What's New - May 2013

Index to All Months

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[5/20/13] Towers Watson: “Pension De-Risking Through Lump-Sum Offers” [Q&A]

[5/20/13] Plan Sponsor:

[5/20/13] Sibson Consulting’s Capital Checkup: “Guidance on Out-of-Pocket Maximums in 2014 for Non-Grandfathered Health Plans”

[5/20/13] Kaiser Family Foundation: “Subsidy Calculator: Premium Assistance for Coverage in Exchanges”

[5/20/13] The Wall Street Journal: “Your Next IRS Political Audit - The tax agency is getting vast new power in health care.”

[5/20/13] The Washington Post: “Health care in retirement probably costs more than you think”

[5/20/13] Center for State & Local Government Excellence: Survey Findings: State and Local Government Workforce: 2013 Trends

[5/20/13] National Academy of Social Insurance: Strengthening Social Security: What Do Americans Want? -- Views Among African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and White Americans

[5/16/13] The Vanguard Group Research Note: “Roth Adoption and the New In-Plan Conversion Feature”

[5/16/13] The Washington Post: “Roth-style investing in TSP continues to grow”

[5/16/13] Chief Investment Officer: “More 401(k) Options Mean Worse Outcomes”

[5/16/13] Ameriprise Financial: Retirement Derailers Survey

[5/16/13] Financial Advisor Magazine: “Baby Boomers Withdrawing IRA Money Too Fast, Survey Says”

[5/16/13] Bloomberg Businessweek: “Younger Seniors Are Burning Up Their IRAs”

[5/16/13] Plan Sponsor: “Retirees Will Need Almost Quarter Million for Health Care”

[5/16/13] Health Care Cost Institute: “New Study Tracks Impact of Aging on Health Costs” [Press Release]

[5/16/13] PricewaterhouseCoopers: “An HR Perspective: Focusing on the Future of Healthcare Benefits”

[5/16/13] U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: Frequently Asked Questions on Health Insurance Marketplaces

[5/15/13] Plan Sponsor: “What Is Derailing Boomer Retirement?”

[5/15/13] Aegon: The Changing Face of Retirement: The Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey 2013

[5/15/13] The New York Times:

[5/15/13] Gallup, Inc.: “Half of U.S. Small Businesses Think Health Law Bad for Them”

[5/15/13] Congressional Budget Office:

[5/15/13] PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute: “The Massachusetts Experience: Employer-sponsored health insurance post-reform” [First in a two-part series]

[5/14/13] Internal Revenue Service: Computation of, and Rules Relating to, Medical Loss Ratio; Notice of proposed rulemaking and notice of public hearing [as published in the Federal Register on May 13, 2013]

[5/14/13] The Washington Post: “Health law lets young people stay on a parent’s plan or buy their own insurance”

[5/14/13] CFO.com: “Four Myths about Private Health-Care Exchanges”

[5/14/13] U.S. News & World Report: “10 Reasons Critical Illnesses Pose Retirement Risk”

[5/14/13] Investment News: “RIS 2013: Are clients saving too much money for retirement health care? - Cadillac coverage may not be a good fit for those with specific quality-of-life wishes”

[5/14/13] Transamerica Retirement Solutions: “Top Five Actions Employers Can Take to Help Employees Become Super Savers for Retirement”

[5/14/13] RAND Corporation: Designing Better Pension Benefits Statements: Current Status, Best Practices and Insights from the Field of Judgment and Decisionmaking [Working Paper]

[5/14/13] Securities and Exchange Commission Investor Bulletin: “Pension or Settlement Income Streams: What You Need to Know Before Buying or Selling Them”

[5/13/13] U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration: Technical Release 2013-02: Guidance on the Notice to Employees of Coverage Options under Fair Labor Standards Act §18B and Updated Model Election Notice under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985

[5/13/13] U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP)-Only Marketplace FAQs

[5/13/13] Employee Benefit News: “ACA prep: Now, this year and in 2014”

[5/13/13] Kaiser Family Foundation Perspectives: “Pulling It Together…Can We Learn from ACA Implementation and Improve the Law?” from Drew Altman

[5/13/13] Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index: “Milliman analysis: Plunging interest rates in April inflate corporate pension funding deficit by $37 billion”

[5/13/13] National Association of State Retirement Administrators: NASRA Issue Brief: State and Local Government Spending on Public Employee Retirement Systems [Updated May 2013]

[5/13/13] PIMCO DC Dialogue™: “Retirement Outcome Focus Shared Globally.” [“In this PIMCO DC Dialogue™, we talk with Towers Watson senior investment consultants Nico Aspinall in London and Lorie Latham in Chicago about how they work together to serve multinational DC plan sponsors.”]

[5/13/13] Fidelity Investments: Fidelity® Intra-Family Generational Finance Study -- Executive Summary

[5/10/13] Investment Company Institute: 2013 Investment Company Fact Book: A Review of Trends and Activities in the U.S. Investment Company Industry

[5/10/13] Forbes: “Five Ways to Save Your 401(k)--And Your Retirement”

[5/10/13] Financial Planning: “Low Interest Rates Could Ding Retirement Plans, EBRI Warns”

[5/10/13] The Washington Post:

[5/10/13] Segal Rogerscasey Investment Brief: “When Zero Isn’t Nothing: Post-Recession U.S. Monetary Policy and the Implications for Investors”

[5/10/13] The Commonwealth Fund: Insuring the Future: Current Trends in Health Coverage and the Effects of Implementing the Affordable Care Act: Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2012

[5/10/13] Plan Sponsor: “Most Employers Use Wellness Incentives, Disincentives”

[5/10/13] Washington National Institute for Wellness Solutions: Middle-Income America’s Perspectives on Critical Illness and Financial Security

[5/9/13] U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration:

[5/9/13] Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: Single-Employer DB Plan Freezes

[5/9/13] Northwestern Mutual®: Planning & Progress 2013 Study

[5/9/13] CNBC.com: “Don’t Let ‘Dead’ 401(k)s Skew Your Retirement Plan”

[5/9/13] Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute: Limiting the Tax Exclusion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Premiums: Revenue Potential and Distributional Consequences [Note: The report and infographic summary can be downloaded at the website.]

[5/9/13] Workforce Benefits: “Employees Opening Health Savings Accounts in Record Numbers”

[5/7/13] Society for Human Resource Management: “For 2014, Higher Limits for HSA Contributions, Out-of-Pocket Expenses”

[5/7/13] Employee Benefit Adviser: “AIP reports more companies dropping 401(k) match”

[5/7/13] Social Security Bulletin:

[5/7/13] Merrill Lynch: Americans’ Perspectives on New Retirement Realities and the Longevity Bonus [A 2013 Merrill Lynch retirement study, conducted in partnership with Age Wave]

[5/7/13] Accounting Today: “Men and Women Share Similar Retirement Expectations”

[5/7/13] Fiduciary News: “Exclusive Interview: Frontline Producer Explains Controversial 401k Documentary -- The Final Take” [4th in a series of 4 articles]

[5/7/13] Fulcrum Partners: Advantages to Pre-Tax Deferral of Income in an Uncertain Tax Environment [White Paper]

[5/7/13] Detroit Free Press: “Susan Tompor: Michigan’s 529 college savings plan ranks highly”

[5/6/13] Congressional Research Service: Potential Employer Penalties Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)

[5/6/13] The Los Angeles Times: “Many opt for high-deductible health plans despite risks”

[5/6/13] Plan Sponsor: “2013 Defined Benefit Administration Survey”

[5/6/13] Transamerica Retirement Solutions: “Top Five Ways Financial Professionals Can Boost Retirement Plans’ Effectiveness for Employees -- Transamerica Retirement Solutions Releases Key Findings of Retirement Readiness Summit”

[5/6/13] Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “Retirement often comes earlier than planned, survey shows”

[5/6/13] USA Today: “Middle class struggles to get good financial advice”

[5/3/13] Internal Revenue Service: Minimum Value of Eligible Employer-Sponsored Plans and Other Rules Regarding the Health Insurance Premium Tax Credit; Notice of proposed rulemaking [as published in the Federal Register on May 3, 2013]

[5/3/13] Plan Sponsor:

[5/3/13] Deloitte, International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, and International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists: Annual 401(k) Benchmarking Survey [2012 edition] -- Exploring new channels for engaging and educating employees on saving for retirement and improving overall retirement readiness

[5/3/13] Fiduciary News: “Exclusive Interview: Frontline Producer Explains Controversial 401k Documentary -- The Ugly” [3rd in a series of 4 articles]

[5/3/13] The Washington Post: “Obama has a sweet retirement deal. Will you?”

[5/2/13] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Compensation Costs in March 2013: State and Local Government Workers

[5/2/13] The Los Angeles Times: “Part-timers to lose pay amid health act’s new math”

[5/2/13] Plan Sponsor:

[5/2/13] Financial Advisor Magazine: “Unplanned, Early Retirement Difficult to Overcome, Advisors Say”

[5/2/13] TIAA-CREF Institute: Retirement Confidence in the Education Sector: Comparisons by Race

[5/1/13] U.S. Department of Labor: FAQs about the Affordable Care Act Implementation Part XV -- Annual Limit Waiver Expiration Date based on a Change to a Plan or Policy Year

[5/1/13] Kaiser Family Foundation: Kaiser Health Tracking Poll -- April 2013

[5/1/13] Plan Sponsor:

[5/1/13] Health News Florida: “Employers Face Penalty If FL Rejects $”

[5/1/13] The Washington Post’s The Fact Checker: “Obama’s claim that 90 percent of Americans ‘don’t have to worry’ about ‘Obamacare’”

[5/1/13] Principal Financial Group: 2012 Trends in Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Among Plan Sponsors & Participants

[5/1/13] Fiduciary News:


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What's new at EBRI this month:

EBRI 2013 Spring Policy Forum: “Decisions, Decisions: Choices That Affect Retirement Income Adequacy” [“gavel to gavel” webcast - Prerecorded broadcast available through the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans]

EBRI 2012 Fall Policy Forum:  “’Post’ Script: What’s Next for Employment-Based Health Benefits” [“gavel to gavel” webcast - Prerecorded broadcast available through the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans]

EBRI 2012 Spring Policy Forum:  “’After’ Math: The Impact and Influence of Incentives on Benefit Policy” [“gavel to gavel” webcast - Prerecorded broadcast available through the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans]

EBRI 2011 Fall Policy Forum: “Innovations in Employment-Based Health Benefits: Lessons Learned for Public Policy” [“gavel to gavel” webcast - Prerecorded broadcast available through the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans]

EBRI's Recent Media Coverage

“EBRI Now on Twitter” [EBRI Press Release, 2/6/09]

401(k) Balances and Changes Due to Market Volatility

Publications:

April 2013 EBRI Issue Brief - "Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Pregnancy: Health Spending Following the PPACA Adult-Dependent Mandate"

April 2013 EBRI Notes - "Characteristics of the Population With Consumer-Driven and High-Deductible Health Plans, 2005-2012" and "Retirement Plan Participation and Asset Allocation, 2010"

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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 Government Accountability Office's Web site in Portable Document (PDF) format:

Reports
The Federal Government's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: Spring 2013 Update. GAO-13-481SP, April 11.

Private Pensions: Timely Action Needed to Address Impending Multiemployer Plan Insolvencies. GAO-13-240, March 28. Highlights.

401(K) Plans: Labor and IRS Could Improve the Rollover Process for Participants. GAO-13-30, March 7. Highlights.

Testimony
Private Pensions: Multiemployer Plans and PBGC Face Urgent Challenges, by Charles Jeszeck, director, education, workforce, and income security issues, before the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, House Committee on Education and the Workforce. GAO-13-428T, March 5. Highlights.

If a title link above no longer works, click here for the GAO home page and search for the report by keyword or report number. Click here to browse by date,  topic, or agency.   Searches for reports can also be conducted in the Government Accountability 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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Updated 5/20/13