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Health Plan Premiums Vary Widely by State
Excerpt: "A new set of tables from the federal government shows a wide state-by-state variation in what Americans paid in premiums for employer based health coverage in 2008. Not only does the total amount of premium cost vary, but also the share paid by the employer versus the share paid by the employee. For example, workers with families in Alaska were covered by health plans costing on average $13,383 a year, while $3,248 was paid by the employee and $10,135 paid by the employer. At the high end, plans in Alaska cost $20,000 a year, $8,000 more than the national average. In contrast, a worker with a family in Alabama was covered by health plans costing on average $11,119, and the employee's share was $3,265 while the employer's cost was $7,855." (HealthLeaders Media)


Health Care Reform Carries Potential Harm to Low-Wage Workers, According to Analysis
Excerpt: "The author of the analysis, Mark Wilson, said he wanted to show the unintended economic consequences of the legislation proposed in the House and Senate. The bills that have been introduced would require employers to provide health care for their employees or pay a fee to the government to subsidize the cost of covering the uninsured. 'If you impose an employer mandate there will be a negative impact on workers,' said Wilson, a principal of economic and public policy research group Applied Economic Strategies, which the foundation commissioned to do the study. 'There are some good things, but [also] nasty unintended consequences, especially for part-time, low-wage workers.'" (Workforce Management; free registration required)


Cost Management Strategies for Multiemployer Health Funds During Sustained Economic Downturns (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "As the nation awaits national health care reform, trustees of multiemployer health funds are facing immediate and longer term challenges related to the still distressed economy. Utilization patterns may change in some ways that increase costs in the short term and in other ways that compromise participants' health over time. As expenditures rise and continued low levels of employment lead to reductions in overall contributions, health funds may be depleted. This NewsLetter is devoted to steps that trustees can take now to ensure that plan costs stay within budgets by looking carefully at cost sharing, plan design and vendor performance." (The Segal Group, Inc.)


The Evolving Healthcare Claims Audit (PDF)
Pages 6-8 of 8 pages. (Milliman)


Mental Health Parity As Opportunity for Employers to Improve Approach to Behavioral Health Care (PDF)
Pages 4-6 of 8 pages. (Milliman)


West Virginia Facing Huge Post-Employment Benefit Costs for Public Employees
Excerpt: "If state government started saving up for the health premium costs promised to public workers in retirement - much like parents start saving for kids to go to college - it would need to sock away about $669 million beyond the $123 million it is projected to spend on current retirees this year, state officials say. That is the difference between the pay-as-you-go method the state has been using to cover retiree health costs and what it would need to begin covering the unfunded liability from other post-employment benefits, or OPEB, to amortize the pledge over 30 years. The unfunded liability is a moving target officials have recently estimated at $7 billion." (Charleston Daily Mail)


Proposed FMLA Legislation Could Present New Compliance Challenges
Excerpt: "[Congress has] been considering a slew of aggressive proposals designed to expand various aspects of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). While these changes could affect employers in all industries, retailers should be especially concerned due to the possible lowering of requirements for coverage of part-time employees." (Fisher & Phillips LLP)


Doctors' Spending Exceeds Insurance as Many Take Steps to Protect Themselves; Patients' Wishes Push Up Bills, Too
Excerpt: "Calculating how much defensive medicine actually costs is extremely difficult, because medical professionals often have many motivations for ordering tests and other procedures. The U.S. spends a higher percentage of its gross domestic product on health care than any other nation in the industrialized world. Legal expenses contribute to the bill. Even so, health-care experts say the direct costs of medical malpractice -- the insurance premiums, claims paid and legal fees -- amount to a very small portion of overall health-care spending. . . . Indirect costs that stem in part from medical professionals looking for legal protection play a far larger role in health-care spending, doctors and some analysts say." (The Wall Street Journal)


Audio and Text: Fixing Health Care by Altering Patient Behavior
Excerpt: "Patients are a strange sort of consumer. We don't know what anything costs, and even if we did, it does not matter because we are not covering most of the cost. This is not necessarily wrong. It simply means that as consumers, we are not very involved in containing costs. There is debate about whether this should change, with economic arguments on both sides. . . . David Goldhill, a businessman who wrote the article 'How American Health Care Killed My Father' for The Atlantic magazine, argues that patients need to act more like consumers. Goldhill's father died from a hospital-borne infection. While sitting in the hospital, he says, he noticed all the ways in which a hospital does not act like a normal business. 'I thought about all the things I had seen while accompanying my father in his time in the hospital that made absolutely no sense to me,' he says." (All Things Considered via National Public Radio)

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Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General

[Guidance Overview]
FASB's New Accounting Standards Codification: All Preexisting Non-SEC Accounting Standards Are Superseded (PDF)
Excerpt: "The purpose of this letter is to alert compensation professionals to a significant development in the reorganization of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Beginning with interim and annual periods ending after September 15, 2009, all financial statements will make reference to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) new Accounting Standards Codification (ASC or Codification) rather than previously existing accounting standards such as FASB Statement No. 123R. The reorganization does not create new accounting standards or guidance, but the structure of the Codification is significantly different than that of previous accounting standards. This letter provides a brief overview of the Codification and identifies citations that are relevant to executive compensation." (Frederic W. Cook & Co., Inc.)


Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt File Form S-4 as Part of Next Step in Creation of Towers Watson & Co.
Excerpt: "Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby, Inc. and Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Inc. . . . announced that Jupiter Saturn Holding Company ('Jupiter Saturn'), the new entity formed as part of the merger process between Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt, filed a registration statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Form S-4 filing is one of several steps in the merger process that must be completed before obtaining each company's shareholder approval of the Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt merger. After the merger becomes effective, Jupiter Saturn will change its name to Towers Watson & Co." (Business Wire)


The Aging Workforce: How to Fight the Risks
Excerpt: "The workforce is aging fast, and stakeholders -- companies, governments, and others -- have a narrow window of time to adapt. So says the World Economic Forum, which Wednesday issued an 80-page report outlining strategic options to address how stakeholders can strengthen financial sustainability, quality of retirement, and health-care provisioning in a rapidly aging world. The report emphasizes that companies and governments must work cooperatively for meaningful action to occur -- a dubious scenario in today's light, with the two sides rarely in agreement on how health care and retirement should be paid for. For CFOs, however, the concern is whether retirement and health-care funding should be a priority right now." (CFO.com)


Vermont Solar Firm Offers New Workplace Benefit
Excerpt: "A White River Junction, Vermont, solar power company is offering a workplace benefit program in which employers can contribute part of the cost when employees add solar power to their homes. A news release from groSolar said its Employee Green Benefits program offers group discounts on solar power systems for employees." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

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Webcasts and Conferences

2009 Fall Tour: Advanced IRAs: Compliance Issues
in Massachusetts on October 9, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: Advanced IRAs: Compliance Issues
in Texas on October 16, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: Advanced IRAs: Compliance Issues
in Virginia on October 28, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: Advanced IRAs: Compliance Issues
in Maryland on October 30, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: Advanced IRAs: Compliance Issues
in Kansas on November 4, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: Advanced IRAs: Compliance Issues
in Georgia on November 6, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: Advanced IRAs: Compliance Issues
in California on December 9, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Pennsylvania on October 6, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Pennsylvania on October 7, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Massachusetts on October 8, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Oklahoma on October 13, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Wisconsin on October 13, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Texas on October 14, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Wisconsin on October 14, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Texas on October 15, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Oregon on October 20, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Oregon on October 21, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Virginia on October 27, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Maryland on October 29, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Kansas on November 3, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Georgia on November 5, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Ohio on November 17, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Louisiana on December 8, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in California on December 8, 2009
presented by Ascensus

2009 Fall Tour: IRA Essentials
in Florida on December 9, 2009
presented by Ascensus

Broker of Record Consolidation Series Part I: Why BOR Consolidation - Archived
Nationwide on September 4, 2009
presented by Center for Due Diligence

Understanding Retirement Plan Fees
Nationwide on September 23, 2009
presented by Spectrum Pension Consultants, Inc.

( Click to post your webcast or conference )

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Press Releases

2010 Segal Health Plan Cost Trend Survey Released
The Segal Company

Conference To Explore Ways To Make Savings Last A Lifetime
American Council of Life Insurers

Nurses and Retirement Security: A Looming Crisis?
Women?s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER)

Justice Department Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History
U.S. Department of Justice

( Click to post your press release )

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