Search the News Archive

Report: Social Security Privatization Around the World (PDF)

33 pages. Excerpt: This AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper by John Turner surveys social security privatization in various countries, presenting a framework for understanding the ways that countries privatize social security. Further, it discusses issues that have arisen as a result of privatization, including high administrative costs, delays in crediting accounts, and the lack of predictability of benefits due to financial market risks.

MORE >>

New 401(k) Expense Reports Greeted with Yawns

"Details of the new reports were hammered out in seemingly endless discussions overseen by the U.S. Labor Department. Finally, however, their final form was adopted and the clock ticked forward. The future of consumer disclosure has arrived.... The only problem with the new reports, alas, is that all those tens of millions of 401(k) participants may not notice or care about them."  MORE >>

U.S. Underestimates Long-Term Costs of Obesity, Experts Say

"[E]stimates used by Congress ... project out only 10 years, while it may take much longer than that for complications of obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease, to manifest[.]"  MORE >>

The Best Places to Find a Retirement Plan: Coverage Statistics for Various U.S. Locations

Excerpt: Workers from Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha, Wis., and Huntsville-Decatur, Ala., had the highest participation rates in the private sector ...

MORE >>

Employers, Workers, and the New World of Work (PDF)

106 pages. "[This report] provides an in-depth view of employers' organizational concerns, business practices, and health, welfare, and retirement benefit offerings. The report compares employer perceptions versus worker realities, and it breaks down survey findings by company size. It also discusses best practices and outlines recommendations for employers."  MORE >>

Global Impact: Healthcare Planning for an Ageing World

Excerpt: This article is based on ideas from the 2008 report of the World Economic Forum (the Forum) - The Future of Pensions and Healthcare in a Rapidly Ageing World: Scenarios to 2030. It contains references to scenarios that relate to the Forum report, which explores the effects of a rapidly ageing population and the projected economic and social conditions on pensions and health care under each of the three main scenarios.

MORE >>

The Future of Pensions and Healthcare in a Rapidly Ageing World - Scenarios to 2030 (PDF)

115 pages. Excerpt: The World Economic Forum's report The Future of Pensions and Healthcare in a Rapidly Ageing World - Scenarios to 2030, indicates that new forms of collaboration between key stakeholders - individuals, financial institutions, healthcare providers, employers, and governments - will be critical to finance the ongoing well-being of current and future generations in a sustainable manner.

MORE >>

Solving for Data Transparency in the Retirement World

"The migration to super omnibus accounts and the increasingly complex and interdependent retirement marketplace has led to a demand for more transparency, because robust reporting can help the firms involved provide services more effectively.... [ICI's Retirement Plan Reporting(RPR)] solution ... is based on the records of service providers (such as a plan recordkeepers or administrators). RPR contains two main plan-level data sets: plan information and plan investments."  MORE >>

The New Social Contract: Empowering Individuals in a Transitioning World (PDF)

Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey 2019; 80 pages. "This year's survey report delves further into the specifics of a new social contract with an emphasis on empowering individuals to play a greater role in their preparations in our transitioning world. It outlines the Five Fundamentals for Retirement Readiness, which are action steps they can and should be taking right now. It also outlines specific recommendations for governments, employers, industry, and other social partners to begin building the new social contract."  MORE >>

Social Security Programs Throughout the World: The Americas, 2007

Excerpt: This fourth issue in the current four-volume series of Social Security Programs Throughout the World reports on the countries of the Americas. The combined findings of this series, which also includes volumes on Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and Africa, are published at 6-month intervals over a 2-year period. Each volume highlights features of social security programs in the particular region.

MORE >>

The Future of Retirement in a World of Rising Life Expectancies (PDF)

16 pages. Excerpt: The Future of Retirement research, of which this report is a précis, examined attitudes towards ageing and retirement planning in 10 societies that together contain half of the world's population. .... It is ... the first [research] to study the various ways in which people of different generations throughout the world prepare for their later years, and the first to reveal emerging models of personal growth, new careers and changing family relationships.

MORE >>

Many Individual Health Insurance Plans Heap Healthcare Costs on Consumers

"A first-ever U.S News analysis of nearly 6,000 health insurance plans marketed to individuals and families reveals that many of the consumers who enroll in these plans may confront budget-wrecking out-of-pocket costs that deplete their savings. Large numbers of plans severely limit coverage for such services as prescription drugs, maternity coverage, mental health treatment, and rehabilitation therapy.... If consumers choose plans that fail to meet their needs, it may be because they're confused."  MORE >>

Retirement Planning that Weathers Economic Storms

U.S. News recently interviewed several financial planners and advisers throughout the country. There were nearly as many different investment strategies for today's market conditions as there were advisers.  MORE >>

Author Roger Lowenstein Says Aging Boomers Plus Paltry Savings Make for a Coming Crisis

Excerpt: In his latest book, While America Aged: How Pension Debts Ruined General Motors, Stopped the NYC Subways, Bankrupted San Diego and Loom as the Next Financial Crisis, journalist Roger Lowenstein explores America's deeply flawed retirement system. He talked with U.S. News about solving this major economic conundrum.  MORE >>

2023 Telemental Health Regs Chart New Course in Post-PHE World

"The 2023 updates report a significant evolution of the telemental health and telehealth industries, including extended regulatory flexibilities that promote increased use of telehealth.... [E]xpansion and innovation have contributed to an expanded focus on telefraud and increased enforcement activity."  MORE >>

American People Pay the Highest Prices in the World for Lifesaving Prescription Drugs That They Helped Create (PDF)

12 pages. "[This report documents] the prices of federally supported prescription drugs, focusing on treatments developed with the help of scientists from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The average (median) price of new treatments that NIH scientists helped invent over the past twenty years is $111,000.... [For one drug,] NIH negotiated royalties of around 1% on sales, without any pricing constraints.... The average price of new treatments that NIH scientists helped invent over the past twenty years is now more than ten times the price that led NIH to first introduce a reasonable pricing clause in 1989."  MORE >>

In the Complicated World of ERISA, a Fiduciary Checklist Can Help

"[1] Roster of fiduciary roles and responsibilities; [2] Plan documents; [3] Fidelity bond and fiduciary liability insurance; [4] Service provider contracts; [5] Government reporting; [6] Employee communication materials; [7] Administrative policies and procedures; [8] Annual compliance tests; [9] Meeting minutes; [10] Annual review materials."

MORE >>

The Future of Healthcare Benefits: Employers' Opportunity for Strategic Change in the New Healthcare World (PDF)

"The value proposition for private exchanges is likely to improve over time.... The private exchanges may enable more aggressive delivery-based strategies over time.... Key issues in 2014 are the employer 'pay or play' penalties and related reporting.... There is a big correlation between happy employees and business outcomes.... Much of the corporate interest in private exchanges is coming from leadership and finance, not HR."  MORE >>

The Brave New World of Employer-Sponsored Health Care (PDF)

"With health care costs continuing to increase at two to three times the rate of inflation, offering traditional health insurance benefits is no longer an option for most companies.... Only 26 percent [of company executives] report that they are very confident that health insurance as an employee benefit will be offered in 10 years.... Key strategies employers can take today to help employees own their health care ... 1. Provide More Information to Employees ... 2. Provide Cost Transparency ... 3. Create a Financial Wellness Action Plan for Long-Term Savings[.]"  MORE >>

Health Care Systems Around the World (PDF)

38 pages. Excerpt: There are many lessons to be learned from the health systems of the ten countries presented here: (1) Canada; (2) Denmark; (3) France; (4) Germany; (5) Israel; (6) Japan; (7) the Netherlands; (8) Sweden, (9) Switzerland; and (10) the United Kingdom. This report provides a basic overview of the core features of each system. Links to more detailed information are included at the end of each country's section.

MORE >>