Employee benefits

Wall Street banks collected $215.6 million that Denver’s public schools paid to unwind swaps and sell bonds since the district began borrowing to cut pension costs in 2008. That sum is about two-thirds of annual teaching expenses.

Detroit may run out of cash next month and must cut costs such as long-term debt and retiree obligations, according to emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr’s preliminary plan to improve services and keep Michigan’s largest city out of bankruptcy.

President Barack Obama’s health secretary has called companies and other organizations, seeking financial contributions to help promote the 2010 health care law that takes full effect next year.

Determining if your coverage is affordable is only one of several steps employers need to take before the end of the year, and that’s not even considering the preparations they should have made already.

A real opportunity for advisers lies in the ambitions of Gen X and Gen Y Americans, who aren’t planning on postponing retirement — yet.

The data from more than 3,000 hospitals that take Medicare, the government’s health program for the elderly, showed that in some cases costs can drastically vary for hip replacements, bone fractures and treatments for kidney failure. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it released the data for the first time to make the overall health system “more affordable and accountable.”

Ninety percent of Americans lack confidence that they have enough savings to cover emergencies and the long-term implications of serious illnesses, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s or heart disease, reports the National Institute for Wellness Solutions.

A new Fidelity Investments study finds that noticeably more mothers than fathers have had comprehensive conversations about savings, planning and retirement with their adult children.

Sixty-six percent of U.S. employers report a bad-fit employee has had a measurable negative impact in a new survey from CareerBuilder. France reported the lowest level of instances, with 53%; Russia was highest with 88%.

Baby boomers are bucking the trends of generations before them, according to research released this week from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. When it comes to what they will pass on, 72% cite values and life lessons as most important, while just 32% said financial and real estate assets.

Laurence D. Fink thinks U.S. employers should be required to put money aside for their employees’ retirement, similar to Australia’s superannuation system.

Health Management was thrown into the spotlight in December when the CBS Corp. television program “60 Minutes” aired a report criticizing the company’s emergency room practices. The company at the time called the report inaccurate.

People with health insurance saw increases in their medical costs slow from 2009 to 2011, signaling potential structural changes in the industry that could cut health care inflation and save the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars, according to two studies.

The Illinois House of Representatives approved a bill designed to repair the nation’s worst-funded pension system by raising contribution levels for state employees and delaying the retirement age.

Countless pieces of legislation are introduced in Washington each year and nothing is done with them. As NAHU pushes for a hearing on the MLR bill in the Senate, what are its chances?

Republicans and the drug industry have urged a repeal of the board, and Obama hasn’t yet appointed any of its members. A spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry’s Washington-based lobbying group, didn’t immediately comment on the decision.

According to this week’s 401(k) Performance Survey, approximately 5% of 401(k) plans, or 13,811 plans, stopped matching in 2010, and an additional 2% halted the employer match in 2011.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. climbed in New York trading yesterday after profit beat estimates and the insurer’s margins widened.

Of the 12 cancer medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year, 11 cost more than $100,000 annually, the physicians said in an article in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology, published online.

While the issue affects only a limited number of employees, it can result in significant costs for companies that have to move workers out of the U.S. or in lost productivity from dealing with an employee’s or partner’s immigration status.