Equity Compensation Plan Participants Value Education

November 11, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A new poll reveals employers who sponsor equity compensation plans have an important part to play in educating employees.

Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed feel it is important that an employer provide education and guidance about how a stock plan works, according to the poll from Morgan Stanley Global Stock Plan Service. Only 50% feel their employer has done an excellent or very good job of providing such education and guidance.

    While 59% of respondents describe their stock plan as a key part of their compensation package, 82% believe having a stock plan is a sound business strategy for employers.

      “Providing first-class educational resources and access to planning tools can help maximize the investment companies make in establishing and maintaining an equity compensation plan,” says Evan Siegal, executive director and head of Product Strategy, Morgan Stanley Corporate Equity Solutions, based in New York.

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      When asked about financial planning, 66% of respondents were extremely or very confident in reaching long-term financial goals if they had a written financial plan.

      “These poll results make it clear that employee education is extremely important to stock plan participants and most expect that education from their employer,” said Walter Veghte executive director and head of Financial Planning Resources at Morgan Stanley. “Financial planning is also directly related to a participants’ confidence about reaching long-term goals and is critical in increasing the value perceived from their stock plans. This poll confirmed that confidence rises when stock plan assets are included in the overall financial plan.”

      Regulators Issue Final Mental Health Parity Rule

      November 11, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Federal regulators have issued a final rule implementing the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.

      The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury jointly issued a final rule increasing parity between mental health/substance use disorder benefits and medical/surgical benefits in group and individual health plans. The rule ensures health plan features like copays, deductibles and visits limits are generally not more restrictive for mental health/substance abuse disorder benefits than they are for medical/surgical benefits.

      The rule also includes specific additional consumer protections, such as:

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      • Ensuring that parity applies to intermediate levels of care received in residential treatment or intensive outpatient settings;
      • Clarifying the scope of the transparency required by health plans, including the disclosure rights of plan participants, to ensure compliance with the law;
      • Clarifying that parity applies to all plan standards, including geographic limits, facility-type limits and network adequacy; and
      • Eliminating an exception to the existing parity rule that was determined to be confusing, unnecessary and open to abuse.

      The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act builds on the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and requires coverage of mental health and substance use disorder services as one of ten essential health benefits categories. Under the essential health benefits rule, individual and small group health plans are required to comply with these parity regulations.

      The final Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act rule was developed based on the departments’ review of more than 5,400 public comments on the interim final rules issued in 2010 (see “Treasury, HHS Issue New Rules on Mental Health Parity”).

      The final rules may be viewed at https://www.federalregister.gov.

      A fact sheet on the rules is available here.

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