Employee benefits

American workers exited 2010 with more than $10.2 trillion invested in employer-sponsored retirement plans, up10% from the $9.3 trillion in play at the close of 2009, according to a new report from Chicago-based investor consultant Spectrem Group.

Customers are actually spending far more on their own health care costs than the government traditionally reports.

An analysis of Fidelity’s 74,000 HSA accounts has revealed several interesting trends regarding contribution rates and spending behavior.

With regulatory reform bringing a wave of changes to defined contribution plans, retirement plan advisers need to be even more conversant in the ins and outs of legislative requirements and other complexities. Which is why BlackRock is beefing up its commitment to advisers who work with these retirement plans.

March Madness means some workers are paying more attention to their bracket results than responding to workplace e-mails. Two new surveys show how the NCAA basketball tournament may be affecting your workplace.

The most persuasive health information won't always serve your best interests, U.S. doctors report.

California's insurance regulator has thrown its weight behind a lawsuit accusing Bristol Myers Squibb Co of dishing out kickbacks to doctors who prescribe its drugs.

A sluggish economy hasn’t slowed the nation’s health care consumerism movement, according to a recent analysis by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Employees improved all areas of their personal finances last year, according to a study by El Segundo, Calif.-based Financial Finesse, but many are concerned they haven't saved enough to retire.

Troubles are mounting for a health insurer over loss of several server drives containing enrollee and employee information.

Even after plan design changes, employers can expect their health care costs to increase by 7% in 2011, a sure sign that an aggressive approach to plan design is here to stay, finds research by the National Business Group on Health and Towers Watson.

Benefit professionals have tirelessly lobbied for an end to the so-called use-it-or-lose it rule governing pretax employee contributions to a flexible spending account, which is now the centerpiece of a bipartisan proposal in Congress.

Most Americans still aren't saving anywhere near enough money to afford the dignified retirement they all claim is so important to them. Even worse, most don't have any idea exactly how much they'll need if they were to begin saving today for their golden years.

The barometer is falling when it comes to how well companies are helping employees focus on their retirement income as well as retirement savings. In a new report on Fortune 1000 companies, MetLife’s inaugural Qualified Retirement Plan Barometer assigned a score across all plan types of 59 out of a possible 100. The higher the barometer, the stronger the overall culture of retirement income. While individual scores vary, the companies that offer broad access to defined benefit and defined contribution plans outpace plan sponsors who offer only a DC plan or incidental access to a DB plan as well as a DC plan.

Target-date funds became the leading default investment option for auto-enrolled retirement plans for a reason: The simplicity of an age-appropriate, asset allocation strategy that grew more conservative as plan participants edged closer to retirement age.

Nearly 15 million people in the United States take care of a loved one with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, amounting to 17 billion hours or more than $202 billion in unpaid care, Alzheimer's experts said on Tuesday.

Prices for prescription drugs rose at a faster rate than costs for other medical goods and services over the last four years, according to a new government report.

Could a U.S. Department of Labor plan to broaden the definition of a fiduciary for the purpose of giving investment advice undermine the level of service that producers offer their employer clients?

A large majority of Massachusetts residents are satisfied with the commonwealth's subsidized health plan, which has components similar to the Obama administration's federal plan, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Four medical associations representing more than 350,000 primary care physicians have issued new guidelines for patient-centered medical home recognition and accreditation programs.