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American Benefits Council Comment Letter to CMS on Advance Notice of Methodological Changes for Calendar Year 2014 for Medicare Advantage Capitation Rates (PDF)

2 pages "Our comments relate solely to the proposal that Part D sponsors should require their network retail and mail pharmacies to obtain patient consent to deliver new or refill prescriptions prior to each delivery.... An alternative approach that strengthens protections for both Medicare beneficiaries and the Part D program would be to develop balanced, workable guidelines that require affirmative written or electronic consent when patients opt in to an automatic refill program and the opportunity for beneficiaries to opt out of an automatic refill program entirely or for any particular medication."

FINRA's 1942 Failure: Effects on Trust, Capital Formation and the U.S. Economy

"In the year following the commencement of World War II, when all Americans had their attention diverted to the enormous threats from abroad, FINRA (formerly known as the National Association of Securities Dealers, or NASD) adopted rules of conduct for its [members]. Strangely missing from such rules was a fiduciary standard of conduct for brokers (i.e., registered representatives of broker-dealer firms) when providing personalized investment advice. Over seven decades have passed, and FINRA has yet to rectify its error."

Aging and Pension Reform: Extending the Retirement Age and Human Capital Formation

"Projected demographic changes in industrialized and developing countries vary in extent and timing but will reduce the share of the population in working age everywhere.... [O]penness has a relatively mild effect. In contrast, endogenous human capital formation in combination with an increase in the retirement age has strong effects. Under these adjustments maximum welfare losses of demographic change for households alive in 2010 are reduced by about 3 percentage points."

American Benefits Council Comments on Self-Insured Plan Reporting to State All Payer Claims Databases (APCDs) (PDF)

"[R]equiring employers to master the laws of 50 states and to submit different data sets, at different times, in different formats, for different populations would impose substantial burdens on self-insured plans. These significant costs would ultimately be borne in whole or in part by plan participants ... [We] ask that the Committee report and the subsequent DOL guidance to the states, state clearly and unequivocally that states cannot require self-insured plans to report to state APCDs."

Testimony on Behalf of American Benefits Council to Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Retirement Plan Options for Small Businesses (PDF)

"For workers without access to a workplace retirement plan, 57.8% work for companies with fewer than 100 employees.... [We] must expand access by encouraging more small businesses to establish workplace retirement plans and multiple employer plans (MEPs) should serve a key role.... [E]ffective incentives are needed to encourage small plan formation with particular emphasis on encouraging adoption of progressive automatic feature designs."

Text of Amicus Brief of American Benefits Council and U.S. Chamber of Commerce to Fourth Circuit in Tatum v. RJR Pension Investment Committee (PDF)

30 pages. "In this case, Appellant and his amici propose a radical interpretation of the 'prudent man' rule under ERISA that cannot be derived from ERISA and, if ad opted, would threaten the creation and maintenance of employee benefit plans. In particular, their proposed new interpretation would create an unworkable standard for fiduciary responsibility, thus creating uncertainty for fiduciaries, inviting litigation even where the decisions of the fiduciaries have clearly been prudent, unnecessarily putting fiduciaries at risk of personal liability, raising the cost of administering employee benefit plans (including the insurance or indemnification needed to enable fiduciaries to serve), and thus discouraging the formation and continued maintenance of employee benefit plans." [Tatum v. RJR Pension Investment Committee et al., No. 13-1360, (4th Cir., filed Aug. 2, 2013]

American Benefits Council Comment Letter to Senators on W-2 Reporting of Employer-Provided Health Care Costs Proposal (PDF)

5 pages. "We believe that allowing employers to continue to choose the method of communication that works best for their workforce will ensure that employees receive health care cost information when it is most helpful to them and in a format that they are most likely to read and use."

American Benefits Council Says Pension Bill Deters Plan Sponsorship and Puts Plans Into Domestic Affairs (PDF)

Excerpt: S. 2707 would fundamentally change the way defined contribution plans (such as 401(k) plans) operate. It would impose on these plans the complicated spousal consent regime ... S. 2707 would upset the carefully developed QDRO regime by requiring employers to obey court orders that are (1) issued subsequent to divorce proceedings, (2) may not originate from the same court that considered the divorce and the original QDRO, and (3) do not follow the QDRO format.

Comments of American Council of Life Insurers to DOL on Pension Benefit Statements (PDF)

26 pages. Excerpt: "We encourage the Department to include in its pension benefits statement rule that a participant's accrued benefit be expressed as estimated guaranteed monthly lifetime income payments. This will help to educate workers as to the value of their plan savings as a source of retirement income. It will assist them in evaluating such factors as their income need, savings adequacy, and the amount of income devoted to retirement savings. It reframes the defined contribution plan as a retirement plan that is intended to generate retirement income, rather than just a capital accumulation or savings plan."

Text of Letter from American Benefits Council to Congressional Leadership/Committees Urging Action on DB Plan Funding Stabilization and Opposing PBGC Premium Increases (PDF)

3 pages. "As a result of the uncertainty of pension funding obligations, generally, and the prospect of inflated contributions, specifically, many critical business decisions are on hold. Hiring is delayed, layoffs are being announced, capital investments and other transactions vital to economic recovery are stymied. In the charitable sector, funds are being re-directed from meeting organizations' core philanthropic missions. In all these instances, well-intentioned policy that is deliberately keeping interest rates at historic low levels to assist economic recovery is, in part, hindering that very recovery by imposing costs that simply are not needed to ensure income security for current or future retirees, nor financial protection for the [PBGC]."

Text of Letter to Congress by American Benefits Council and Others, Urging DB Funding Interest Rate Stabilization (PDF)

6 pages. "The undersigned organizations, which represent thousands of pension plans providing retirement benefits to millions of workers and retirees, urge immediate Congressional action to stabilize funding interest rate rules for private-sector pension plans. Without legislation to adjust for current economic conditions, the current plan funding regime will undermine job retention and growth and limit companies' ability to invest in capital improvements needed to be competitive worldwide and to maintain the economic recovery here at home. Moreover, failure to address on-going funding issues will threaten the long-term retirement security of workers and retirees."

June 2004 Report: American Academy of Actuaries' Long Term Care Risk Based Capital Work Group (PDF)

50 pages. Excerpt: The NAIC Health Organization and Life Risk Based Capital Working Groups ... requested the American Academy of Actuaries to review the Managed Care Organization Risk Based Capital formulas for Disability Income (DI), Long Term Care (LTC), Stop Loss and Limited Benefit insurance products. The LTC Risk Based Capital Work Group (Group) was specifically formed to address LTC insurance. This report describes the source of data, methodology, analysis and our recommendations.

American Academy of Actuaries Submission to ERISA Advisory Council for DOL Consultation on Interpretive Bulletin 95-1 (PDF)

28 pages. "[This submission includes:] [1] Materials ... outlining the state insurance regulations applicable to life insurance companies operating in the United States. The materials focus on the regulatory framework governing solvency requirements, including the establishment of liabilities and required capital for benefit obligations that are the result of a pension risk transfer. [2] An issue brief authored by the Pension Committee of the American Academy of Actuaries focusing on 'buy-out' annuity contract transactions."

Supplement to the Report of the American Academy of Actuaries' LTC Risk Based Capital Work Group (PDF)

40 pages. Excerpt: Attached are proposed changes to the Life RBC Formula and Instructions and the Health RBC Formula and Instructions to implement new factors for Long-Term Care Insurance consistent with the June 2004 Report. The proposed changes allow for four aspects that were not part of the Academy's June recommendations ....' The June report is at http://www.actuary.org/pdf/health/ltc_rbc_june04.pdf.

Commission on the Regulation of U.S. Capital Markets in the 21st Century: Report and Recommendations (PDF)

Excerpt: One year ago, the Commission set out to seriously reconsider some of the systems and institutions built over the past 70 years to protect investors and foster capital formation. The Commission started with the premise that its recommendations needed to strike the right balance between two statutory mandates: protecting investors and promoting capital formation.

American Benefits Council Letter to EBSA on ERISA 408(b)(2) Rulemaking

"[W]ell-crafted 408(b)(2) Rulemaking should aim to balance meaningful transparency with appropriate safeguards as outlined below, recognizing that new requirements have the potential to increase, rather than decrease meritless litigation against plan fiduciaries who continue to exercise prudence and loyalty in carrying out their ERISA duties. The development of clear rules, including a process- based safe harbor as discussed below, will allow plan fiduciaries to more ably defeat such frivolous litigation, including potentially in a more efficient manner."

Pension Funding and Human Capital

In this paper we analyze the consequences of pension funding in a general equilibrium model of both formal schooling decisions and on-the-job human capital formation .... Our focus lies on the distortive and redistributive effects of a Bismarckian pension system as well as the macroeconomic and welfare consequences of its abolition. We find that a Bismackian PAYG style pension system like the German one strongly enhances on-the-job human capital formation and redistributes from the lower to the higher skilled[.]

American Benefits Council Comment on Proposed Amendments to Certain Rules Governing Money Market Funds (PDF)

2 pages. "Because of the importance of these funds to retirement plans, the Council commends the SEC's efforts to significantly strengthen the regulatory framework for money market funds to increase their resilience to economic stresses. The Council strongly supports strengthening these rules. The Council is concerned, however, about one proposal raised by the SEC. The proposed regulation requests comments on the possibility of eliminating the ability of money market funds to use the amortized cost method of valuation, resulting in a floating net asset value ('NAV') instead of a fixed $1.00 NAV. The Council believes that other changes proposed would result in less risk to the participant investing in the fund at the same time that a floating NAV would create an impression of more risk since, previously, 'breaking the buck' was a signthat the money market fund was significantly unstable."

American Benefits Council/ACLI Comments on Special Rules Governing Eligible Combined 'DB(k)' Plans (PDF)

4 pages. "This letter, which is submitted by the American Council of Life Insurers ... and the American Benefits Council ..., provides comments in response to Notice 2009-71 regarding guidance relating to eligible combined plans under 414(x) of the Internal Revenue Code ... It would be helpful if the Service would provide sample plan language in the form of listings of required modifications (LRMs) for eligible combined plans. Alternatively, we would appreciate guidance on which provisions must be included in the single plan document for the eligible combined plan."

Text of American Benefits Council Testimony to Senate Banking Committee Regarding FASB Exposure Draft (PDF)

13 pages. Excerpt: [June 14, 2006, Testimony of James A. Klein, President, American Benefits Council, was] submitted on behalf of the members of the American Benefits Council regarding the implications of FASB's Proposed Statement of Financial Accounting Standards: Employers' Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans.