantly reduce costs for consumers, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 5/8)." (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Patients Priced Out of Pain Relief As Insurers Balk at High Costs of Promising New Treatments
Excerpt: "In addition to high co-payments, some patients and doctors say insurers may be delaying approval of these medications and, in some cases, rejecting previously approved claims, in order to save money." (San Francisco Chronicle)

An Employer's Guide to the 2006 Massachusetts Health Care Reform Act, Updated May 5, 2007 (PDF)
52 pages. Excerpt: "Following a brief overview of the Act and a description of the Act's individual mandate, this paper examines the Act's effects on Massachusetts employers and multi-state employers that operate in Massachusetts. In particular, it explains the following features of the Act and, in each case, what employers will need to do to comply . . . ." (Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.)

EBRI Issue Brief: Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured (PDF)
28 pages. Excerpt: "This Issue Brief updates data originally published October 2006 in EBRI Issue Brief no. 298, based on the earlier Census Bureau data, because of the subsequently corrected Census Bureau estimates of health insurance coverage." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)

Towers Perrin U.S. Legislative Tracking Charts -- Health and Welfare -- Updated May 4, 2007 (PDF)
24 pages. Excerpt: "These charts summarize selected federal legislation that would affect employee benefit programs. The bills included on the charts are based on judgments regarding the prominence of the issue, the likelihood of enactment, and the influence of the sponsors." (Towers Perrin)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

New Book Published by Vault: The Vault Guide to Actuarial Careers, 2007 Edition
Excerpt: "This Vault guide shows you how to begin an actuarial career--one of the most creative options for a statistician, economist or mathematician--and how to advance your career. The guide gives you an inside look at landing interviews, interview questions, typical days in the life of an actuary and the inside scoop on the top actuarial employers." (Vault, Inc.)

Chairman Waxman Requests Information from Executive Compensation Consultants
Excerpt: "Chairman Waxman writes to six leading executive compensation consulting firms seeking information about the services they provide to large U.S. corporations." (U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)

Report: Present Law and Background Relating to Worker Classification for Federal Tax Purposes (PDF)
17 pages. Excerpt: "The Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support and the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures of the House Committee on Ways and Means have scheduled a joint public hearing for Tuesday, May 8, 2007, on the effects of misclassifying workers as independent contractors." (U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation)

Testimony: Employee/Independent Contractor Misclassifications
Excerpt: "This testimony draws upon a previous GAO report and focuses specifically on (1) the number and characteristics of independent contractors, (2) the workforce protections and benefits provided to employees that typically are not available to independent contractors, and (3) the actions that DOL takes to detect and address employee misclassification. [Highlights are at http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07859thigh.pdf.]" (U.S. Government Accountability Office)

Union Reports: Online Public Disclosure Room
Excerpt: "[The OLMS Online Public Disclosure Room] is powered by a new database query system. From this site you can (1) view and print reports filed by unions, union officers and employees, employers, and labor relations consultants for the year 2000 and after and reports filed by unions for trusts in which they have an interest, (2) order reports for the year 1999 and prior, and (3) search the union annual financial reports for the year 2000 and after and the trust reports for key data items." (U.S. Department of Labor)

Towers Perrin U.S. Legislative Tracking Charts -- Human Resources -- Updated May 4, 2007 (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "These charts summarize selected federal legislation that would affect employee benefit programs. The bills included on the charts are based on judgments regarding the prominence of the issue, the likelihood of enactment, and the influence of the sponsors." (Towers Perrin)

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Newly Posted Events

401(k) Fee Reasonableness and Transparency Teleweb
Nationwide on May 24, 2007
presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

401(k) Plan Workshop
in Kansas on May 17, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

401(k) Plan Workshop
in New York on May 17, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

401(k) Plan Workshop
in Georgia on May 18, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

401(k) Plan Workshop
in Wisconsin on May 18, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

401(k) Plan Workshop
in New York on May 23, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

Cafeteria Plans for Rookies -- How to Play by the Rules and Keep the Umpires Happy
Nationwide on April 26, 2007
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)

Final Roth Distribution Regulations: What you need to know!
Nationwide on June 27, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.

Form 5500 Workshop
in New York on May 16, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

Form 5500 Workshop
in Kansas on May 16, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

Form 5500 Workshop
in Georgia on May 17, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

Form 5500 Workshop
in Wisconsin on May 17, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

Form 5500 Workshop
in New York on May 22, 2007
presented by SunGard Relius

Qualified Transportation Plans -- Pre-Tax Parking and Transit Pass Plans, and the New Debit Card Guidance
Nationwide on June 7, 2007
presented by Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc. (EBIA)

The Top 15 Qualified Plan Distribution Questions
Nationwide on August 1, 2007
presented by McKay Hochman Co., Inc.

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Newly Posted Press Releases

President of The ESOP Association Urges Congress to Enact the ESOP Promotion and Improvement Act of 2007 and Start Building an Ownership Society
ESOP Association

National Business Group on Health Honors Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles
National Business Group on Health

The Public Is Willing to Support Many Options to Expand Health Insurance Coverage, But Not All
Wall Street Journal

Congresswoman Tubbs Jones Re-Introduces Retirement Security for Life Act
Office of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones

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Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
( Post a Job | View All Jobs )

DB Administrator
for Matthews, Gold, Kennedy & Snow, Inc.
in AZ

Senior Pension Consultant / Administrator
for Benefits Integrity
in CO

Plan Administrator
for Third Party Administration Firm
in FL

Employee Benefits Attorney
for Zelinka & Prince Search Partners
in AZ, CO, NV

Sales & Marketing - Vice President (VP)
for Raymond James Financial, Inc.
in FL

Associate Consultant - Retirement Plan Services
for The Bostonian Group
in MA

401(k) Plan Administrator
for Northeast Planning Services, Inc.
in MA

Associate Pension Consultant
for Mercer Advisors
in AZ

401(K) / DC Administrator
for Fringe Benefit Administrators, Ltd.
in LA

401(k) Products Department - Sales Associate
for Citigroup-Smith Barney
in NY

Associate Director Call Center
for 1199SEIU Benefit and Pension Funds
in NY

Pension Benefit Calculator
for 1199SEIU Benefit and Pension Funds
in NY

Group Health Benefits AE and Team Leader
for Wachovia
in NC

Group Benefits Division Leader
for Wachovia
in GA

Group Benefits Account Executive
for Wachovia
in GA

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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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