EBRIef: Your Weekly Information Briefing from EBRI

In this issue:

What's New from EBRI
EBRI in the Media
Legislative Items
Regulatory Items
What's New(s) - Health & Workforce
What's News(s) - Retirement
Savings Education

What's New from EBRI

Money and health strongly tied to happy retirement: A recent EBRI study showed that fewer recent retirees say they are having a great time in retirement. The study shows just how strongly net worth and health status are correlated with retirement satisfaction.

Money: Using data from University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the most comprehensive national survey of older Americans, the study finds that retirees with more assets report higher levels of “very satisfying” retirement: 71.5 percent for those in highest-asset quartile, compared with just 33.1 percent of those in the lowest. Conversely, the lowest-asset quartile has the highest rate (19.4 percent) of “not at all satisfying” retirement, compared to only 2.8 percent in the highest-asset quartile.

Health: Not surprisingly, retirement satisfaction decreases as health status declines. How much? Nearly 80 percent of those in excellent health report “very satisfying” retirements, compared with just a quarter (25.6 percent) of those in poor health. MORE.

EBRI in the Media

EBRI's recent news coverage can be seen online here.

Legislative Items

Bloomberg BNA: “Iron Worker Retirees Face Stacked Deck in Vote to Cut Pensions”

Health Affairs [Blog]: “Administration Sticks With Current Accommodation For Employers Objecting To Contraceptive Coverage”

Health Affairs [Blog]: “Get Health Insurance Through Your Employer? ACA Repeal Will Affect You, Too”

The Hill: “Senate GOP blocks Sanders on preventing entitlement cuts”

InsuranceNewsNet: “Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Delay Fiduciary Rule”

Kaiser Family Foundation: “Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Health Care Priorities for 2017”

Milliman: “The Employer Stop-Loss Insurance Marketplace Since the Affordable Care Act”

The New England Journal of Medicine [Perspective]: “Repealing the ACA without a Replacement -- The Risks to American Health Care,” by Barack H. Obama

PlanSponsor: “Court Denies Injunction of EEOC Wellness Program Rules -- A federal judge found AARP did not prove irreparable harm to its members and is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its case.” [AARP v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia]

PlanSponsor: “Six Health Care Trends to Follow in 2017 -- The National Business Group on Health has released six trends for 2017, in response to past trends and growing concern about the Affordable Care Act’s potential repeal.”

USA Today: “House considers first step toward Obamacare repeal”

Regulatory Items

GAO Report: Retirement Security: Improved Guidance Could Help Account Owners Understand the Risks of Investing in Unconventional Assets. GAO-17-102: Published December 8, 2016; Publicly Released January 9, 2017.

PlanAdviser: “IRS Proposes New Mortality Tables for DB Plans -- These proposals would also update the requirements a plan sponsor must meet to obtain IRS approval to use mortality tables specific to the plan for minimum funding purposes, instead of the generally applicable mortality tables.”

Trucker Huss: “DOL Finalizes Disability Benefit Plan Claims Regulations”

What’s New(s)—Health & Workforce

Bloomberg QuickTake: “Drug Prices: Costs and Outrage Rise in the U.S.” [Updated Jan. 11, 2017]

CNN Money: “U.S. health care admin costs are double the average”

DataPath: “6 Ways to Increase Employee Wellness Participation”

Gallup: “U.S. Uninsured Rate Holds at Low of 10.9% in Fourth Quarter”

Human Resource Executive Online: “Helping Them See What They Get -- A conversation with a group of high-performing undergraduates underscores the need for employers and HR to more effectively personalize the value of their healthcare offerings when speaking to first-time employees.”

PlanSponsor: “The Evolution of Employee Wellness Programs -- More employers are devising holistic wellness programs that address physical, mental and financial health; and technology could be the main driver in boosting participation.”

Reuters: “Pharma company executives debate drug pricing increases”

Twin Cities Business: “Workplace Wellness Is a Work in Progress”

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business: “Nearly three-quarters of U.S. employees would like a customized benefits package”

What's New(s)—Retirement

Aon Hewitt: “Boosting Workers’ Retirement Savings Rates to be Primary Focus for U.S. Employers in 2017 -- Aon survey finds many employers are not satisfied with current employee contribution levels in their 401(k) plans”

Brookings [Op-Ed]: “Three, two, or only one cheer for 401(k)s?”

NAPA Net: “Plan Sponsor Fee Focus Fuels Future Searches”

The Pew Charitable Trusts: “Small Business Views on Retirement Savings Plans -- Survey explores employer challenges to plan sponsorship and support for new initiatives”

PlanAdviser: “Younger Investors Fuel Advice Market Growth -- Cerulli Associates measures a 10% jump in the number of people willing to pay for financial advice since 2008.”

PlanSponsor: “The Evolution of Employee Wellness Programs -- More employers are devising holistic wellness programs that address physical, mental and financial health; and technology could be the main driver in boosting participation.”

PlanSponsor: “TDFs Keep Participant Trading Steady in 2016”

Willis Towers Watson: Accounting for Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits, 2016: Reporting Under U.S. GAAP Among the Fortune 1000 Companies [Note: The full report can be downloaded at the website.]

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business: “Nearly three-quarters of U.S. employees would like a customized benefits package”

Savings Education

CNBC: “As health-care debate rages, here’s how to trim your costs -- New year, new deductibles: here’s how to deal”

Nightly Business Report: “An account that can keep your retirement savings healthy”

The Oxford Club’s Investment U: “Three Important Investor Resolutions for 2017”

Retirement Income Journal: “When You’re 64 -- Six months after reaching age 64, Americans are showered with Medicare supplement pitches. While the path of least resistance leads to a Medicare Advantage plan, a Medigap plan might be better. Here’s how to find a good one.” [Note: A subscription may be required to view the full article.]

StateCollege.com: “Should You Be Making Roth Contributions?”

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