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[Guidance Overview]
New COBRA Rules Effective March 1: Immediate Action Required (PDF)
12 pages. Includes a 24-step implementation plan in tabular format. (Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
The COBRA Subsidy and Health Insurance for the Unemployed
Excerpt: "This issue brief examines the COBRA provisions of the new legislation and answers key questions how they would work, who might benefit and how they interact with other laws and programs helping people obtain and maintain health coverage." (Kaiser Family Foundation)


[Guidance Overview]
Presentation: New Federal Legislation Affecting Health Plans (PDF)
70 slides. New COBRA Subsidy, New Special Enrollment Rights, and New Privacy and Security Requirements in the HITECH Act are covered in the presentation. (Dorsey & Whitney LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
Layoffs Could Trigger COBRA Cash Crunch for Employers
Excerpt: "Companies that have laid off workers in the past several months as a way to retain more cash may, paradoxically, suffer a near-term cash drain as a direct result of the layoffs. Under the stimulus package signed into law on February 17, the government will pick up the tab for 65 percent of COBRA coverage for up to nine months for employees terminated involuntarily from last September 1 through the end of this year. But companies must float the payments to their health insurers and recover the money through a credit to their quarterly payroll-tax returns. That means cash-strapped employers might have to scramble for capital in order to satisfy the law, and they won't get the money back for up to three months." (CFO.com)


[Guidance Overview]
Ninth Circuit Declines Additional Review of Ruling That ERISA Does Not Preempt San Francisco's Fair Share Law
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Is this case headed for the Supreme Court? We wouldn't be surprised if that's the next step, particularly given the importance this issue holds for employers subject to the San Francisco law and others like it across the country. The dissenting judges, in particular, emphasized the high stakes involved, noting the tension between ERISA's goal of nationally uniform plan administration and the view that the San Francisco law, if left standing, may be viewed as a 'roadmap' for other state and local governments seeking to regulate employee health plans without running afoul of ERISA preemption." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)


[Guidance Overview]
HHS Enhances Its Health Information Privacy Webpage
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: [M]uch of the detailed privacy information has been better organized and the webpage has a more 'user friendly' feel. Covered entities, such as health plans, should find it easier to navigate the updated webpage for helpful information relating to privacy compliance and enforcement." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)


[Guidance Overview]
IRS Posts More Q&As for Employers on How to Get Reimbursed for COBRA Premium Subsidy
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Other Q&As include guidance on how to fill out Schedule B to Form 941 (used to report an employer's payroll tax liability for each payroll period, not the employer's payroll tax deposits) and what information payroll service providers should provide to employers. Note that one Q&A has been removed from the 20 Q&As previously posted. In that question, an employer took the credit and then learned that the employee did not pay his or her portion of the premium. Observing that an employer cannot take the credit until the employee pays, the IRS answered that this situation should not occur -- so perhaps this Q&A was considered to be unnecessary." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)


Massachusetts Faces Costs of Its Big Health Care Plan
Excerpt: "Threatened first by rapid early enrollment in its new subsidized insurance program and now by a withering economy, the state's pioneering overhaul has entered a second, more challenging phase. Thanks to new taxes and fees imposed last year, the health plan's jittery finances have stabilized for the moment. But government and industry officials agree that the plan will not be sustainable over the next 5 to 10 years if they do not take significant steps to arrest the growth of health spending." (The New York Times; free registration required)


Workers Underestimate Cost of Providing Health Benefits
Excerpt: "A worker sentiment study by Fidelity Investments' Consulting Services business found most workers surveyed underestimate employers' cost of providing health insurance to employees." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


Kentucky Local Governments Could Get More Time to Fund Retiree Health Care
Excerpt: "A bill to give Kentucky cities and counties short-term financial relief from retiree health care costs was approved by the state Senate budget committee. The Courier-Journal reports that House Bill 117 would increase to 10 years from the current five the amount of time cities, counties, and schools have to fully fund retiree health-care costs. According to a Legislative Research Commission analysis of the bill, it would save local governments and schools an estimated $40 million in the next fiscal year and $60 million in 2010, the news report said." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)


Administration Is Open to Taxing Health Benefits
Excerpt: "The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for overhauling the health care system. The proposal is politically problematic for President Obama, however, since it is similar to one he denounced in the presidential campaign as 'the largest middle-class tax increase in history.'" (The New York Times; free registration required)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]
A Five-Year Long Lesson in Plan Drafting for Stock Options
Excerpt: "[The case of AT&T v. Lillis] took another turn last week as the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that a state trial court had properly considered AT&T's admissions in its pleadings that stock options of former directors and officers that were cashed out after a merger between AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Cingular Wireless LLC may have included the future time value of those options." (Michael S. Melbinger via Winston & Strawn LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
Underwater Stock Options - What are the Alternatives?
Excerpt: "The recent economic downturn has left a significant number of options far out-of-the-money (underwater). Some awards are so deep underwater that it might be unlikely for these options to become in-the money again before expiration. Seventy-two percent of the companies in the Fortune 500 are facing the challenge of underwater options, based on Equilar's analysis of average exercise prices in mid-December of 2008. Two broad schools of thought have emerged on the strategic compensation direction best suited for navigating this obstacle: Leave the current awards unchanged, reflecting returns to shareholders. Exchange underwater options for new options or another form of compensation of value to the employee to address top talent retention problems." (Deloitte Development LLC)


Employee Ownership Update for March 13, 2009
NCEO Executive Director Corey Rosen discusses a new survey of what companies plan to do with equity compensation; how ESOPs are still a good idea for employee retirement security; a newly endowed chair for employee ownership that has been established at Rutgers; and applying for the Principal 10 Best Companies for Financial Security award. (National Center for Employee Ownership)

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Newly Posted Press Releases

( Post Yours! )

Reporting Requirements Under ERISA Section 4010 - Final Rule
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

Former Corporate Benefits Manager of Hitachi America Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Health Care Plan of More Than Six Million Dollars
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

The Retirement Advantage Hires New Sales Reps for Midwest & Western Regions
The Retirement Advantage, Inc.

Fiduciary Benchmarks Launches 401(k) Retirement Plan Data Portal
Fiduciary Benchmarks, Inc.

Alliance Benefit Group Carolinas Creates Advisor Service Team
Alliance Benefit Group Carolinas, LLC

New Managing Member Named at Benefit Plans Plus
Benefit Plans Plus

Tampa TPA Awarded Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) Designation From fi360
American Pension Services, LLC

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Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings

( Post a Job | View All Jobs | RSS Feed )

Benefits Analyst/Retirement Plan Administrator - Job #s20090302
for Perkins Coie LLP
in WA

Second Vice President, Investment Specialist
for New York Life Retirement Plan Services
in MA

COBRA Administrator
for Sentinel Financial Group
in MA

Wealth Management Consultants
for Sentinel Financial Group
in MA

Associate General Counsel - ERISA/Employee Benefits
for UnitedHealth Group
in MN

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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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