In 2013, the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) commemorated its 35th anniversary. While much has changed with health and retirement benefits during the past three decades -- the first generation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) -- many of the issues...

On May 9, 2013, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) convened its 72nd biannual policy forum in Washington, DC, where a wide range of national experts on U.S. retirement policy offered the roughly 200 attendees insights on topics such as the impacts of a sustained low-interest-rate...

This paper presents key findings from the 23rd annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), a survey that gauges the views and attitudes of working-age and retired Americans regarding retirement, their preparations for retirement, their confidence with regard to various aspects of retirement, and...

On December 13, 2012, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) convened its 71st biannual policy forum, which focused on the topic: “'Post' Script: What’s Next for Employment-Based Health Benefits?” This paper summarizes the speakers’ presentations. With the so-called fiscal cliff...

In an environment where lawmakers are struggling to raise tax revenue, public-policy tax “expenditures” have come under heavy scrutiny. In particular, tax preferences to boost retirement savings in employer-provided retirement plans has been at the center of such discussions. A recent study...

This paper uses recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau to examine recent trends in offer rates for retiree health benefits, as well as changes to eligibility for coverage and changes to benefits packages. It also examines how the populations of retirees with retiree health coverage...

Whichever political party prevails in November 2012, it is likely that the next Congress will, of necessity, address issues of the federal deficit, entitlements, and tax policy -- specifically, proposals to modify or reduce existing tax preferences for health and retirement benefits. In that...

For nearly a quarter century, the Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) has garnered a sense of American worker and retiree confidence about their financial prospects in retirement. This paper presents an analysis of the retirement savings targets set by individual respondents to the 2013 RCS,...