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The Spencer’s Benefits Reports is a summary of the week's news items posted in the WHAT'S NEW pages of Spencer’s Benefits Reports Online. For questions regarding this email service, contact Customer Service at (800)449-9525.
The U.S. Master Pension Guide reflects the latest regulations, rulings and cases for qualified retirement plans, surveying the different type of plans from which an employer may choose, and describing the procedures for obtaining plan qualification.
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On October 29, Rep. John Dingell (Mich.) introduced H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, an amalgam of proposals already approved by three House Committees…
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The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) will host a free webcast on November 5 to help employers, plan administrators, and service providers prepare for changes to the Form 5500 and electronic filing requirements that begin with the 2009 plan year filings. The agency will offer webcasts and other educational outreach throughout the year…
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Employer-sponsored health insurance continued to erode for the eighth consecutive year, according to research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The briefing paper, Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Erosion Continues: Unabated Declines in Coverage Since 2000 are Expected to Worsen Through 2009, found that the percentage of Americans with employer-sponsored coverage declined from 62.9% in 2007 to 61.9% in 2008, and that there has been a total decrease of 6.4 percentage points since 2000…
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The Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment that requires the law firm of Bichler and Kelley, P.A., and two individuals, the firm’s director and office manager, to terminate the firm’s SIMPLE IRA plan and distribute the assets to participants. The consent judgment was entered by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, in Solis v. Bichler and Kelley, P.A. (Civil Action No. 6:C9-cv-1253-Orl-31 GJK)…
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Employers and unions that sponsor a health care plan with prescription drug benefits have until November 15 to provide the annual notice of Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit creditable coverage to all their Medicare-eligible participants. The annual notice must disclose to Medicare-eligible plan participants whether or not the group health plan’s prescription drug benefits are at least as good as the benefits offered under the Medicare Part D plan…
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As provided by the Senate Finance Committee’s America’s Healthy Future Act, the excise tax on “Cadillac” high-cost group health plans would affect about one-third of group health plans in 2019, according to an estimate by the House’s Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT). The study was prepared at the request of Rep. Joe Courtney (Conn.)…
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In a recent report to Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the effects of automatic enrollment and automatic contribution escalation features in 401(k) plans. The GAO prepared the report for the Senate Special Committee on Aging…
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On October 26, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) announced that he was sending to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) a health reform bill that blends elements of two Senate committee proposals and that includes a public plan option to compete with private insurance plans…
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Saving for retirement is very important, according to 96.9% of respondents to a survey conducted by ING Institute for Retirement Research. In addition, respondents overwhelmingly (92.4%) said that automatically deducting from the paycheck is the best way to save; 83.6% said that their employer’s plan was very important for saving for retirement, with 11.4% saying that their employer plan is fairly important. The survey, The Hearts and Minds of Retirement Investors, was conducted between April 9 and June 6, 2009, and includes responses from 1,049 individuals who generally are investors in ING-managed retirement programs…
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In 2006, Massachusetts enacted health reform that has increased its insured citizens to 97.3% of state residents. While some say that this health reform has been too costly, a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) indicates that the experience in Massachusetts can help inform the national debate over health reform…
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On October 23, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) released additional guidance regarding the Form 5500 Schedule C. The expanded requirements apply for plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2009. The new guidance is provided in the form of 25 frequently-asked-questions on the new Schedule C requirements…
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Employees of small businesses are 50% more likely to lose coverage as workers at large businesses, according to a recent report released jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). In addition, the report, Insurance at Risk: Small Business Employees Risk Losing Coverage, found that half of workers in small firms that do not offer health benefits remain uninsured…
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The 2009 State of Health Care Quality Report from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)reveals that after 10 years of quality improvement, “the quality of care in America appears to have reached a plateau.” The report noted that “With a few key exceptions, quality measures in the three major sectors of our system—commercial insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid—were flat"…
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The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has issued proposed regulations regarding uniformed services accounts to conform with mandatory tax provisions and current recordkeeping practices, and that would allow only for pro rata court-ordered payments. The proposed regulations also would amend the agency’s existing rules concerning death benefits to provide for a clear process by which children of participants can establish parentage, and would outline the circumstances under which a Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) account may be frozen.. The proposed regulations appeared in the October 22 Federal Register…
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