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Excerpt: BrightScope: Why do you think judges are 'ERISA novices' as you have indicated in your writings? Brooks Hamilton: Judges 'appear' to be ERISA novices at their very best, or so it seems to me. Some may indeed even have a heartfelt bias, or perhaps an honest predisposition regarding fundamental ERISA issues, which in the altogether render them fundamentally indifferent, if not viscerally opposed, to the fiduciary standards imposed by ERISA. It must be remembered that 'Trust law' as a descendant of the Common Law was not a basic part of federalism in the first place.  MORE >>

Excerpt: Put in a 401(k) plan. ... The company's contribution generally was structured to be a match based on whatever the employee put in. They might say, 'You put in a dollar, we'll put in 50 cents.' Well, suddenly the company had a great deal to gain if not 100 percent of the people joined the 401(k) plan. They probably were only putting in 2 or 3 percent of payroll because not everybody was in the plan. ...  MORE >>

"The suits had been brought against Capital One and Booz Allen Hamilton for using a BlackRock target-date fund series as their qualified default investment alternative.... The plaintiffs [are] represented by Miller Shah LLP ... Miller Shah is currently representing clients in 11 lawsuits against plan sponsors that offer the BlackRock Lifepath Index Suite, a series of TDFs, as their QDIA."  MORE >>

"The companies are defendants in 11 virtually identical ERISA lawsuits against sponsors -- including Microsoft and Citigroup -- accusing them of keeping the BlackRock LifePath Index Fund, whose performance lagged four other target-date series over certain time periods."

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"[A] series of cases [has come] out of major courts that are aggressively pushing back against the unbridled assertion of broad discretion by plan administrators operating under a grant of discretion.... For the most part, these are not direct restrictions on the exercise of discretion itself, but instead consist of challenges to the applicability at all of discretion, such as in the form of decisions holding plan administrators to strict compliance with technical requirements of claims handling upon pain of losing the benefits granted them by discretionary review."  MORE >>

"You know those vast empires of wealth that have been built across the retirement industry by taking large fees out of 401(k) plans? That empire's fallen. Making a lot of money out of servicing 401(k) assets is now going to have to come from doing a better job, not from charging more for the same job. There's just too much risk in it for plan fiduciaries if they allow people to keep making a lot of money simply by charging a lot of fees to place or hold retirement assets, without providing additional benefit that warrants additional fees."  MORE >>

"[The authors] recommend that the agencies collect and make available systematic, high-quality data on the ownership structures of health care entities, with a particular focus on improving the data available on physician practices.... [CMS] should collect systematic data on physician practice ownership as part of the Medicare enrollment process, as it does for institutional providers.... CMS should take steps to improve the quality of entity-reported data."

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"While reducing the cost of IDR is desirable ... changes like this may also encourage greater use of IDR, at least partially offsetting any savings from reducing the costs incurred per disputed service. The Departments' proposed changes may also disproportionately reduce the costs that providers bear in IDR, which may give providers more leverage in negotiations with insurers and raise negotiated prices."

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"[The] letter urges CMS not to implement network adequacy standards related to emergency physicians because doing so would increase patient out-of-pocket costs and premiums without improving patient access."

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"My testimony is in three parts. I first discuss the problem of low retirement savings and, secondly, I summarize relevant theories of saving that help to illustrate areas for improvement. In the final portion, I offer some specific policy recommendations based on my own work and that of my colleagues. In offering these recommendations, I seek to enhance the financial security of Americans in retirement."  MORE >>