What's New / April 2001

What's New - April 2001

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What's new at EBRI this month:

Parents, Youth & Money: As a followup to the 1999 Youth & Money Survey, the Employee  Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the American Savings Education Council (ASEC) released the 2001 Parents, Youth & Money Survey on April 12, 2001, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.  The survey looks at how parents interact with their children on financial issues.  For more information, contact Danny Devine or Variny Paladino.

The April 2001 EBRI Issue Brief: "The Changing Face of Private Retirement Plans"

The April 2001 EBRI Notes article: “Findings From the 2000 Health Confidence Survey”

Statement of Dallas L. Salisbury for the ERISA Advisory Council, Working Group on Preparing for Retirement, on April 9, 2001.

Statement of Paul Fronstin for the ERISA Advisory Council, Working Group on Challenges to the Employment-Based Health Care System, on April 10, 2001.

Statement of Dallas L. Salisbury for the ERISA Advisory Council, Working Group Studying Increasing Pension Coverage, on April 9, 2001.

Testimony of Dallas L. Salisbury before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, Hearing on H.R. 10, The Comprehensive Retirement Security & Pension Reform Act on April 5, 2001.

Testimony of Paul Fronstin before the Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Health, U. S. House of Representatives, Hearing on Health Insurance Coverage and Uninsured Americans, April 4, 2001.

Testimony of Dallas L. Salisbury before the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Small Business Hearing held March 28, 2001, on Pension Reform for Small Business.

Statement of Paul Fronstin written for the United States Senate Finance Committee, Hearing on Living Without Health Insurance: Who's Uninsured and Why? held March 13, 2001.

The Consumer Health Education Council (CHEC) was founded in 1998.  Ray Werntz became CHEC's first president in 1999.  CHEC was established to heighten awareness among individuals and employers about the importance of health insurance.  In collaboration with partners and government liaisons, CHEC has sought, and continues to seek, a leadership role in the education of consumers and employers about health care and health insurance coverage in order that they may better understand and make informed choices about these issues.  Toward this end, the CHEC Web site includes the following main sections:

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What's new in employee benefits:

  • HR News Online -- a daily update from the Society for Human Resource Management

The following items have been added to the General Accounting Office's Web site in Portable Document (PDF) format:

Medical Privacy Regulation: Questions Remain About Implementing the New Consent Requirement.  GAO-01-584, April 6, 2001.

Preamble to Final Regulations on Pension Plans.
Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service: Statement in Preamble to Regulations That Cash Balance Plans Are Not Age-Discriminatory.  GAO-01-511R, March 21, 2001.

Medicare Financing: Higher Expected Spending and Call for New Benefits Underscore Need for Meaningful Reform, by David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States, before the Senate Committee on Finance. GAO-01-539T, March 22, 2001.

If a title link above no longer works, click here for the Find GAO Reports page and search for the report by report number,  title, abstract, agency/organization names, or subject terms.   Searches for reports can also be conducted in the General Accounting Office (GAO) Reports Online via GPO Access database.

 If your computer does not already have the free Adobe Acrobat viewer software to read PDF files, click here for the one-time download necessary to read PDF publications.

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(4/26/01) Posted April 25, 2001, by the Joint Committee on Taxation: Description of the Chairman's Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute To H.R. 10, The Comprehensive Retirement Security And Pension Reform Act of 2001.

(4/26/01) The Economics Departments, Institutes and Research Centers in the World (EDIRC) Web page is an attempt by the University of Quebec at Montreal to index economic institutions on the internet.  The page currently contains 5,797 institutions in 202 countries and territories.   The index is organized by countries and fields, to shorten download time.  Included are economics departments, research centers and institutes in universities, as well as finance ministries, statistical offices, central banks, think tanks, and other non-profit institutions staffed by economists.  EBRI is listed in this web page. 

(4/26/01) In a press release dated April 23, 2001, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) announced key findings from a joint survey on disability income insurance.

(4/25/01) On April 23, 2001, the Unifi Network, a subsidiary of PricewaterhouseCoopers, issued a press release announcing key findings from a survey of public technology companies’ stock plan offerings.  The survey was done in collaboration with the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.

(4/25/01) On April 23, 2001, Lincoln Financial Group of Philadelphia issued a press release highlighting key findings from its Financial Planning Among America's Wealthy survey.

(4/24/01) If you have questions regarding inflation, see the Web site Current Value of Old Money.  The site provides sources which attempt to answer the question "How much would a specified amount of money at a certain period of time be worth today?"

(4/24/01) “Domestic Partner Benefits Won't Break the Bank” by Gary J. Gates, a research associate in the Population Studies Center of the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., was originally published in the April 2001 edition of Population Today from the Population Reference Bureau.

(4/24/01) A working paper titled How Does the Internet Affect Trading? Evidence from Investor Behavior in 401(k) Plans, March 2001, has been posted.  The paper was coauthored by Andrew Metrick, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, James J. Choi and David Laibson, both of Harvard University, in collaboration with Hewitt Associates.

(4/23/01) The Investor Responsibility Research Center has posted the Spring 2001 issue of Labor's Money: A Newsletter for the Taft-Hartley Proxy Voter.

(4/23/01) In a press release dated April 3, 2001, Microsoft Money and Perseus Publishing announced key findings from a survey which they cosponsored titled “A Study About Money.”  The survey was conducted by Yankelovich Partners.

(4/23/01) The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has posted the following publications:

(4/20/01) The Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America (PSCA) “announces the release of its free Automatic Enrollment 2001 study, a comprehensive investigation into the practice of automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans.

(4/20/01) The April 2001 Issue Brief by Peter R. Orszag from The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College is titled “Should a Lump-Sum Payment Replace Social Security's Delayed Retirement Credit?”

(4/20/01) The Society for Human Resource Management has recently released SHRM 2001 Benefits Survey.

(4/20/01) State Coverage Initiatives, administered by the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy, has made available a new Internet product, State Coverage Matrix, that “provides information on insurance coverage strategies employed by all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  It lists expansions made through three categories: Medicaid program, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and state-only programs (programs without federal funding).”

(4/20/01) The Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy has posted Mapping State Health Insurance Markets: Structure and Change in the States' Group and Individual Health Insurance Markets, 1995-1997, published December 2000, by Deborah J. Chollet, Adele M. Kirk, and Marc E. Chow.

(4/20/01) The National Academy for State Health Policy has made available The ERISA Preemption Manual for State Health Policy Makers Update - January 2001.

(4/20/01) “Defined Contribution” Health Plans: the Shape of Things to Come? is a Spring 2001 Milliman & Robertson, Inc. article.

(4/18/01) “Health Insurance Enrollment Declining in Industries with Large Minority Workforces” is the title of an April 16, 2001, press release from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.  Details of the study are in "Economic Change and Health benefits: Structural Trends in Employer-based Health Insurance," in the March 2001 issue of Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

(4/18/01) On April 16, 2001, LIMRA International issued a press release titled “Americans Continue to Enroll in Long-Term Care Plans Through Employers.”

(4/18/01) The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has published Working Paper 0102 titled “Life-Cycle Saving, Limits on Contributions to DC Pension Plans, and Lifetime Tax Benefits” by Jagadeesh Gokhale, Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Mark J. Warshawsky.

(4/17/01) Measuring Health Output: The Draft Eurostat Handbook on Price and Volume Measures in National Accounts, a report by Jack Triplett, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies Program at Brookings Institution, was presented at the Eurostat-CBS Seminar, Voorburg, Netherlands, March 14-16, 2001.

(4/17/01) In a press release dated November 28, 2000, Hewitt Associates released key findings from its Domestic Partner Benefits 2000 survey.

(4/16/01) On April 6, 2001, Senator Charles Grassley introduced in the U.S. Senate S.742, Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2001. A Bill Summary & Status is available. The U.S. Government Printing Office has posted the full text of S.742.

(4/16/01) On April 10, 2001, Hewitt Associates issued a press release titled “Don't Make A 401(k) Mistake: Hewitt Associates Offers Top 10 Tips for Employees to Make the Most of Their 401(k) Plans.”

(4/13/01) Click here for the online version of Building Futures: Opportunities and Challenges for Workplace Savings in America from Fidelity Investments.  The report, an analysis of 1999 defined contribution plan data, is based on records kept by Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Company (FIRSCo) on 6,969 defined contribution plans containing 6.2 million participants, and $396 billion in assets. 

(4/13/01) The 2000 Survey of the Funded Position of Multiemployer Plans from The Segal Company, April 2001, is available.

(4/13/01) The government of the United Kingdom issued a report concerning the nation’s pension funds: Institutional Investment in the United Kingdom: A Review.

(4/12/01) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched a renovated Web site.  Information is arranged for specific groups of users, including individual investors, brokers, accountants, attorneys, and corporate officers.  The site provides information on Commission actions, corporate filings, agency rules, staff interpretations, and investor education materials.   

(4/12/01) Wayne Howard and Associates has compiled Healthcare Information Resources divided into four groups: Healthcare Associations and Foundations, Government Agencies, Commercial Agencies, and Consumer Oriented with short descriptions of each.

(4/11/01) The Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) has launched a Web site available for data and research related to key workers' compensation, health care, and disability issues.

(4/11/01) On April 6, 2001, Senator Charles Grassley issued a press release announcing a bill introduced by himself and Senator Max Baucus in the U.S. Senate titled Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2001.  The press release includes a summary of key provisions.  Previous pension reform bills include H.R. 10, Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 14, 2001, by Rep. Rob Portman, for which a bill summary & status is available; and S. 631, also titled Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001, introduced by Senator George Voinovich in the U.S. Senate on March 27, 2001, for which a bill summary & status is available.

(4/10/01) The Retirement Living Information Center has just published updated information on its Web site about the tax structure in every state including income tax rates, exemptions, and sales and fuel taxes.

(4/10/01) The September 2000 Current Issues in Economics and Finance from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York includes “A Nation of Spendthrifts? An Analysis of Trends in Personal and Gross Saving” by Charles Steindel and Richard Peach.

(4/9/01) The Fiscal Year 2002 Budget of the United States Government was transmitted to Congress today.

(4/9/01) On March 1, 2001, Rep. Nancy Johnson introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives H.R. 831, Long-Term Care and Retirement Security Act of 2001.  On March 27, 2001, Senator Charles Grassley introduced in the Senate a companion bill, S. 627, also titled Long-Term Care and Retirement Security Act of 2001.

(4/6/01) Click here to go to the new Web site of the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy.

(4/6/01) On April 3, 2001, Rep. Dick Armey introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives H.R. 1331, “Fair Care for the Uninsured Act of 2001.”  On this same date, Senator Rick Santorum introduced S. 683, a companion bill in the U.S. Senate also titled “Fair Care for the Uninsured Act of 2001.”

(4/6/01) The Employment Policy Foundation released a March 29, 2001, report Parental Discrimination in the Workplace: Truth or Fiction?

(4/6/01) The National Academy on an Aging Society has posted the final profile in the Young Retirees and Older Workers series: "What Benefits Do Young Retirees and Older Workers Receive?"

(4/5/01) The U.S. Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration’s Advisory Committee on Employee Welfare and Pension Plans has appointed new working groups on employee benefit issues: increasing pension plan coverage, participation and savings; preparing for retirement; and, the employment-based healthcare system.  Click here for the press release.

(4/4/01) “Washington Watch: Updates on Legislative and Regulatory Action From the Nation's Capitol” provides updates on major legislation and regulations affecting the business world including  pension-reform legislation. 

(4/4/01) In a press release dated March 28, 2001, The Spectrem Group released key findings from a recent study called The Changing Face of 401(k) Participants: A Profile of the Self-Directed Retirement Generation.

(4/3/01) Fortune Magazine has recently released its annual “Fortune 500” list, with Exxon Mobil topping the list.

(4/3/01) The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities posted the April 2, 2001, paper, Would Raising IRA Contribution Limits Bolster Retirement Security for Lower- and Middle-Income Families? by Peter Orszag and Jonathan Orszag.

(4/3/01) In a press release issued March 27, 2001, the Kaiser Family Foundation released key findings from its California Employer Health Benefits Survey.  Conducted with the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET), the survey also asked about employers switching to the defined contribution health benefits approach.

(4/3/01) The Health Affairs March/April 2001 edition carries “Trends in Out-of-Pocket Spending by Insured American Workers, 1990-1997” by Jon R. Gabel, Paul B. Ginsburg, Jeremy D. Pickreign, and James D. Reschovsky.

(4/2/01) On March 29, 2001, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation issued a press release announcing the release of its 2000 Annual Report.

(4/2/01) The Fall 2000 issue of NBER Reporter announces the forthcoming publication, The Effect of Social Security and Retirement: Evidence from Around the World, consisting of a collection of studies presented at a conference hosted by NBER in June 2000.

(4/2/01) “Compensating Employees in Today's Complex Economy” by Anne C. Ruddy is posted in BusinessWoman Magazine, Winter 2001, from the Business and Professional Women USA (BPW/USA).

(4/2/01) In a press release dated March 7, 2001, Families USA announced key findings from a report titled "Getting Less Care: The Uninsured with Chronic Health Conditions."

(4/2/01) The Economics of Early Retirement by Tryggvi Thor Herbertsson of the Centre for Pensions and Social Insurance is posted.

(4/2/01) “Child Care Expenses of America's Families” by Linda Giannarelli and James Barsimantov is a December 2000 report from the Urban Institute.

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