Integrity: Newsletter-- Back Issues

*Back* issues of our newsletter are available for download here. As previously mentioned, you will need Adobe Reader to view them.
	Employee Benefits Report How to Help Employees Make Better Healthcare Decisions January 2008 \| Volume 6 \| Number 1 View PDF
	Articles How to Help Employees Make Better Healthcare Decisions The best way to help employees make better healthcare decisions is to give them more inofrmation, right? Maybe not. Contrary to popular notions that healthcare consumers need more information, research shows that they need the right information at the right time to improve decision-making... This Just In To accommodate diversity -- and to reduce unexpected absences and the abuse of sick days -- many companies have instituted paid-time-off banks... Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts Can Save Money But if used incorrectly, employees may lose hard-earned dollars. Tips for Success A reimbursement account is designed to help employees save money on healthcare and dependent care costs. Make sure employees understand the following... The Changing Landscape of Info Delivery Several major trends are changing consumers' need for healthcare information and its availability... The Clear Benefits of Offering Vision Health Companies that exclude vision benefits from employees may want to rethink whether that is helping the bottom line. Vision disorders can cut productivity and are said to cost U.S. companies billions... What To Do When Vision Impairment Becomes an Issue? When may an employer ask an employee questions or require medical examination relating to the employee's vision impairment...

	Employee Benefits Report Mental Health Parity: The New Reality, The New Costs December 2007 \| Volume 5 \| Number 12 View PDF
	Articles Mental Health Parity: The New Reality, The new Costs Many in the healthcare professions have long considered mental health the poor stepchild of health plan coverage. While the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (which expires at the end of this year) aimed to ensure adequate levels of mental health coverage, critics believed it didn't go far enough. This Just In Those retail "minute clinics" beloved by employees, employers and insurers are raising eyebrows over at the American Medical Association (AMA)... First Smokers, Now the Obese? Do "Lifestyle" Penalties Work A small but growing number of employers charge smokers more for their health care than they do for nonsmokers. And in a recent survey by the National Business Group on Health, about 49 percent of employees surveyed at large companies said they would support higher premiums for obese workers --in theory anyway. Where There's Smoke, There's Fire Most managers would rather reward good behavior than punish bad behavior, but with health care costs so high... HIPAA Rules May Allow "Obese Penalties" Under HIPAA rules, employers may indeed penalize (or reward) employees for wellness issues as long as the wellness program meets certain regulations... Better Retirement Planning Through Better Education As benefits managers know, Americans aren't saving for retirement like they should. Effective education may be the key to improving participation in retirement plans. Health Benefit Cost Increases Slow What goes up must come down... or at least moderate. That seems to be the case with the rate of increase in employee benefit costs...

	Employee Benefits Report Protect Your Company from Health Insurance Scams November 2007 \| Volume 5 \| Number 11 View PDF
	Articles Protect Your Company from Health Insurance Scams 144 unauthorized entities illegally selling health insurance from 2000 to 2002 defrauded 15,000 employers and 200,000 policyholders of $252 million, according to the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI)... This Just In Voluntary benefits are growing in popularity... Helping Employees Nurture a Nest Egg Nondiscrimination rules prohibit top-heavy plans, or plans that involve too many high-income earners and not enough low-income earners. It's usually easier for high-income employees to set money aside because they have more free cash... 401(k) Loans Some 401(k) providers are making loans easier for plan sponsors by allowing 401(k) investors to take loans from their account by debit card or check... FMLA Working...Mostly Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in 1993 to help employees retain job rights while coping with the serious illness of themselves or a family member. After analyzing input from more than 15,000 employees and employers, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reported in June that the law was largely working as intended... The FMLA: Applies to any employer with 50 or more workers in a 75-mile radius each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year...

	Employee Benefits Report Which Health Plan Applies? October 2007 \| Volume 5 \| Number 10 View PDF
	Articles Which Health Plan Applies? When your employees are covered by more than one health plan, you'll want to know which plan is "primary" (insurance jargon for the one that pays claims first). Here's some guidance... This Just In The IRS issued new proposed regulations for cafeteria plans in August... IRS Updates 403(b) Regulations It has been 43 years since the IRS has issued regulations governing the 403(b)s, the tax-sheltered retirement plans for most nonprofits and public schools. The new rules generally go into effect for plan years beginning after Dec. 31, 2008... Legal Plans: What's the Verdict? As of 2002, some 3 million Americans had enrolled in some type of voluntary legal service plan through their employer. In fact, the majority of people (57 percent) who voluntarily enroll in a legal service plan do so through their employer, according to a survey by the American Prepaid Legal Services Institute. Should you offer this benefit to your employees? Time to Send Safe Harbor 401(k) Notices Plan administrators must send safe harbor notices within 90 days of the start of a new plan year, but no fewer than 30 days from the start date...

	Employee Benefits Report Give Your Employees More Retirement Security with a 401(k) G September 2007 \| Volume 5 \| Number 9 View PDF
	Articles Give Your Employees More Retirement Security with a 401 (k) Insurance companies have been offering guarantees for 401(k)s for some time in the form of an annuity embedded in the 401(k) plan, but now something new is coming on the market, according to an article in Benefits Quarterly (Second Quarter 2007)... This Just In Want to encourage employees to take better care of themselves? Try cash... How Strong Benefit Programs Boost Recruiting In a world where 88 percent of employers expect the competition for employees to increase or remain steady during the next 18 months, and the huge baby boomer generation has begun to retire, and organization's ability to compete for talent could make a critical difference to its future Troublshooting HSA Enrollment Kelly Racca, an account manager for Shew & Company, Inc., an independent insurance brokerage, said she was "shocked" the first time a bank refused to open health savings accounts for some of the employees ath te company she was working with... Controlling Prescription Costs: When Cost - Sharing Doesn't Increasing employees' out-of-pocket prescription expenses could end up costing you money in the long run, according to a recent study... IRS to issue guidance on HSA rules The IRS is proposing rules that apply to two situations that come up with health savings accounts. The first concerns when an employee fails to establish an HSA...

	Employee Benefits Report How Benefits Can Ease the "Talent Drain" August 2007 \| Volume 5 \| Number 8 View PDF
	Articles How Benefits Can Ease the "Talent Drain" The retirement of our biggest generation, the Baby Boomers, has begun, and companies are already feeling the effects... This Just In Health benefit cost increases should return to the single digits in 2008... The Democrats Weigh in on Healthcare In this article, we look at the health care ideas of the three leading contenders for the Democratic party's presidential nomination... Active Workers Can Collect Retirement Benefits, Says IRS The Internal Revenue Service has issued new rules for pension distributions and to define "normal" retirement age... Buckconsulting.com the Web site of Buck Consultants, a human resources consulting firm based in New York City, offers these insights on the IRS guidelines for normal retirement age... Medical Tourism: a Growing Trend More and more American patients are going overseas for procedures at a fraction of the cost they would pay in the U.S... Show Them the Money The society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) 2007 Job Satisfaction Survey Report, release in late June found a disconnect between what human resource professionals though was important to employee job satisfaction and the factors that employees themselves rated as important to job satisfaction...

	Employee Benefits Report Cobra: An Overview July 2007 \| Volume 5 \| Number 7 View PDF
	Articles COBRA: An Overview Valuable benefit can create a compliance burden for employers... This Just In Montana has launched an initiative to see that all its workers have health care benefits. A bill being drafted would provide a health care echange to link existing private insurance... Small Companies Find It Easier to Adapt to Roth 401(k) New investors and those with high housold incomes are early adopters... Investor Comparison Here's Vanguard's rundown of those most likely to select a Roth... Keen on Green Socially responsible benefits can boost employee morale... Healthcare Ratings How do providers in your healthcare network measure up? The federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has an online tool to help you find...

	Employee Benefits Report More Employees Interested in Long-Term Care June 2007 \| Volume 5 Number 6 View PDF
	Articles More Employees Interested in Long-Term Care Nearly 75 percent of baby boomers and seniors are concerned about paying for long-term care. Yet by 2003, only 13 percent of full-time private industry workers had access to long-term care insurance through their employers... This Just In Seeking out and treating depression in the workforce might work to employer's best interests, according to an analysis funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and published in December 2006... Mental Health Parity Back on Front Burner Only a third of the 44 million Americans who suffer from a mental health disorder receive treatment. Because mental health has a strong effect on physical health, employers will want to consider the status of their mental health benefits... According to the IRS: You cannot exclude contributions to the cost of long-term care insurance from an employee's wages subject to federal income tax withholding... Automatic 401(k) Enrollment on the Rise Employers can use automatic 401(k) enrollment and escalation programs to help save for their retirement... Catch-Up Contributions: According to the IRS, a [401(k)] plan can permit participants who are age 50 or over at the end of the calendar year to make additional catch-up contributions... Survey: Workers Value Health Benefit Most Results of a recent survey of 1,619 people who work for large American employers indicate that a majority consider health care coverage the most important benefit of employment... Employees Pay More for Benefits Most employees are paying for a portions of their medical benefits. As of 2007, 75 perscent of employees contributed toward their group medical premiums, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics...

	Employee Benefits Report Dental: Lots of Benefits for Little Money May 2007 \| Volume 5 Number 5 View PDF
	Articles Dental: Lots of Benefits for Little Money While nearly all large employers (500+ employees) offer dental benefits, only 45 percent of employers overall offer this valuable coverage. If you don't offer dental coverage, here are some reasons to consider it... This Just In Employment-based health plans covered 62 percent of U.S. workers in 2005, according to the nonpartisan Employee Benefits Research Insitute (EBRI). That was fewer than in 2004, when 64.4 percent of American workers were covered... Cash Balance Plans: How They Can Work to Your Advantage Cash balance plans give employees more flexibility than other defined benefit palns, while simplifying administration for the employer... "Traditional" pension plans vs. cash balance plans The two traditional retirement plans are defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans. In general, defined benefit plans provide a specific benefit to employees throughout retirement while defined contribution plans spell out the amount of the contribution to an employee's retirement account... Managing Paid Time Off Policies In the era when "work-life balance" has become a buzz phrase, paid time off policies are more important than ever. How to Get Employees to Take Insurance Benefits A Kaiser/HRET Employer Benefits Survey showed a direct correlation between the percentage of pay required to cover premiums and the number of workers who take health insurance through their employers: The higher the percentage, the fewer takers...

	Employee Benefits Report Debating the Pros & Cons of Bush's Proposed Health Plan April 2007 \| Volume 5 Number 4 View PDF
	Articles Debating the Pros & Cons of Bush's Proposed Health Plan The Bush health plan could undermine the employer-paid healthcare system... San Francisco Pioneers Mandated Paid Sick Leave San Francisco's new law mandating paid sick leave went into effect on February 5... Yes, You Can Cut Health Care Costs Knowing what drives your claims costs can help you take steps to keep them in line... Understanding 401(k) Fees (and how to reduce them) Fees can make a big difference in 401(k) returns. Here's an overview of fees providers charge... Up in Smoke: Tobacco Cessation Programs at Work Getting employees to quit smoking can be one of the best steps you can make to lower healthcare costs... Employers can help employees who smoke by: Requesting or selecting health plans that cover effective treatments of smoking...

	Employee Benefits Report Using Hybrid Health Plans to Control High Healthcare Costs March 2007 \| Volume 5 Number 3 View PDF
	Articles Using Hybrid Health Plans to Control High Healthcare Costs Layering plans can help you keep premiums and employees' out-of-pocket costs low... This Just In As of September 2006, only about 1 percent of the privately insured adults of working age had either an HSA or HRA... Group Disability Insurance: Know All the Facts Group long-term disability plans offer affordable benefits, but have some limitations... New HIPAA Regulations Apply to Employer Sponsored Wellness P A new regulation clarifies what financial incientives employers can and can't offer under HIPAA's nondiscrimination requirements... Diversifying 401(k)s under the PPA Employers have until March 30 to make sure of their 401(k)s dealing with employer stock meet the new requirements of the Pension Protection Act... What to look for in a group disability plan The National Business Group on Health, a national non-profit organization representing large employers and providing solutions to their health care problems, offers three suggestings to provide disability benefits workers can truly use while controlling employer costs...

	Employee Benefits Report Strategies for Successful Open Enrollments February 2007 \| Volume 5 Number 2 View PDF
	Articles Strategies for Successful Open Enrollments Open enrollment can be a stressful time for benefit administrators and enrollees alike. These strategies will make open enrollment easier for all involved... This Just In Despite confidence in 401(k) investment decisions, most are still not sure their savings will last in retirement... Fixing Your Defined Contribution Plan Employers like defined contribution plans because they limit their liabilities. But employees don't always fare as well under these plans. Here's how you can help employees get the most out of their defined contribution plan... Insider Secrets: How States Regulate Insurance Premiums Did you ever wonder how insurers calculate premiums? They're not just pulling numbers out of a hat--State law helps determine how much you pay for group coverage... Tax Bill Will Ease HSA Administration The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, signed into law on December 20, will help participants build HSA (Health Savings Accounts) balances...