Issue Briefs

A new study released jointly by EBRI and DCIIA finds that auto-enrollment and auto-contribution escalation in 401(k) plans—depending on how they’re implemented and used—can result in a big improvement in retirement savings, especially for low-income workers. EBRI Issue Brief Nov 1, 2010 12 pages

Retirement Savings Shortfalls: Recent analysis by EBRI finds that the average retirement savings shortfall is about $48,000 per individual—and that adding nursing home and home health care costs would in some cases almost double that amount.

COBRA: The federal subsidy to help laid-off American workers pay for continued health care through the COBRA program helped fewer individuals than expected—in part because COBRA premiums remained unaffordable for many families even with the subsidy, according to a new article by EBRI.

EBRI Notes Oct 14, 2010 24 pages

New analysis by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute shows the employment-based retirement system, while still critical to Americans’ retirement income security, continues to feel the pressure of the recent economic downturn: The number of American workers participating in a retirement plan continued to decrease last year, adding to the trend that began with the recession of 2008 and reaching its lowest level in a decade. EBRI Issue Brief Oct 13, 2010 44 pages

EBRI’s calculations from recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that employment-based coverage remains the dominant source of health insurance, but continues to erode, declining by more than 2 percentage points last year. Overall, the percentage of individuals under age 65 with employment-based coverage declined from 61.1 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009—its lowest level in the 15-year period between 1994 and 2009. EBRI Issue Brief Sep 22, 2010 40 pages

This report provides initial results of a new EBRI database on individual retirement accounts (IRAs), which for the first time allows researchers to more accurately measure IRA assets and ownership across multiple data providers, and to track retirement assets as they move through different types of retirement plans. For instance, the EBRI IRA Database finds that when owners of more than one IRA are identified and their assets are combined, their total IRA balance is about 25 percent higher than the unaggregated account average within the database. The EBRI IRA Databases unique in that it can link the accounts of individuals with more than one account in the database, thus aggregating total IRA assets and giving a more realistic picture of their IRA-based retirement savings. Not only will EBRI be able to link individuals within and across data providers in the database, but in the near future it will also be able to link the data with participants in 401(k) plans, allowing retirement funds to be tracked as they are generated, rolled over, and ultimately used. The data security techniques used by data providers assure that EBRI has no ability to identify individuals so that all privacy is assured. EBRI Issue Brief Sep 21, 2010 20 pages

Findings from the 2010 Health Confidence Survey (HCS) demonstrate that, despite the recent passage of health reform, dissatisfaction with the American health care system remains widespread. Furthermore, while confidence regarding various aspects of today’s health care system is not high, it has neither fallen nor increased as a result of the passage of health reform. Press release. EBRI Notes Sep 15, 2010 24 pages

This report by EBRI provides a detailed summary of what is known about consumer-driven health plans, a relatively new option for paying for medical expenses that first began to appear nearly a decade ago. Consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) consist of both health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs). The EBRI report examines trends in offer rates and enrollment, differences in premiums between CDHPs and other types of insurance, and discusses the drivers of the premium differences. EBRI Issue Brief Aug 4, 2010 28 pages

The first report presents new EBRI findings that the dependent-child mandate under the new health reform law may increase premiums and that estimates of  the size of the population that might enroll in their parents’ employment-based coverage may be understated. Press release The second report summarizes new research and discussion at EBRI's May 2010 policy forum. Press release. EBRI Notes Aug 3, 2010 20 pages

TDFs: The use of target-date funds, a relatively new 401(k) plan option, is more likely among participants who are younger, have lower account balances, and have shorter tenure at their current job, according to a study released by EBRI. Press release. Early Retiree Program: This article finds that if the PPACA early retiree subsidy were drawn down for all early retirees and their dependents, $2.5 billion of the $5 billion available would be exhausted in the first year of the program. The $5 billion would last no more than two years and would not be available in 2012 or 2013. Press release. EBRI Notes Jul 15, 2010 16 pages

With Americans living longer in retirement, the 2010 EBRI Retirement Readiness Rating™ shows dramatically high percentages of Americans—even in the upper-income categories—are likely to run short of money after 10 or 20 years of retirement. The new analysis by EBRI finds that almost two-thirds (64 percent) of Americans in the two lowest preretirement income levels will be running short after 10 years in retirement. However, the EBRI study also finds that after 20 years of retirement, almost a third (29 percent) of those in the next-to-highest income level will run short of money, as will more than 1 in 10 (13 percent) of those in the highest-income level. EBRI Issue Brief Jul 13, 2010 36 pages