Issue Briefs

A key element being discussed as part of health reform—the creation of a health insurance exchange that would offer new forms of insurance pooling, combined with an individual mandate and guaranteed issue—would restructure the health insurance market and has major implications for the existing employment-based benefits system that provides the majority of Americans with health coverage, according to a new study by EBRI. EBRI Issue Brief Jun 9, 2009 24 pages

A new EBRI study of target-date fund investments explores whether plan demographic characteristics would affect individual participant contribution rates and target-date fund investments for participants in relation to plan demographics by considering target replacement income and its success rate. EBRI Issue Brief May 28, 2009 44 pages

Many Americans support the use of lower cost sharing as an incentive to change the way individuals use the health care system in order to reduce costs, according to survey data published today by EBRI. Press release EBRI Notes May 5, 2009 24 pages

The recession has cast a pall over the retirement expectations of the vast majority of Americans, leaving a record-low 13 percent this year able to say they are very confident of having enough money to live comfortably in retirement, according to the 19th Annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) released today by EBRI. Among workers, those feeling very confident about retirement has tumbled by one-half in the last two years. EBRI Issue Brief Apr 14, 2009 24 pages

This article reviews actual public pension plan contribution behavior from 2001 to 2006, pension asset allocations from 2003 to 2007, and the effect that investment performance has on employer contribution volatility.  Press release EBRI Notes Apr 9, 2009 12 pages

This article summarizes EBRI’s December 2008 policy forum on the “Outlook for Consumer/Patient Engagement in Health Care—30 Years into the Experiment,” which took a detailed look at consumer-directed health plans and related issues. Press release EBRI Notes Mar 12, 2009 12 pages

About 37 percent of 401(k) plan participants who were offered target-date funds had at least some fraction of their account in target-date funds in 2007, and this is expected to increase as the push for better diversification of 401(k) participants’ assets intensifies from plan sponsors and policymakers, according to new analysis by EBRI. EBRI Issue Brief Mar 9, 2009 32 pages

A new EBRI analysis of the impact of the recent financial crisis on average 401(k) retirement plan balances from Jan. 1, 2008, to Jan. 20, 2009, shows that participants’ losses were largely determined by their account balance, age, and job tenure. EBRI Issue Brief Feb 23, 2009 24 pages

A new study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shows that workers increasingly see defined contribution plans (401(k)-type) as their primary retirement plan type, with about two-thirds of workers identifying these as their most important plan. Press release EBRI Notes Feb 9, 2009 16 pages

This new study by EBRI examines implications for employers and workers involved in capping the tax exclusion for employment-based health coverage, an issue that could come up during this year’s expected debate over overhauling the nation’s health care system. EBRI Issue Brief Jan 14, 2009 20 pages