Search the News Archive

New York Suspends Pension Contributions to Plan Covering Employees in Arts Organizations

"[T]he city has questions about whether its share of the pension costs, projected to be about $17 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, was overstated because of irregularities in pension calculations. Under an arrangement that dates from 1962 the city pays into a pension system that covers some workers in dozens of day care centers with city contracts as well as dozens of cultural institutions."

Administration to Require Reports on All Health Insurance Price Increases

"Under current rules, the federal government requires insurers to report information on rate increases of 10 percent or more. New rules being issued by the administration will extend this requirement to all rate increases for all health plans sold to individuals, families and small businesses -- a total of 60 million people."

The Health Benefits That Cut Your Pay

"The [ACA] does require employers, beginning this year, to note on W-2's how much both the employee and the employer contributed to health care costs.... But even with greater awareness, many Americans still might not understand that the largest effect of the cost of our health care system is to reduce the amount of money they actually take home.... [A] 23-year-old employee will bear at least $1.8 million in health care costs over her lifetime. That's assuming that such costs don't grow by more than current government estimates, that she never has a working spouse, and that she and her dependents don't ever contract a serious illness."

Allure of Self-Insurance Draws Concern by Policymakers

"Federal and state officials and consumer advocates have grown worried that companies with relatively young, healthy employees may opt out of the regular health insurance market to avoid the minimum coverage standards in [the ACA], a move that could drive up costs for workers at other companies.... 'The new health care law created powerful incentives for smaller employers to self-insure,' said Deborah J. Chollet, a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research who has been studying the insurance industry for more than 25 years. 'This trend could destabilize small-group insurance markets and erode protections provided by the [ACA]'."

Sharp Slowdown in U.S. Health Care Costs Eases Deficit

"Health experts say they do not yet fully understand what is driving the lower spending trajectory. But there is a growing consensus that changes in how doctors and hospitals deliver health care ... are playing a role. Still, experts sharply disagree on where spending might be in future years, a question with major ramifications for the federal deficit, family budgets and the overall economy."

Enrollments for Insurance Start Oct. 1, Administration Official Says

"An Obama administration official told Congress on Thursday that the government would be ready to enroll millions of people in private health insurance plans this fall, but senators of both parties expressed doubts.... [A]fter listening to [Gary M. Cohen, the federal official in charge of setting up health insurance exchanges] for more than an hour, the committee chairman, Senator Max Baucus, ... demanded a detailed work plan and timetable for specific tasks, showing how the White House would meet the Oct. 1 deadline."

China Is No Country for Old Age

"Since 2009, when China enacted a nationwide program of rural pensions, some 325 million Chinese have been promised retirement benefits. That's more than the entire population of the United States.... The share of China's population over the age of 60 is now 185 million, and will nearly double by 2030. A recent study estimated that over the next 20 years, the government will have accumulated $10.9 trillion in pension liabilities."

Health Care Panel, Lacking Budget, Is Left Waiting

"One of the biggest threats to the success of President Obama's health care law comes from shortages of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. But a 15-member commission created to investigate the problem has never met in two and a half years because it has no money from Congress or the administration."