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What Moves the Retirement Readiness Needle: Quantification of Risk and Evaluation of New Proposals

With the United States facing an estimated national retirement savings shortfall of $4.13 trillion, how can more Americans be brought into a retirement savings plan, and how can they be persuaded to save enough to cover expected costs in retirement? Those questions were explored by a panel of retirement experts at EBRI’s 77th policy forum held Dec. 10, 2015, focusing on policy proposals aimed at increasing private-sector retirement plan coverage and possible improvements to retirement plan designs by sponsors of retirement plans. Press release. EBRI Notes Apr 27, 2016 16 pages

The Excise Tax on High-Cost Health Plans

Even though Congress recently enacted a two-year delay in the so-called “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), private-sector employers are already starting to prepare for it and some workers are already feeling its effects. To clarify what the tax would do and how employers and health-plan sponsors are reacting to it, EBRI held a policy forum on Dec. 10, 2015, attended by about a hundred health experts and other benefits professionals, to discuss “The Excise Tax on High-Cost Health Plans,” which is summarized here. Press release. EBRI Notes Mar 23, 2016 12 pages

“Impact of Workplace Wellness-Program Participation on Medication Adherence,” and “Differences in Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenses of Older Single and Couple Households”

Wellness Programs: Workplace wellness programs appear to have a bigger impact on medication adherence for some diseases than others, according to new research from EBRI. Press release.

Single/Couple Households: Older singles and older couples tend to face sharply different out-of-pocket expenses for non-recurring health care services such as home health care, nursing home stays, overnight hospital stays, and outpatient surgery—possibly because they do not have a spouse to help as caregivers, according to new research by EBRI. Press release.

EBRI Notes Jan 21, 2016 16 pages

“The Effect of the Current Population Survey Redesign on Retirement-Plan Participation Estimates,” and “Worker Opinions About Employee Benefits: Differences Among Millennials, Baby Boomers, and Generation X Have Implications for Plan Sponsors”

CPS: Estimates from the new and redesigned Current Population Survey (CPS) by the U.S. Census Bureau show a drop in the percentage of Americans who participate in a workplace retirement plan. However, the results raise doubts about the use of CPS data to assess current and future retirement plan coverage policies, according to a new analysis by EBRI. Press release.

Generational Views of Benefits: Compared to their older cohorts, Millennial workers are less interested and knowledgeable about their work place benefits, and prefer life insurance over health insurance, according to a new analysis by EBRI. Press release.

EBRI Notes Dec 17, 2015 28 pages

'Views on the Value of Voluntary Workplace Benefits: Findings from the 2015 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey,' and 'Evidence on Defined Contribution Health and Retirement Benefits: The Road Ahead'

Benefits Survey: More than three-quarters of American workers say their workplace benefits package is important to their decision to take or reject a job, according to new research by EBRI and Greenwald & Associates. Press release.

DC Benefits: Private-sector retirement benefits have long been dominated by “defined contribution” plans funded primarily by workers’ own contributions. Private-sector health benefits are still funded primarily by employers, but that may be starting to change with the advent of “defined contribution” health plans. This has major implications for the American work force, the U.S. health care system, and even economic security in the nation, which were explored at EBRI’s 76th policy forum held in Washington this spring. Press release.

EBRI Notes Nov 18, 2015 28 pages

“Amount of Savings Needed for Health Expenses for People Eligible for Medicare: Unlike the Last Few Years, the News Is Not Good,” and “How Does the Probability of a “Successful” Retirement Differ Between Participants in Final-Average Defined Benefit ..

Retiree health savings: Projected savings targets needed to cover health care in retirement are going up again after several years of decline, according to new research by EBRI. This follows more recent declines during 2012-2014.

DB-DC: Does a traditional “defined benefit” pension provide greater retirement security than a “defined contribution” 401(k)-type plan? The complicated answer to that simple question depends on your salary level and the level of pre-retirement income to be replaced, according to a new analysis by EBRI.

EBRI Notes Oct 22, 2015 24 pages

'2015 EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey: Most Workers Continue to Give Low Ratings to Health Care System, but Declining Number Report Health Care Cost Increases,' and 'IRA Asset Allocation, 2013, and Longitudi ..

WBS: Significantly fewer workers say they experienced health care cost increases in 2015 compared with previous years, according to new research by EBRI. Press release.

IRAs: Owners of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) significantly increased their investment allocations to stock equities in 2013 compared with the two previous years, according to new analysis by EBRI. Press release.

EBRI Notes Sep 17, 2015 28 pages

‘Investment Options and HSAs: Findings from the EBRI HSA Database,’ and ‘How Much Can Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contracts Improve Retirement Security?’

HSA Investment Options: Investment options in health savings accounts (HSAs) are a fairly new and not widely used option, but they tend to draw larger contributions and have higher balances where they do exist, according to a new analysis by EBRI.

Longevity Annuity Contracts: A recently authorized feature for 401(k) plans would allow workers to transform all or part of their retirement savings into a guaranteed stream of lifetime income, similar to what traditional pensions can provide. New modeling from EBRI finds this feature would be a significant help as a way to reduce their “longevity risk”—the risk of outliving their retirement savings—but only to those workers who can expect to have a long retirement.

EBRI Notes Aug 26, 2015 24 pages

“IRA Withdrawals in 2013 and Longitudinal Results 2010-2013,” and “Satisfaction With Health Coverage and Care: Findings from the 2014 EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey”

IRAs: Relatively few owners of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are withdrawing money from them, and most of those who do are those over age 70-½ who are required by law to take a distribution from their Traditional IRA, according to new research by EBRI. Press release.

Satisfaction Gap: Individuals with health insurance continue to express higher satisfaction with traditional health plans compared with so-called “consumer-driven” plans, but the “satisfaction gap” appears to be narrowing, according to new research from EBRI. Press release

EBRI Notes Jul 16, 2015 24 pages

Intra-Family Cash Transfers in Older American Households

When family members help each other out--especially with the Baby Boom generation rapidly entering retirement--which way does the money flow: From old to young, or the other way around? New research from EBRI finds that, overwhelmingly, the generational transfer of money flows downhill: Mostly it’s older family members helping out their younger adult relatives than the other way around. EBRI Issue Brief Jun 18, 2015 32 pages

“Self-Insured Health Plans: State Variation and Recent Trends by Firm Size, 1996-2013,” and “Auto-IRAs: How Much Would They Increase the Probability of 'Successful' Retirements and Decrease Retirement Deficits? Preliminary Evidence from EBRI’s Retire ..

Self-Insured: Will small businesses follow the lead of bigger firms and start self-insuring their medical benefits to avoid the costs of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)? So far (up to 2013, the latest data available), there is no evidence that they are doing so, according to new research by EBRI.

Auto-IRAs: If “automatic IRAs” (individual retirement accounts) were made universal, how significant could their impact be for increasing retirement readiness and reducing the national retirement savings deficit? That depends largely on age, the default contribution rate and the opt-out rate (the percentage of eligible employees who choose not to participate), according to new research by EBRI.

EBRI Notes Jun 17, 2015 32 pages