Search the News Archive

Congressional Research Service Anticipates PPA Changes to Result in Reduced Lump-Sum Distribution Amounts After 2007

Excerpt: Congressional Research Service ('CRS'), which provides policy and legal analysis to the House and Senate, summarized key changes under the Pension Protection Act ('PPA') which are scheduled to become effective in 2008 and which will impact the value of lump sum distributions from defined benefit pension plans.

Congressional Research Service Report: Income of Americans Aged 65 and Older, 1968 to 2008

Excerpt: This CRS report presents data collected by the Census Bureau in the Current Population Survey from 1969 through 2009 about the employment status and the sources and amounts of income received by people aged 65 and older. The report focuses on the sources and amounts of income received by individuals aged 65 and older and by households in which either the household head or the household head's spouse (if present) was 65 or older in the year of the survey.

CRS Report: Description of Health Benefits for Members of Congress and Designated Congressional Staff (PDF)

12 pages. "[B]eginning January 1, 2014, Members and designated congressional staff are no longer able to purchase FEHB plans as active employees; however, if they enroll in a health plan offered through a small business health options program (SHOP) exchange, they remain eligible for an employer contribution toward coverage ... This report summarizes the provisions of the final rule and describes how it affects current and retired Members and congressional staff. OPM has indicated that Members and congressional staff are still eligible for other health benefits related to federal employment, and these additional health benefits are outlined in this report." [Report R43194, Jun. 17, 2015]

CRS Report: Health Benefits for Members of Congress and Certain Congressional Staff (PDF)

"Under the final rule [issued by OPM], beginning January 1, 2014, Members and designated congressional staff will no longer be able to purchase FEHBP plans as active employees; however, if they enroll in a health plan offered through a small business health options program (SHOP) exchange, they will remain eligible for an employer contribution toward coverage.... This report summarizes the provisions of the final rule and describes how it affects current and retired Members and congressional staff." [Editor's note: the report is dated November 4, 2013; it was first released online on December 13, 2013, along with a second report which describes the FEHBP.]

CRS Report: House of Representatives v. Burwell and the Congressional Standing to Sue (PDF)

24 pages. "This report begins by examining areas in which the courts have provided relatively definitive analysis regarding congressional standing.... The report then describes and analyzes the district court's ruling on standing in Burwell, in which the court determined that the House had suffered an injury sufficient to establish standing on one of its two claims. Finally, it addresses unresolved questions raised by the reasoning developed in Burwell and how it may be applied in future cases." [Report R44450, Sept. 12, 2016]

CRS in Focus: A Hypothetical Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment Based on the Research Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (PDF)

"[A table] provides the calculation of the Social Security COLA using both the CPI-W and the R-CPI-E. The December 2023 COLA using the R-CPI-E (4.0%) would have been 0.8 percentage points higher than the COLA using the CPI-W (3.2%)."

CRS in Focus: Funding of Postal Retiree Health Benefits in the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 (PDF)

"Since FY2007, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has experienced annual net losses averaging $6.2 billion due in large part to retiree health prefunding payments that were required under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PL 109-435). The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 [PSRA] (PL 117-108) repeals those prefunding payments and eliminates USPS's defaulted payments from its financial balance sheet. Additionally, the PSRA's changes to postal health benefits are expected to reduce USPS's share of premiums for its employees and retirees by $5.711 billion over 10 years." [IN11931, May 19, 2022]

CRS Insight: Funding of Postal Retiree Health Benefits in the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 (PDF)

"The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 [PL 109-435] required USPS to make annual payments into the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund (RHBF) for 10 years (from FY2007 to FY2016). This Insight provides information on the status of these payments and describes changes to the RHBF that the USPS Fairness Act (Section 102 of Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, HR 3076) would make." [IN11855 Feb. 11, 2022]

CRS Report: Applicability of Federal Requirements to Selected Health Coverage Arrangements (PDF)

29 pages. "[N]ot all private health coverage arrangements comply with [federal requirements, including] 'exempted health coverage arrangements' and 'noncompliant health coverage arrangements' ... This report identifies and describes arrangements within these two categories. It is intended to help congressional policymakers better understand the scope of such arrangements available to individuals in the United States and to provide information about the limits of the application of federal health insurance requirements." [R46003 Nov. 13, 2019; also published by the Congressional Research Service: An Overview]

CRS Report: Contractors and HealthCare.gov: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)

"Given HealthCare.gov's problematic debut, questions have arisen about how CMS selected vendors to work on HealthCare.gov, and the terms of the vendors' contractual relationships with the government.... The questions in this report are those that happen to have been frequently asked of the Congressional Research Service by congressional staffers."