Issue Briefs

The first article notes that more than 12 million immigrants in the United States were uninsured in 2006, accounting for almost 27 percent of all uninsured individuals in the country (press release). The second article finds that statutory contribution limits make it unlikely HSAs will play more than a minor part in savings for health care costs in retirement (press release). EBRI Notes Aug 5, 2008 16 pages

Nearly two years after the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006 became law, the legislation’s “automatic” provisions—automatically enrolling new workers in their employers’ 401(k) plans, automatically putting their contributions into age-appropriate “default” investments, and automatically increasing their annual contributions—are beginning to have the desired effect, according to speakers at EBRI's semi-annual policy forum. Press release EBRI Notes Jul 10, 2008 12 pages

Employers have a narrow window of up to two years in which they may be able to change retiring workers’ decisions by offering them incentives to remain with the company, according to results of a new survey released by EBRI. EBRI Issue Brief Jul 10, 2008 24 pages

A new EBRI analysis finds that the “automatic” 401(k) features in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA)—such as auto-enrollment of workers and auto-escalation of their savings contributions—are likely to have a very significant positive impact in generating additional retirement savings for many workers, especially for low-income workers. EBRI Issue Brief Jun 27, 2008 24 pages

'Benefit Cost Comparisons:' State and local government employers and private-sector employers have sharply different compensation costs, driven by the different nature of public- vs. private-sector work. Press release   'Individual Accounts': Half of families in the United States do not own an individual account retirement plan at all, but of those that do own at least one plan, most own only one. EBRI Notes Jun 17, 2008 12 pages

This Issue Brief examines the uncertainty of health care expenses in retirement by using a Monte Carlo simulation model to estimate the amount of savings needed to cover health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket health care expenses. This type of simulation is able to account for the uncertainty related to individual mortality and rates of return, and computes the present value of the savings needed to cover health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in retirement. These observations were used to determine asset targets for having adequate savings to cover retiree health costs 50, 75, and 90 percent of the time. Press release  EBRI Issue Brief May 30, 2008 28 pages

Growth in the number of 401(k)-type plans and the number of participants in those plans, which increased sharply in the 1990s, has slowed in recent years, according to a new EBRI study. Press release EBRI Notes May 13, 2008 20 pages

This article provides reaction to and analysis of results from the “2007 EBRI/Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Survey,” published in the March 2008 EBRI Issue Brief (Press release).  Facts from EBRI provides the latest annual financial projections from the Social Security Board of Trustees, as well as background on the Social Security program.

EBRI Notes Apr 16, 2008 12 pages

Reflecting the growing concern over health care costs and economic issues, American workers' confidence in being able to afford a comfortable retirement decreased over the past year by a rate unmatched in the 18 years of the Retirement Confidence Survey® (RCS), according to results released by EBRI. EBRI Issue Brief Apr 9, 2008 24 pages

Assets in individual account retirement plans are concentrated in families with high family income and higher net worth, as well as in families with older family heads, higher educational attainment, and white, non-Hispanic family heads, according to a study released by EBRI. Press release EBRI Notes Mar 20, 2008 12 pages