America’s Number One Protection Program
By Polly Winn; The Mexia Daily News ~ Aug 19, 2008
As of August 19, 2008, more than 164 million workers are protected by Social Security. And more than 50 million people receive retirement, survivors or disability benefits. Over the next two decades, nearly 80 million Americans will become eligible for Social Security retirement benefits. That means about 10,000 are becoming eligible to apply for benefits every day.
Retiree Benefits Take Another Hit
By Vanessa Fuhrmans and Theo Francis, The Wall Street Journal - July 16, 2008 GM's announcement Tuesday that it would cease medical coverage for its salaried retirees age 65 and above signals that a new era of ever-shrinking benefits has arrived. Beginning in January, even former employees who are already in retirement will lose their benefits, which most of the company's retirees use to supplement gaps in their traditional Medicare coverage...
Read more...
High Court Declines AARP Appeal
The Associated Press - Mar. 24, 2008
The Supreme Court on Monday let stand an EEOC Rule that allows employers to reduce their health insurance expenses for retired workers once they turn 65 and qualify for Medicare. The justices turned down an appeal by AARP to undo a rule that allows employers to treat retirees differently depending on their age. The NRLN will now launch its lobbying effort to gain legislation to overturn the EEOC Rule.
Guess Who Foots America's Health Care Bill?
By Niko Karvounis; Alternet.com ~ Mar 12, 2008
The common claim that employers, government, and households all pay for health care is false. Employers do not share fiscal responsibility and employers do not pay for health care. In fact, the money for health care comes from our own pockets...
Retiree couple needs $225K for medical
By Eileen Alt Powell, AP; The Oklahoman ~ Mar 05, 2008 NEW YORK (AP) -- A couple retiring this year will need about $225,000 in savings to cover medical costs in retirement, according to a study released Wednesday by Fidelity Investments...
Beyond Those Health Care Numbers
By N. Gregory Mankiw; The New York Times ~ Nov 04, 2007
With the health care system at the center of the political debate, a lot of scary claims are being thrown around. The dangerous ones are not those that are false; watchdogs in the news media are quick to debunk them. Rather, the dangerous ones are those that are true but don't mean what people think they mean. Here are three of the true but misleading statements about health care that politicians and pundits love to use to frighten the public...
PBGC Announces Maximum Insurance Benefit for 2008
PBGC News Release - Oct. 30, 2007
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) today announced that the maximum insurance benefit for participants in underfunded pension plans terminating in 2008...
Social Security hits first wave of boomers
By Richard Wolf; USA TODAY ~ Oct 09, 2007
When Kathleen Casey-Kirschling signs up for Social Security benefits Monday, it will represent one small step for her, one giant leap for her baby boom generation - and a symbolic jump toward the retirement system's looming bankruptcy...
Financial Powerhouses Are Angling to Buy Retirement Plans as Employers Look for an Exit
By Tomoeh Murakami Tse, Washington Post - Oct. 14, 2007 Some financial services firms are trying to clear a regulatory path that would let them buy out pension plans, freeing employers from pension obligations while potentially giving profit-driven financiers direct control over the retirement savings of millions of Americans...
Health care plans of presidential candidates
Reuters ~ Oct 12, 2007
Several candidates for president have suggested how they would provide coverage for the 47 million people in the United States without health insurance. Following are some health care proposals from the leading candidates...
Medicare adviser urges more than 'lip service' on future of program
By Jeffrey Young; The Hill ~ Sep 21, 2007
As chairman of the influential Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), a federal panel tasked with recommending what the program should pay doctors, hospitals and other providers, Glenn Hackbarth is on the front lines of the complex policy issues facing the giant healthcare program. In the same capacity, he frequently is called to testify before Congress, which has provided him with a political perspective on Medicare...
50 Ways to cut your health-care costs
By Cybele Weisser 7 Amanda Gengler, with Asa Fitch & Daphne Mosher; CNNMoney.com ~ Sep 11, 2007
Cut hospital bills by 25% and drug costs by 35%...there are more ways to save than you ever realized...
Don't give up on defined-benefit system
By Sara Hansard; Investment News ~ Jun 21, 2007
The U.S. should be encouraging both defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans, the head of a group that represents major employers said today at a retirement conference...
Analysis: Are insured the real victims?
By Rosalie Westenskow ; United Press International ~ May 31, 2007
In the ongoing healthcare debate, politicians' emphasis on the uninsured is misplaced, scholars say, and ignores the real underdogs of the system. The current healthcare program exploits low- and middle-income Americans who pay exorbitant premiums for care many never receive, according to two Duke University professors...
Shrinking Social Security
By Jeanne Sahadi; CNNMoney.com ~ May 15 2007 A new report says Social Security will replace less of your income than it did before, thanks to taxes, Medicare and the reality of hitting your 60's...
Vanishing retiree health care benefits
By Carole Moore, Bankrate.com - May 1, 2007
As the first wave of baby boomers makes the transition from career track to riding the retirement rails, here's a warning from those who've already pushed off from corporate life: Don't believe everything you're told, even if you have it in writing, especially where post-retirement health insurance is concerned.
Fight for your health care rights
By Carole Moore, Bankrate.com - May 1, 2007
No, you don't have to sit back and watch while your health care benefits go up in smoke. Then get active. Jim Norby, 79, is president of the National Retiree Legislative Network, an organization working to change health care for retirees
Retiring couples need $215K for health costs
By Jeanne Sahadi; CNNMoney.com ~ Mar 27 2007
Since 2002, Fidelity Investments has estimated what the average person starting retirement will need to pay for healthcare costs. This year, the average amount for a couple, both age 65, is $215,000, up 7.5 percent from $200,000 last year. That assumes they will not have health coverage provided by a former employer...
Aged, Frail and Denied Care by Their Insurers
By Charles Duhigg; The New York Times ~ Mar 26, 2007 Some long-term-care insurers have developed procedures that make it difficult - if not impossible - for policyholders to get paid. A review of more than 400 of the thousands of grievances and lawsuits filed in recent years shows elderly policyholders confronting unnecessary delays and overwhelming bureaucracies...
U.S. Health-Care Costs to Top $4 Trillion By 2016
From HealthDay News; Forbes ~ Feb 21, 2007
Federal forecasters predict that U.S. health-care spending will double by 2016, to $4.1 trillion per year. That's one-fifth of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP)...
Dismantling Retirement
By Richard Craver, Winston-Salem Journal, Feb. 11, 2007
When it comes to preparing for retirement, there are few guarantees anymore. Just ask recent retirees of Hanesbrands Inc. under the age of 65. On Feb. 1, Hanesbrands cut its contribution to retirees' health-insurance premiums from an average of 62 percent to no more than 35 percent. It will end its contributions entirely Dec. 1 but will continue to provide access to the group rate for retirees who can pay the full cost of the premium...
Court upholds pension ruling against AT&T
St. Louis Post Dispatch - Jan. 10, 2007
AT&T Inc. lost a bid to overturn a $31 million judgment in a lawsuit challenging its policy of paying early retirees less if they elect a lump sum instead of regular pension payments. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago Tuesday upheld a 2004 lower court ruling that Ameritech Corp., acquired by AT&T in 1999, underpaid employees when they sought to take a lump sum...
House OKs letting Medicare negotiate lower drug prices
Bill faces rough road in Senate and threat of presidential veto
By Edward Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle - Jan. 13, 2007
The Democratic-led House, acting in the face of a presidential veto threat and opposition from the powerful pharmaceuticals industry, backed legislation Friday that advocates said would lower prescription drug prices for 43 million Medicare recipients and disabled Americans...
Health care cap creating 'bleak' view, advocate says
By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News - December 16, 2006
Mary, or Mimi, Hull lives comfortably in a condominium near downtown Denver. Cuts in her retiree benefits aren't likely to change her lifestyle in the immediate future. But they do have an effect. As it is, her pension is $21,180 a year and, like other retirees, she hasn't seen an increase for 10 years. Her life insurance is being slashed from $84,000 to $10,000...
Growth in U.S. Health Care Spending Slows
By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay; The Washington Post ~ Jan 09, 2007The growth in U.S. health-care spending has declined to its slowest rate since 1999, largely because of a dramatic dip in the growth of prescription drug spending, government economists reported Tuesday. At the same time, however, households are seeing health-care costs consume more of their personal income, according to the government's annual report on health-care spending...
More Americans facing high healthcare costs
Reuters ~ Dec 12, 2006 A growing number of Americans are devoting a large share of their paychecks to healthcare, and some are skipping medical care because of it...
Retirees Plan to Fight Qwest’s Announced Additional Pension Benefit Cuts
Association of US West Retirees News Release - Oct. 24, 2006 The Association of U S West Retirees (AUSWR) today announced plans to rally retirees against the latest round of proposed pension benefit cuts by Denver-based Qwest Communications, International...
After Years of Growth, What About Workers’ Share?
By Eduardo Porter; The New York Times ~ Oct 15, 2006Job growth is starting to slow, and wages are barely keeping up with inflation. Five years into a relatively robust economic expansion, it’s understandable that many American workers feel that they are not getting their fair share of the pie. In fact, the share of the economy devoted to workers’ wages and benefits has eroded in the United States over the last five years. But if it’s any consolation, the trend for workers in other rich industrial nations isn’t much better...
Number of uninsured escalates
By Larry Lipman & Christine Grimaldi; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ~ Sep 28, 2006Americans with health insurance are receiving better care than ever, but a record number of Americans have no coverage, according to two reports released Wednesday...
Employers Chip Away at Retiree Health Benefits
By Jonathan Peterson; The Los Angeles Times ~ Sep 26, 2006Geraldine Picha knew that her pension would be modest, given her tenure of just 15 years at the phone company. What she did not expect was that her retiree health premium would eat up every penny of that pension — and more. "It's frightening," said Picha, 63, whose former employer has raised her medical insurance bill steadily since she retired in 1998. At $560 a month, it now eclipses the $514 pension check Picha earned from her years at what was then AT&T Corp. and a spinoff, Lucent Technologies Inc...
Must You Work Until You Drop?
By Janet Novack, Forbes.com - Aug. 30, 2006Will you have enough pension income to stop laboring some day? It's a timely question, and not just because of the upcoming Labor Day holiday. It's clear workers are going to have to save more, stay on the job longer and pay more attention to the investment of their own pension funds if they want a comfortable retirement...
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President Bush Signs New Pension Bill
By The Associated Press; The New York Times ~ Aug 17, 2006WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Thursday signed new rules to prod companies into shoring up their pension plans and offered strong words for corporate America: ''Set aside enough money now.'' Before an enthusiastic audience in an office building on the White House grounds, Bush called the legislation ''the most sweeping reform of America's pension laws in over 30 years.''...
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What You Need To Know About Pension Changes
By Ellen E. Schultz and Theo Francis, The Wall Street Journal - Aug. 15, 2006If you're covered by a traditional pension plan, the odds that your employer will change to a "cash balance" pension plan have just increased. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that IBM Corp.'s cash-balance pension didn't violate age-discrimination laws. Just days before that, Congress approved a measure that would deem cash-balance plans legal...
Many in U.S. forced into retirement
BylineBy Jonathan Peterson, LA Times; The Baltimore Sun~ Jul 9, 2006American workers, who face growing financial pressure to stay in the work force, are far more likely to be forced into an early retirement than many expect, according to a recent study...
Another perk joins the endangered species list
By Geoffrey Colvin, FORTUNE - June 14, 2006
Retiree medical costs are galloping at double-digit rates, and in an increasingly competitive global economy, the few remaining firms that offer those benefits find them harder to afford. So some companies are eliminating such benefits, including Lucent and Alcatel...
Addressing the Insolvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
By Alex J. Pollock; American Enterprise Institute ~ Jun 14, 2006
The inherent structural risks of having the government insure--through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)--the future commitments of defined benefit pension plans has resulted in a reported deficit of $23 billion. The present value of the long-term cash deficit has been estimated at $92 billion. Pending legislation would improve the financial exposure of the PBGC, but would still leave a large projected deficit and fundamental structural problems...
A View From Washington
By A. J. "Jim" Norby, The Guardian - June 2006
By Cybele Weisser 7 Amanda Gengler, with Asa Fitch & Daphne Mosher; CNNMoney.com ~ Sep 11, 2007
Cut hospital bills by 25% and drug costs by 35%...there are more ways to save than you ever realized...
By Sara Hansard; Investment News ~ Jun 21, 2007
The U.S. should be encouraging both defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans, the head of a group that represents major employers said today at a retirement conference...
By Rosalie Westenskow ; United Press International ~ May 31, 2007
In the ongoing healthcare debate, politicians' emphasis on the uninsured is misplaced, scholars say, and ignores the real underdogs of the system. The current healthcare program exploits low- and middle-income Americans who pay exorbitant premiums for care many never receive, according to two Duke University professors...
Shrinking Social Security
By Jeanne Sahadi; CNNMoney.com ~ May 15 2007 A new report says Social Security will replace less of your income than it did before, thanks to taxes, Medicare and the reality of hitting your 60's...
Vanishing retiree health care benefits
By Carole Moore, Bankrate.com - May 1, 2007
As the first wave of baby boomers makes the transition from career track to riding the retirement rails, here's a warning from those who've already pushed off from corporate life: Don't believe everything you're told, even if you have it in writing, especially where post-retirement health insurance is concerned.
Fight for your health care rights
By Carole Moore, Bankrate.com - May 1, 2007
No, you don't have to sit back and watch while your health care benefits go up in smoke. Then get active. Jim Norby, 79, is president of the National Retiree Legislative Network, an organization working to change health care for retirees
Retiring couples need $215K for health costs
By Jeanne Sahadi; CNNMoney.com ~ Mar 27 2007
Since 2002, Fidelity Investments has estimated what the average person starting retirement will need to pay for healthcare costs. This year, the average amount for a couple, both age 65, is $215,000, up 7.5 percent from $200,000 last year. That assumes they will not have health coverage provided by a former employer...
Aged, Frail and Denied Care by Their Insurers
By Charles Duhigg; The New York Times ~ Mar 26, 2007 Some long-term-care insurers have developed procedures that make it difficult - if not impossible - for policyholders to get paid. A review of more than 400 of the thousands of grievances and lawsuits filed in recent years shows elderly policyholders confronting unnecessary delays and overwhelming bureaucracies...
U.S. Health-Care Costs to Top $4 Trillion By 2016
From HealthDay News; Forbes ~ Feb 21, 2007
Federal forecasters predict that U.S. health-care spending will double by 2016, to $4.1 trillion per year. That's one-fifth of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP)...
Dismantling Retirement
By Richard Craver, Winston-Salem Journal, Feb. 11, 2007
When it comes to preparing for retirement, there are few guarantees anymore. Just ask recent retirees of Hanesbrands Inc. under the age of 65. On Feb. 1, Hanesbrands cut its contribution to retirees' health-insurance premiums from an average of 62 percent to no more than 35 percent. It will end its contributions entirely Dec. 1 but will continue to provide access to the group rate for retirees who can pay the full cost of the premium...
Court upholds pension ruling against AT&T
St. Louis Post Dispatch - Jan. 10, 2007
AT&T Inc. lost a bid to overturn a $31 million judgment in a lawsuit challenging its policy of paying early retirees less if they elect a lump sum instead of regular pension payments. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago Tuesday upheld a 2004 lower court ruling that Ameritech Corp., acquired by AT&T in 1999, underpaid employees when they sought to take a lump sum...
House OKs letting Medicare negotiate lower drug prices
Bill faces rough road in Senate and threat of presidential veto
By Edward Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle - Jan. 13, 2007
The Democratic-led House, acting in the face of a presidential veto threat and opposition from the powerful pharmaceuticals industry, backed legislation Friday that advocates said would lower prescription drug prices for 43 million Medicare recipients and disabled Americans...
Health care cap creating 'bleak' view, advocate says
By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News - December 16, 2006
Mary, or Mimi, Hull lives comfortably in a condominium near downtown Denver. Cuts in her retiree benefits aren't likely to change her lifestyle in the immediate future. But they do have an effect. As it is, her pension is $21,180 a year and, like other retirees, she hasn't seen an increase for 10 years. Her life insurance is being slashed from $84,000 to $10,000...
Growth in U.S. Health Care Spending Slows
By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay; The Washington Post ~ Jan 09, 2007The growth in U.S. health-care spending has declined to its slowest rate since 1999, largely because of a dramatic dip in the growth of prescription drug spending, government economists reported Tuesday. At the same time, however, households are seeing health-care costs consume more of their personal income, according to the government's annual report on health-care spending...
More Americans facing high healthcare costs
Reuters ~ Dec 12, 2006 A growing number of Americans are devoting a large share of their paychecks to healthcare, and some are skipping medical care because of it...
Retirees Plan to Fight Qwest’s Announced Additional Pension Benefit Cuts
Association of US West Retirees News Release - Oct. 24, 2006 The Association of U S West Retirees (AUSWR) today announced plans to rally retirees against the latest round of proposed pension benefit cuts by Denver-based Qwest Communications, International...
After Years of Growth, What About Workers’ Share?
By Eduardo Porter; The New York Times ~ Oct 15, 2006Job growth is starting to slow, and wages are barely keeping up with inflation. Five years into a relatively robust economic expansion, it’s understandable that many American workers feel that they are not getting their fair share of the pie. In fact, the share of the economy devoted to workers’ wages and benefits has eroded in the United States over the last five years. But if it’s any consolation, the trend for workers in other rich industrial nations isn’t much better...
Number of uninsured escalates
By Larry Lipman & Christine Grimaldi; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ~ Sep 28, 2006Americans with health insurance are receiving better care than ever, but a record number of Americans have no coverage, according to two reports released Wednesday...
Employers Chip Away at Retiree Health Benefits
By Jonathan Peterson; The Los Angeles Times ~ Sep 26, 2006Geraldine Picha knew that her pension would be modest, given her tenure of just 15 years at the phone company. What she did not expect was that her retiree health premium would eat up every penny of that pension — and more. "It's frightening," said Picha, 63, whose former employer has raised her medical insurance bill steadily since she retired in 1998. At $560 a month, it now eclipses the $514 pension check Picha earned from her years at what was then AT&T Corp. and a spinoff, Lucent Technologies Inc...
Must You Work Until You Drop?
By Janet Novack, Forbes.com - Aug. 30, 2006Will you have enough pension income to stop laboring some day? It's a timely question, and not just because of the upcoming Labor Day holiday. It's clear workers are going to have to save more, stay on the job longer and pay more attention to the investment of their own pension funds if they want a comfortable retirement...
-->
President Bush Signs New Pension Bill
By The Associated Press; The New York Times ~ Aug 17, 2006WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Thursday signed new rules to prod companies into shoring up their pension plans and offered strong words for corporate America: ''Set aside enough money now.'' Before an enthusiastic audience in an office building on the White House grounds, Bush called the legislation ''the most sweeping reform of America's pension laws in over 30 years.''...
-->
What You Need To Know About Pension Changes
By Ellen E. Schultz and Theo Francis, The Wall Street Journal - Aug. 15, 2006If you're covered by a traditional pension plan, the odds that your employer will change to a "cash balance" pension plan have just increased. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that IBM Corp.'s cash-balance pension didn't violate age-discrimination laws. Just days before that, Congress approved a measure that would deem cash-balance plans legal...
Many in U.S. forced into retirement
BylineBy Jonathan Peterson, LA Times; The Baltimore Sun~ Jul 9, 2006American workers, who face growing financial pressure to stay in the work force, are far more likely to be forced into an early retirement than many expect, according to a recent study...
Another perk joins the endangered species list
By Geoffrey Colvin, FORTUNE - June 14, 2006
Retiree medical costs are galloping at double-digit rates, and in an increasingly competitive global economy, the few remaining firms that offer those benefits find them harder to afford. So some companies are eliminating such benefits, including Lucent and Alcatel...
Addressing the Insolvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
By Alex J. Pollock; American Enterprise Institute ~ Jun 14, 2006
The inherent structural risks of having the government insure--through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)--the future commitments of defined benefit pension plans has resulted in a reported deficit of $23 billion. The present value of the long-term cash deficit has been estimated at $92 billion. Pending legislation would improve the financial exposure of the PBGC, but would still leave a large projected deficit and fundamental structural problems...
A View From Washington
By A. J. "Jim" Norby, The Guardian - June 2006
St. Louis Post Dispatch - Jan. 10, 2007
AT&T Inc. lost a bid to overturn a $31 million judgment in a lawsuit challenging its policy of paying early retirees less if they elect a lump sum instead of regular pension payments. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago Tuesday upheld a 2004 lower court ruling that Ameritech Corp., acquired by AT&T in 1999, underpaid employees when they sought to take a lump sum...
Bill faces rough road in Senate and threat of presidential veto
By Edward Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle - Jan. 13, 2007
The Democratic-led House, acting in the face of a presidential veto threat and opposition from the powerful pharmaceuticals industry, backed legislation Friday that advocates said would lower prescription drug prices for 43 million Medicare recipients and disabled Americans...
By Jeff Smith, Rocky Mountain News - December 16, 2006
Mary, or Mimi, Hull lives comfortably in a condominium near downtown Denver. Cuts in her retiree benefits aren't likely to change her lifestyle in the immediate future. But they do have an effect. As it is, her pension is $21,180 a year and, like other retirees, she hasn't seen an increase for 10 years. Her life insurance is being slashed from $84,000 to $10,000...
By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay; The Washington Post ~ Jan 09, 2007
The growth in U.S. health-care spending has declined to its slowest rate since 1999, largely because of a dramatic dip in the growth of prescription drug spending, government economists reported Tuesday. At the same time, however, households are seeing health-care costs consume more of their personal income, according to the government's annual report on health-care spending...
Reuters ~ Dec 12, 2006
A growing number of Americans are devoting a large share of their paychecks to healthcare, and some are skipping medical care because of it...
Association of US West Retirees News Release - Oct. 24, 2006
The Association of U S West Retirees (AUSWR) today announced plans to rally retirees against the latest round of proposed pension benefit cuts by Denver-based Qwest Communications, International...
By Eduardo Porter; The New York Times ~ Oct 15, 2006
Job growth is starting to slow, and wages are barely keeping up with inflation. Five years into a relatively robust economic expansion, it’s understandable that many American workers feel that they are not getting their fair share of the pie. In fact, the share of the economy devoted to workers’ wages and benefits has eroded in the United States over the last five years. But if it’s any consolation, the trend for workers in other rich industrial nations isn’t much better...
By Larry Lipman & Christine Grimaldi; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ~ Sep 28, 2006
Americans with health insurance are receiving better care than ever, but a record number of Americans have no coverage, according to two reports released Wednesday...
By Jonathan Peterson; The Los Angeles Times ~ Sep 26, 2006
Geraldine Picha knew that her pension would be modest, given her tenure of just 15 years at the phone company. What she did not expect was that her retiree health premium would eat up every penny of that pension — and more. "It's frightening," said Picha, 63, whose former employer has raised her medical insurance bill steadily since she retired in 1998. At $560 a month, it now eclipses the $514 pension check Picha earned from her years at what was then AT&T Corp. and a spinoff, Lucent Technologies Inc...
By Janet Novack, Forbes.com - Aug. 30, 2006
Will you have enough pension income to stop laboring some day? It's a timely question, and not just because of the upcoming Labor Day holiday. It's clear workers are going to have to save more, stay on the job longer and pay more attention to the investment of their own pension funds if they want a comfortable retirement...
By The Associated Press; The New York Times ~ Aug 17, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush on Thursday signed new rules to prod companies into shoring up their pension plans and offered strong words for corporate America: ''Set aside enough money now.'' Before an enthusiastic audience in an office building on the White House grounds, Bush called the legislation ''the most sweeping reform of America's pension laws in over 30 years.''...
By Ellen E. Schultz and Theo Francis, The Wall Street Journal - Aug. 15, 2006
If you're covered by a traditional pension plan, the odds that your employer will change to a "cash balance" pension plan have just increased. Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that IBM Corp.'s cash-balance pension didn't violate age-discrimination laws. Just days before that, Congress approved a measure that would deem cash-balance plans legal...
Many in U.S. forced into retirement
BylineBy Jonathan Peterson, LA Times; The Baltimore Sun~ Jul 9, 2006American workers, who face growing financial pressure to stay in the work force, are far more likely to be forced into an early retirement than many expect, according to a recent study...
Another perk joins the endangered species list
By Geoffrey Colvin, FORTUNE - June 14, 2006
Retiree medical costs are galloping at double-digit rates, and in an increasingly competitive global economy, the few remaining firms that offer those benefits find them harder to afford. So some companies are eliminating such benefits, including Lucent and Alcatel...
Addressing the Insolvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
By Alex J. Pollock; American Enterprise Institute ~ Jun 14, 2006
The inherent structural risks of having the government insure--through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)--the future commitments of defined benefit pension plans has resulted in a reported deficit of $23 billion. The present value of the long-term cash deficit has been estimated at $92 billion. Pending legislation would improve the financial exposure of the PBGC, but would still leave a large projected deficit and fundamental structural problems...
A View From Washington
By A. J. "Jim" Norby, The Guardian - June 2006
By Alex J. Pollock; American Enterprise Institute ~ Jun 14, 2006
The inherent structural risks of having the government insure--through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)--the future commitments of defined benefit pension plans has resulted in a reported deficit of $23 billion. The present value of the long-term cash deficit has been estimated at $92 billion. Pending legislation would improve the financial exposure of the PBGC, but would still leave a large projected deficit and fundamental structural problems...
By A. J. "Jim" Norby, The Guardian - June 2006
Study: 43% won't have enough in retirement
By Jeanne Sahadi;
CNNMoney.com ~ Jun 6, 2006
Lawmakers Never Faced With Losing Benefits
By Jim Abrams;
The Associated Press ~ Apr 19, 2006
The Next Big Bailout?
Addressing the Insolvency of the
Government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
By Alex J. Pollock; The
Washington Post ~ Apr 20, 2006
A Benefit for Insurers - Mar 31, 2006
The Big Freeze: As companies end their traditional pensions, workers are left out in the cold. March 2006
Bush Says Companies Must Keep Pension Promises
Health Care Spending for U.S. May Double to $4 Trillion by 2015
Bill Jones' Work With BellTel Retirees Profiled
1 in 5 US Dollars to Be Spent on Health Care: Study 2/22/06
Health Care Spending for U.S. May Double
to $4 Trillion by 2015
Feb 22, 2006
Congress' pension: Nice and secure Jan 20, 2006