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EBRI

2005 Issue Briefs

"Finances of Employee Benefits: Health Costs Drive Changing Trends," and "Lump-Sum Distributions"

The first article shows how rising health costs are driving a shift in benefits, that health costs account for the bulk of voluntary employer-provided benefits, and that benefits take a growing share of total compensation. The second article notes that workers are increasing offered a lump-sum distribution of their retirement assets, and that while roll-overs are increasing, leakage from the retirement asset system is still significant. For Health Benefits Trends press release, click here.  For Lump-Sum Distributions press release, click here. EBRI Notes Dec 12, 2005 20 pages

Early Experience With High-Deductible and Consumer-Driven Health Plans: Findings From the EBRI/Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Care Survey

Americans enrolled in a relatively new type of health coverage designed to make them more cost conscious are less satisfied with their health plan than those with comprehensive health insurance and are less likely to recommend the new plans to a friend or colleague, a ground-breaking nationwide survey. EBRI Issue Brief Dec 8, 2005 32 pages

Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured: Analysis of the March 2005 Current Population Survey

This Issue Brief provides historic data through 2004 on the number and percentage of nonelderly individuals with and without health insurance. Based on EBRI estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS), it reflects 2004 data. It also discusses trends in coverage for the 1994–2004 period and highlights characteristics that typically indicate whether an individual is insured. EBRI Issue Brief Nov 7, 2005 32 pages

401(k) Plan Asset Allocation, Account Balances, and Loan Activity in 2004

This report updates research on 401(k) plan participant activity through year-end 2004, using the EBRI/ICI 401(k) database -- the largest database of its kind and an ongoing collaborative effort between the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the Investment Company Institute (ICI). Among its key findings: Consistent participation in 401(k) plans remains essential to successful saving; equity investing remains popular in 401(k) plans; investment preferences are shifting to simpler options; loans are widely available, but rarely taken. EBRI Issue Brief Sep 28, 2005 20 pages

"Retirement Income Security: A Look at Social Security, Employment-Based Retirement Plans, and Health Savings Accounts"

A variety of factors, including rising health care costs, increasingly suggest that individuals who are trying to plan for a secure retirement face a gathering storm, speakers told about 100 participants at the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s spring policy forum. EBRI researchers and nearly a dozen other experts examined the different forces at work that threaten Americans’ economic security in retirement as they discussed three topics: Social Security overhaul, 401(k) enrollment and accumulations, and health savings accounts. Press release
EBRI Notes Aug 9, 2005 12 pages

Employment-Based Health Benefits: Trends in Access and Coverage

This Issue Brief examines the state of employment-based health benefits among workers with respect to offer rates, coverage rates, and take-up rates. It also examines how the state of employment-based health benefits has changed since the mid-1990s, reasons why workers do not have employment-based health benefits from their own employer, and how these reasons have changed since the 1990s. EBRI Issue Brief Aug 8, 2005 28 pages

The Influence of Automatic Enrollment, Catch-Up, and IRA Contributions on 401(k) Accumulations at Retirement

Automatically enrolling new workers appears to be a significant factor in increasing account balances in 401(k) plans, with lower-income individuals benefiting the most, according to a new model developed by EBRI and the Investment Company Institute (ICI). The finding is important because employment-based 401(k) plans have become the dominant retirement savings option for millions of American workers, and the amount of retirement income many Americans will have when they reach 65 will depend to a large degree on how long they participate in a 401(k) plan, how much they contribute to the plan, and how they invest their 401(k) assets. EBRI Issue Brief Jul 13, 2005 28 pages

Social Security Reform: The Importance of Disability Insurance and Annuities in Individual Accounts

Although most of the debate over Social Security has focused on retirement benefits, the program also pays disability and survivor benefits as well. According to this EBRI study, retirement benefits would have to be cut substantially or taxes increased if federal policymakers agreed to protect disability payments as part of any overhaul of Social Security,if disability benefits are to be preserved at the level provided in current law—as many policymakers say they should. Press release.

EBRI Notes Jul 13, 2005 20 pages

Comparing Social Security Reform Options

which seeks to provide answers to how the public will be affected by fundamentally different approaches to Social Security reform. This analysis compares "Model 2" individual accounts from the 2001 President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security (the closest detailed proposal to what President Bush has endorsed) with three basic options: Raising taxes, imposing sharp ("cliff") benefit cuts, and gradually reducing benefits. EBRI Issue Brief May 1, 2005 32 pages