We are pioneers in the retirement plan industry, providing unparalleled benefits consulting and administration to employers for more than 60 years. Milliman is also a leader in the design and financial management of health and welfare plans, including retiree medical plans. From evolving workforce needs and rising benefits costs to today’s intricate and constantly changing regulatory and accounting environments, we work with you to develop viable solutions that go beyond mere numbers.
We have a complete grasp of federal and state regulations and a facility for balancing cost and risk management with employee benefit considerations. Our solutions come with a relationship that brings multiple perspectives focused on your constraints and objectives.
Milliman's Employee Benefits practice is a member of Abelica Global, an international organization of consulting firms that serves clients around the world.
The de-risking activities that companies pursued in 2012 successfully reduced pension obligations for the top 100 U.S. pension plans. However, increased pension costs outstripped plan liability reductions, and the result for many plans was a drop in pension funded status from 2011. As year-end discount rates hit a record low of 4.02%, pension funding deficits for the companies tracked in the Milliman 2013 Pension Funding Study hit a record high of $388.8 billion.
In developing the investment menu for a pension plan, a sponsor has a number of considerations: target return, asset allocation, cash flows, manager selection, and cost. This article explores some aspects of each, with a main focus on developing a menu of investments that has a mix of index and actively managed options.
Choosing health insurance: New summary provides "apples-to-apples" cost comparisonThere’s a new acronym that employee benefits professionals need to learn: SBC stands for Summary of Benefits Coverage. It’s an eight-page document with 15 pages of instructions, and it’s government mandated—with substantial penalties for employers who intentionally fail to create them for each option in a cafeteria-style health option. The good news is that that’s the extent of the bad news. In fact, the information SBCs contain really should make it easier for employees to directly compare the options for health insurance available to them. And that’s an important step in the overall move toward a more consumer-friendly marketplace under healthcare reform.
Follow Milliman EB
