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[Guidance Overview]
Are Health Care Institutions Ready to Comply with New Regulations to Combat Identity Theft? (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "The new regulations are designed to combat identity theft, and some of the requirements will likely apply to hospitals and other providers of medical care. The regulations, known as 'Red Flag' rules, are designed to help uncover, prevent, or mitigate identity theft in different types of financial transactions. The section of the regulations that likely applies to hospitals and other health care institutions requires all 'creditors' that hold consumer or other 'covered accounts' to develop and implement a written identity theft prevention program that covers both new and existing accounts." (Seyfarth Shaw LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
New Law Makes Significant Changes to Group Health Plans Insured in New York: Dependent Coverage Extended and COBRA Protections Expanded
Excerpt: "Changes apply to any employer that offers insured group coverage in New York; employers should prepare for the new rules and decide whether to offer parity in self-insured options." (McDermott Will & Emery)


[Guidance Overview]
New York Extends COBRA Continuation Coverage
Excerpt: "New York State recently made significant changes to its 'Mini-COBRA' law and health insurance regulatory scheme. These changes are designed to increase benefits and reduce the number of New Yorkers without health insurance. Employees who are eligible for group health coverage and their covered beneficiaries will be directly affected by these changes, which are retroactively effective as of July 1, 2009." (Blank Rome LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
San Francisco Commuter Ordinance: Update on Enforcement and Enhanced Federal Commuter Benefits
Excerpt: "This article discusses the new San Francisco Ordinance as well as its interplay with [the federal tax law, Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefits,] and California laws allowing employees to cash out employers' subsidized parking for additional wages under the California Air Resources Board's 'Parking Cash-Out Program.'" (Littler Mendelson P.C.)


[Guidance Overview]
Medicare Reporting Applies to Uninsured Liability Claims: Employers May Be Required to Register
Excerpt: "The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 ('MMSEA') implements new mandatory reporting requirements (referred to as 'Section 111 Reporting') to allow Medicare to identify medical claims where another entity, not Medicare, is responsible for payment pursuant to the Medicare Secondary Payor rules. Most employers, administrators and insurers are aware of how these reporting requirements apply to group health plans, which began July 1, 2009 (except for health reimbursement arrangements which are delayed until 2010). The Section 111 Reporting requirements also apply to workers' compensation claims and to liability insurance (referred to as 'Non-GHP Arrangements'). Registration for Non-GHP Arrangements must be completed by September 30, 2009 and reporting begins in 2010. However, the Section 111 Reporting requirements are structured to incorporate arrangements and situations which employers do not typically view as implicating Medicare. The focus of this Legal Alert is to highlight the impact of the Section 111 Reporting on these arrangements." (Kilpatrick Stockton LLP)


Employers Turn to Third-Party Administrators to Reduce Health Care Costs
Excerpt: "Most TPAs offer a similar array of administrative services, including eligibility verification, claims adjudication and processing, utilization review and case management. In recent years, many have added prevention, wellness and disease management -- either through relationships with specialty providers or in-house capabilities -- to boost their value to employers. 'I think TPAs believe that you have to be able to deal with cost by dealing with the cause of the cost,' says Steve Rasnick, president of Self Insured Plans., a Naples, Florida-based TPA. Claims administrators also are responding to greater demand for data to help identify and manage cost drivers. Employers are mining that information to assess their populations' health risks and determine, for instance, whether their wellness programs are yielding a return on the investment." (Workforce Management; free registration required)


A Line-by-Line Rebuttal to False Email on the Health Insurance Reform Bill, HR 3200, the America's Affordable Health Choices Act
Target page includes some line-by-line explanations. Excerpt: "There has been an email going around with a line-by-line critique of HR 3200 - the America's Affordable Health Choices Act. Unfortunately, they are not based in truth, but designed to scare recipients. The email is quite long, so for some of the most egregious distortions of the health insurance reform legislation, please visit the Pulitzer prize-winning fact check site run by The St. Petersburg Times. [ www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/jul/30/e-mail-analysis-health-bill-needs-check-/ ]" (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education & Labor)


Characteristics of People Insured through COBRA versus through a Current Job, 2005-2006 (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "This Statistical Brief compares selected characteristics of people who reported health insurance coverage through COBRA and people who reported coverage through a current job with 20 or more employees for the years 2005 and 2006. The populations include workers and their dependents. Four characteristics are compared: 1) age, 2) race/ethnicity, 3) general health status and disability, and 4) presence of selected chronic conditions. The age distribution is compared for children (age 17 and younger) and adults." (U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)


Congressional Research Service Report: Private Health Insurance Provisions of H.R. 3200 (PDF)
19 pages. Excerpt: "This report summarizes key provisions affecting private health insurance in H.R. 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, as ordered reported by House Committees on Education and Labor and on Ways and Means. Specifically, this report focuses on Division A (or I) of H.R. 3200 from those committees. Division A of H.R. 3200 focuses on reducing the number of uninsured, restructuring the private health insurance market, setting minimum standards for health benefits, and providing financial assistance to certain individuals and, in some cases, small employers." (U.S. Congressional Research Service)


Health Care Reform: An Introduction (PDF)
21 pages. Excerpt: "This report does not discuss or even try to identify all of the concerns about health care in the United States that are prompting calls for reform. Other concerns may also be important, at least to some, and will likely contribute to the complexity of the reform debate. The report may be updated to include other health care reform issues as the debate in Congress unfolds." (U.S. Congressional Research Service)


Benefit Maximums Trail Medical Inflation, but Plans Divided on How to Respond
Excerpt: Although some members of Congress want to force insurers to boost the lifetime benefit maximums for insurance policies, carriers are divided on whether coverage caps should be increased. Some contend that raising lifetime caps will only boost premiums without a corresponding improvement in outcomes. But others argue that lifetime caps have failed to keep up with underlying medical cost inflation, leaving enrollees underinsured." (AISHealth.com)


Accounting for Disclosures in Electronic Health Records Could Be Problem for HIPAA Covered Entities
Excerpt: "The new accounting of disclosures requirements for EHRs under the HITECH Act dictates that providers log all disclosures made through EHRs -- including those made for treatment, payment and health care purposes -- and report them to patients when requested. Formerly, HIPAA required that providers log when protected health information (PHI) is disclosed for purposes other than treatment, payment or health care operations." (AISHealth.com)


[Opinion]
Employer Requirement in Senate Finance Committee Health Bill Would Discourage Hiring of Low-Income, Minority, and Disabled Workers
Excerpt: "While an employer responsibility requirement is an essential component of health care reform, a proposal that Senate Finance Committee negotiators are planning to include in their forthcoming health legislation would have serious consequences, particularly for low-income and minority workers, women, and workers with disabilities. Under the proposal, employers who do not offer health coverage would have to pay the average subsidy cost per person for all employees who purchase coverage through the new health insurance exchange and qualify for a subsidy because their family income is below 300 percent of the poverty line. [1] But employers would not have to contribute to the health insurance costs of employees with higher family incomes. The new requirement would apply to firms with 50 or more employees." (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]
Is Electronic Disclosure of Benefit Plan Documents an Option for You?
Excerpt: "Whether their goal is cost-cutting, educating employees, going green, accommodating tech-savvy employees or some combination of these, employers have been increasingly asking: Can we distribute benefit plan documents and other notices required by Title I of ERISA electronically? The short answer is, yes -- in some cases. The longer answer is that electronic disclosure is permitted as long as the employer uses a method reasonably calculated to ensure actual receipt of the information." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)


[Guidance Overview]
Focus on Employee Benefits Newsletter, August 5, 2009 (PDF)
6 pages. This edition covers the following issues: Play or Pay Proposals in Health Reform Legislation, Maintaining Plan Administrative Documents, Tax Treatment of Employment Settlements, and Discounted Options and Section 162(m). (Miller & Chevalier Chartered)


Some Employers Allowing Employees to Exchange Their Underwater Options for Cash, Restricted Stock or Repriced Options
Excerpt: "Seventy-one companies have executed stock options exchange programs so far this year, up from 50 that offered such programs in 2008, according to Underwaterexchange.com, a Web site created by San Jose, California-based Radford, an Aon Consulting company. On top of that, an additional 70 companies have made public their intentions to conduct such programs this year, says Brett Harsen, a vice president at Radford. 'We are tracking to triple the number of exchanges in 2009 than we saw in 2008,' Harsen says." (Workforce Management; free registration required)


National Football League Says Retirees Don't Face Benefits Cut
Excerpt: "The National Football League and the players union are a long way from agreeing on a new collective bargaining agreement. One problem: they cannot even agree on what will happen if there isn't one. For weeks, DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the union, has said that if the league plays without a salary cap in 2010 -- which looks increasingly likely unless a deal is completed by March -- the benefits and pension payments that the owners make to retired players could be slashed. . . . The league added that Smith had never raised the issue in conversations with Commissioner Roger Goodell. 'Simply put, those claims have no basis in fact,' Goodell wrote. 'The facts are that since at least the fall of 2007, the owners have consistently agreed and planned that they will not reduce the funding for pension or disability benefits for retired players.'" (The New York Times; free registration required)

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Webcasts and Conferences

A Full Day Seminar with Sal Tripodi
in Pennsylvania on September 17, 2009
presented by ASPPA Benefits Council of Delaware Valley

( Click to post your webcast or conference )

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Press Releases

Kaiser Updates Interactive Health Reform Comparison Tool To Reflect Latest Congressional Action
Kaiser Family Foundation

PBGC Assumes Hurd Windows & Doors Inc. Pension Plans
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

U.S. Labor Department Obtains Judgment Against Former President of Chicago Investment Firm to Restore $50 Million to Michigan Union Pension Plans
U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

NBCH Calls for Cost Containment and System Transformation in Health Care Reform Legislation
National Business Coalition on Health

( Click to post your press release )

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Employee Benefits Jobs

Plan Administrator for Retirement Plan & ERISA Specialists
for Dana Consulting Group, Ltd.
in IL

Project Management Specialist
for Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB)
in DC

Sales Representative
for Employee Online
in ANY STATE

Sr. Relius Business/System Analyst (Contract)
for Fiserv ISS
in CO

( Click to post your job opening | View all jobs | RSS feed of all jobs )

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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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