An online, clickable version of this newsletter is available at: http://benefitslink.com/2004/2004_12_09_welfare.html
=========================================================== BenefitsLink Welfare Plans Newsletter (Plain Text Format) December 9, 2004 =========================================================== We thank and invite your attention to today's sponsor: WorldatWork =========================================================== New WorldatWork publications just added to the Bookstore! (Advert.) <URL:http://benefitslink.com/cgi/a_d.cgi?a_d=2004_12_09_welfare> http://benefitslink.com/cgi/a_d.cgi?a_d=2004_12_09_welfare (Click on above address, or copy and paste it into your web browser, to learn more.) WorldatWork, a not-for-profit professional association, is a leading publisher of compensation, benefits and total rewards information. With a portfolio of books, reports, survey briefs, booklets and online learning programs, WorldatWork creates, markets and distributes publications that are critical to improved organizational performance. WorldatWork has contributed to the education and development of business professionals worldwide since 1955. (Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor) ---------------------------------------------------------- Cost Savings Will Drive More Employers to Consumer-Directed Care, Mercer Predicts <URL:http://www.aispub.com/Bnow/120804e.html> http://www.aispub.com/Bnow/120804e.html Excerpt: "Consumer-Directed health (CDH) plans cost less per employee than do traditional health coverage options, according to results of an employer study released Nov. 22 by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. And although just 1% of employers offered a CDH plan in 2004, that percentage is expected to balloon to 26% by 2006, Mercer predicts. This year, the cost to cover an employee with a traditional indemnity health plan was $6,707 -- up $776 from 2003, according to the study." (INSIDE CONSUMER-DIRECTED CARE via AISHealth.com) ---------------------------------------------------------- Government's Health Information Technology Rhetoric Comes Up Short on Cash <URL:http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1735552,00.asp> http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1735552,00.asp Excerpt: "A request for $50 million to fund health IT projects didn't make it into the spending bill passed by Congress late last month. Despite the praise heaped on David Brailer, the nation's health IT czar, apparently no politician, including President Bush, saw fit to back the rhetoric with cash. While government funding for health IT is expected from other quarters, the decision is disappointing. Electronic patient records and e-prescribing promise to decrease medical errors, increase ...." (eWeek Enterprise News & Reviews) ---------------------------------------------------------- Confusion Surrounds New National Doctor and Private Payer ID Numbers <URL:http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/12/13/gvl11213.htm> http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/12/13/gvl11213.htm Excerpt: "Physicians will someday be able to use one identification number to fill out all their claim forms, but there is a long road before that goal comes to fruition. Starting May 23, 2005, physicians can submit an application to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to receive their own National Provider Identifier. That single ID number will eventually replace all other identifiers that physicians use in reimbursement and other transactions with private payers, clearinghouses ...." (American Medical News) ---------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Drug Importation Report Delayed, Thompson Says <URL:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=571&e=9&u=/nm/20041208/hl_nm/health_imports_dc_1> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=571&e=9&u=/nm/20041208/hl_nm/health_imports_dc_1 Excerpt: "The Bush administration is not ready to release a highly anticipated report on the importation of pres.cription drugs that was due Wednesday, Health and Human Services ... Secretary Tommy Thompson said. A Medicare law signed by President Bush (news - web sites) a year ago required the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) to study how American consumers could buy cheaper medicines safely from Can.ada and some other countries." (Reuters via Yahoo! News) ---------------------------------------------------------- Lawmakers to Seek New Pay Plan for Medicaid Drugs <URL:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44219-2004Dec7.html> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44219-2004Dec7.html Excerpt: "U.S. taxpayers are overpaying for medicines for poor Medicaid patients and the system is ripe for an overhaul next year, lawmakers in both parties said on .... Democrats and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittees on health and oversight both expressed concern about how drug companies, particularly manufacturers of generic ... drugs, are setting prices artificially high. That lets both the drug maker and the pharmacists dispensing the medications make big profits." (Reuters via The Washington Post; one-time registration required) ---------------------------------------------------------- Faith-Based Plans Use Riders, Ethicists to Navigate Benefits, Coverage Issues <URL:http://www.aispub.com/Bnow/120804d.html> http://www.aispub.com/Bnow/120804d.html Excerpt: "Congress's decision last month to extend discrimination protections to health insurers that refuse to cover abortions is just the latest instance of how the debate over so-called 'values' issues like reproductive rights and g.ay marriage has extended into the health insurance arena. Faith-based health plans have long grappled with how to offer comprehensive health coverage to customers without violating either their own religious tenets or state and federal laws that govern such ...." (MANAGED CARE WEEK via AISHealth.com) ---------------------------------------------------------- Opinion: Minnesota's Health Care Gamble with the Smart Buy Alliance of Government and Employers <URL:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49826-2004Dec8.html> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49826-2004Dec8.html Excerpt: "No one is immune from the problem of runaway costs in the dysfunctional U.S. health care system -- not individual families, not businesses, and certainly not state and federal governments. The universality of the problem is what makes an experiment being launched in Minnesota this month an important national story. Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced on Nov. 29 the formation of the Smart Buy Alliance, an unprecedented partnership of state government and private employers that will ...." (The Washington Post; one-time registration required) ---------------------------------------------------------- Summary Paper: ERIC's Health Savings Accounts Workability Project (PDF) <URL:http://www.eric.org/forms/uploadFiles/33A600000004.filename.ERICpositionHSAetc.pdf> http://www.eric.org/forms/uploadFiles/33A600000004.filename.ERICpositionHSAetc.pdf September 2004. 3 pages. Excerpt: "[A] summary paper developed by The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) outlin[es] the desired changes to make HSAs, FSAs and HRAs more relevant and responsive to major employers. The paper also identifies an additional medical savings account desired by major employers to assist in saving for retiree medical costs .... The ERIC HSA Workability Project Steering Committee conducted numerous conference calls, a FocusOn call with US Treasury staff ...." (The ERISA Industry Committee) ========================================================== Links To Items on Executive Comp, Benefits In General ---------------------------------------------------------- Overview: New York City Law Requirement of Equal Domestic Partner Benefits for City Contractors (PDF) <URL:http://www.ballardspahr.com/files/tbl_s11Newsletters/PDFFile142/451/LaborEAlert120804.pdf> http://www.ballardspahr.com/files/tbl_s11Newsletters/PDFFile142/451/LaborEAlert120804.pdf 2 pages. Excerpt: "Businesses that contract with the City of New York should be aware of the City's recently adopted 'Equal Benefits Law.' The law requires that businesses with contracts for $100,000 or more provide domestic partner benefits to their employees that are equal to the benefits the employer provides to married employees and their spouses. This law is similar to laws in place in certain other cities, such as in San Francisco and Seattle, and a California state law that will ...." (The Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP) ---------------------------------------------------------- Towers Perrin's Worldwide Pay and Benefit Headlines for December 2004 (PDF) <URL:http://www.towers.com/towers/webcache/towers/United_States/publications/Periodicals/worldwide_pay/2004_12/headlines1204.pdf> http://www.towers.com/towers/webcache/towers/United_States/publications/Periodicals/worldwide_pay/2004_12/headlines1204.pdf 8 pages. The newsletter includes updates on pay and benefit issues in Australia, Can.ada, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Netherlands, and the United States. (Towers Perrin) ---------------------------------------------------------- Colgate Executives Get Thousands for Perks -- the Plan Covers 800 Executives <URL:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/COLGATE_PERKS?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT> http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/COLGATE_PERKS?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Excerpt: "Colgate-Palmolive Co., which announced Tuesday it is eliminating 4,400 jobs, disclosed in a regulatory filing that many of its top executives and officers are given allowances of up to $11,500 a year to spend on anything from pet sitters to running shoes to karate lessons to movie rentals. The plan, called 'Above and Beyond,' was detailed in the consumer product company's quarterly filing in November with the Securities and Exchange Commission." (Associated Press) ---------------------------------------------------------- State of the Third Party Administration Industry & Forecast for 2005 <URL:http://users.erols.com/spba/p0000053.html> http://users.erols.com/spba/p0000053.html Excerpt: "The TPA industry has had an active, but not eroding amount of mergers & acquisitions among members. Frankly, the biggest problem is how to tally SPBA's comparative 'size' from year to year. A firm name may disappear from the roster, but the office & workers & clients are still in the TPA business under the merged SPBA member name, so they are not really a 'loss' to the industry or SPBA. .... [W]e find that for every merged or closing firm, there is a new firm joining each year." (Society of Professional Benefit Administrators) ---------------------------------------------------------- Mercer's 2004 Spotlight on Benefits Report Analyzes Benefit Levels of Large U.S. Employers <URL:http://www.mercerhr.com/pressrelease/details.jhtml/dynamic/idContent/1164395;jsessionid=00KWHO2NGSGVUCTGOUGCIIQKMZ0QYI2C> http://www.mercerhr.com/pressrelease/details.jhtml/dynamic/idContent/1164395;jsessionid=00KWHO2NGSGVUCTGOUGCIIQKMZ0QYI2C Excerpt: "The 2004 Spotlight on Benefits Report, an analysis of the benefit programs of more than 1,000 large US employers, indicates that large nonprofit organizations (including civic and professional associations, religious organizations, national charitable organizations, and major foundations) offer the highest level of total benefits at 128% of the market median, followed by government employers at 127% of the market median and education employers at 121% of the market median." (Mercer Human Resource Consulting) ========================================================== Newly Posted Events Basic HSAs - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on January 20, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38979> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38979 Basic IRAs - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on January 11, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38980> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38980 Comparing Roth and Traditional IRAs - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on March 22, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38981> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38981 Coverdell Education Savings Accounts - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on February 10, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38982> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38982 Current Health Care Trends � 2005 and Beyond (Based on survey research) Nationwide on December 16, 2004 presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38986> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38986 Establishing IRAs and IRA Amendments - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on February 8, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38983> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38983 General Traditional IRA Distributions - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on February 15, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38984> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38984 IRA Beneficiary Distributions - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on March 8, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38985> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38985 IRA Contributions - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on March 31, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38987> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38987 IRA Required Minimum Distributions - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on January 25, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38990> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38990 IRA Required Minimum Distributions - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on March 17, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38991> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38991 IRA Required Reporting - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on January 13, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38992> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38992 IRA to IRA Transfers and Rollovers - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on January 27, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38988> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38988 IRA to IRA Transfers and Rollovers - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on March 24, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38989> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38989 IRA Update - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on January 5, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38993> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38993 IRA Update - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on March 2, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38994> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38994 Roth IRA Distributions - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on February 22, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38995> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38995 SEP Plans - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on March 29, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38996> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38996 SIMPLE IRA Plans - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on February 17, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38997> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38997 Withholding - Telephone Seminar Nationwide on February 24, 2005 presented by BISYS Retirement Services <URL:http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38998> http://benefitslink.com/events/detail.php?id=38998 Post yours! http://benefitslink.com/events/eventmaint.php ========================================================== Newly Posted Press Releases SIIA To Conduct Briefings On Compensation Practices (Self-Insurance Institute of America, Inc.) http://benefitslink.com/pr/detail.php?id=38501 CalPERS Discloses Private Equity Profits and Management Fees/Costs; Innovative Settlement Balances Transparency With Ability to Compete (CalPERS (California Public Employees' Retirement System)) http://benefitslink.com/pr/detail.php?id=38500 Mortgage Benefits Corp. and First Consolidated Mortgage Company to offer Exclusive Stated Income Loan Product (Mortgage Benefits Corporation) http://benefitslink.com/pr/detail.php?id=38502 Post yours! http://benefitslink.com/pr/maint.php ========================================================== Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings Retirement Professionals for BeneTemps, Inc. in CT, MA, NY, RI http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H40758 Pension Administrator for The Benefits Consulting Group, Inc. in IL http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41189 Daily Valuation Specialist/DC Record-Keeper for R-Tech Consultants, Inc. in CA http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41190 Conversion/Compliance Specialist for Retirement Benefit Solutions, LLC in VA http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41192 Assistant Administrator for McCready and Keene, Inc. in IN http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41193 Senior Marketing Analyst for ICMA Retirement Corporation in DC http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41195 Health & Welfare Consultant for National Consulting Firm in DC http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41198 Retirement Project Manager for Hewitt Associates in IL http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41199 Customer Service Project Manager for Hewitt Associates in IL http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41200 ERISA Business Analyst for King & Spalding LLP in GA http://benefitslink.com/modperl/show_a_job.cgi?database_id=H41202 Post yours! 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