American Benefits Council

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American Benefits Council
Trade Association
PredecessorAssociation of Private Pension and Welfare Plans (APPWP)
Founded1967
Headquarters1501 M St NW, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20005
Key people
James A. Klein, president
Website http://www.americanbenefitscouncil.org/

The American Benefits Council (the Council) is a national trade association based in Washington, D.C. that advocates for employer-sponsored benefit plans. The Council's members represent the private employee benefits community and either sponsor directly or provide services to retirement and health benefit plans both nationally and internationally.

Contents

The Council advocates for legislation and regulations in support of the employment-based benefits system, [1] The Council also serves as a technical resource on benefits issues for lawmakers, the media and other industry trade associations. [2] [3] The Council frequently works with other public policy organizations to develop a collective business community position about benefits issues. [4]

History

The Council was originally known as the Association of Private Pension and Welfare Plans (APPWP) until September 2000. [5] It was founded in February 1967 by a group of executives in employee benefit consulting firms, plan sponsors and financial institutions. Its original purpose was to monitor public policy as it related to employee benefits.

In 1978, APPWP became a 501(c)(6) organization and began to include advocacy in its activities after the passing of ERISA. [6]

The Council has been part of a number of coalitions focused on employer-sponsored benefits, including the Global Pension Coalition, [7] the Employers' Coalition on Medicare (ECOM), How America Saves: The Coalition to Protect Retirement, the Consumer-Purchaser Alliance and the National Coalition on Benefits.

The Council has an ongoing partnership with the MetLife Symposium and the International Employee Benefits Association (IEBA). [4]

Policy Issues

The Council examines a wide variety of benefits issues, in particular employee retirement and health benefits. Specific issues include defined contribution/401(k) plans, defined benefit pension plans, retiree health programs, health care reform under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), consumer-directed plans (HSAs/FSAs/HRAs), wellness programs and executive compensation.

Board of directors

The American Benefits Council is operated by a Board of Directors, whose executive members make decisions concerning the public policy positions of the Council. The Advisory Council consists of additional Council members who participate in Board meetings as well as in dialogue on policy issues but do not vote on Council policies.

Previous Chairs of the Board have been representatives of employer plan sponsors, including The Dow Chemical Company, Cigna and FedEx, as well as of consulting firms and financial institutions such as Mercer, Willis North America, Fidelity and Vanguard. [8]

Impact on legislation

The Council was active during the development of President Obama’s healthcare reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The Council published a set of proposals on reforming health care quality, cost and coverage and met with members of Congress and presidential transition team officials in January of 2009, shortly before President Obama’s inauguration. Council members continued to point out various consequences of the law both during Congressional debate and afterward, helping to produce the best possible legislation. President James Klein testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on May 12, 2009 on financing health care reform [9] and again before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor on June 23, 2009 on the Tri-Committee (Education and Labor, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees) Draft Proposal for Health Care Reform. [10]

The Council also contributed to and/or influenced a number of other pieces of legislation. During the development of the Pension Protection Act (PPA), Council members testified before the House Education and the Workforce Committee on March 2, 2005, [11] before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures on March 8, 2005 and before the Senate House, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on April 26, 2005. [12] The council discussed regulation of swaps as they relate to pension plan investments during the development of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Council members spoke out against the Patients’ Bill of Rights and the Health Security Act; these bills did not pass. The council was also vocal about the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, HIPAA, the Tax Act of 1986, ERISA, EGTRRA.

American Benefits Institute

The American Benefits Institute is the education and research affiliate of the Council. The Institute convenes meetings and sponsors research that assist public policy makers, the media and other stakeholders in making informed decisions about employee benefits policy matters. The Institute is also the principal venue where Council members discuss global benefits policy issues and share information about international health and retirement plan and compensation practices.

The Institute provides information about benefit practices outside the United States and informs non-U.S. based companies about employee benefits policy and legislative and regulatory developments in the United States. [13]

Publications

The Council prepares or sponsors research papers and surveys on employer-sponsored benefits. Recent publications include:

Related Research Articles

A pension is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments. A pension may be a "defined benefit plan", where a fixed sum is paid regularly to a person, or a "defined contribution plan", under which a fixed sum is invested that then becomes available at retirement age. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is usually paid in regular installments for life after retirement, while the latter is typically paid as a fixed amount after involuntary termination of employment prior to retirement.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 U.S. tax and labor law

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal United States tax and labor law that establishes minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. It contains rules on the federal income tax effects of transactions associated with employee benefit plans. ERISA was enacted to protect the interests of employee benefit plan participants and their beneficiaries by:

A retirement plan is a financial arrangement designed to replace employment income upon retirement. These plans may be set up by employers, insurance companies, trade unions, the government, or other institutions. Congress has expressed a desire to encourage responsible retirement planning by granting favorable tax treatment to a wide variety of plans. Federal tax aspects of retirement plans in the United States are based on provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and the plans are regulated by the Department of Labor under the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Employee benefits Non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to normal wages or salaries

Employee benefits and benefits in kind include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Instances where an employee exchanges (cash) wages for some other form of benefit is generally referred to as a "salary packaging" or "salary exchange" arrangement. In most countries, most kinds of employee benefits are taxable to at least some degree. Examples of these benefits include: housing furnished or not, with or without free utilities; group insurance ; disability income protection; retirement benefits; daycare; tuition reimbursement; sick leave; vacation ; social security; profit sharing; employer student loan contributions; conveyancing; long service leave; domestic help (servants); and other specialized benefits.

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a United States federally chartered corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private defined benefit pension plans, provide timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits, and keep pension insurance premiums at the lowest level necessary to carry out its operations. Subject to other statutory limitations, PBGC's single-employer insurance program pays pension benefits up to the maximum guaranteed benefit set by law to participants who retire at 65. The benefits payable to insured retirees who start their benefits at ages other than 65 or elect survivor coverage are adjusted to be equivalent in value. The maximum monthly guarantee for the multiemployer program is far lower and more complicated.

Bradley Belt is an American businessman. He is the CEO of Palisades Capital and the managing director of the Milken Institute. He is vice chairman of Orchard Global Asset Management.

A defined contribution (DC) plan is a type of retirement plan in which the employer, employee or both make contributions on a regular basis. Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these accounts plus any investment earnings on the money in the account. In defined contribution plans, future benefits fluctuate on the basis of investment earnings. The most common type of defined contribution plan is a savings and thrift plan. Under this type of plan, the employee contributes a predetermined portion of his or her earnings to an individual account, all or part of which is matched by the employer.

Pensions in the United States consist of the Social Security system, public employees retirement systems, as well as various private pension plans offered by employers, insurance companies, and unions.

Mertens v. Hewitt Associates, 508 U.S. 248 (1993), is the second in the trilogy of United States Supreme Court ERISA preemption cases that effectively denies any remedy for employees who are harmed by medical malpractice or other bad acts of their health plan if they receive their health care from their employer.

Pension Protection Act of 2006

The Pension Protection Act of 2006, 120 Stat. 780, was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on August 17, 2006.

Employee Benefits Security Administration U.S. government agency under the Department of Labor

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Labor responsible for administering, regulating and enforcing the provisions of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). At the time of its name change in February 2003, EBSA was known as the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA). Prior to January 1986, PWBA was known as the Pension and Welfare Benefits Program.

Self-funded health care, also known as Administrative Services Only (ASO), is a self insurance arrangement in the United States whereby an employer provides health or disability benefits to employees using the company's own funds. This is different from fully insured plans where the employer contracts an insurance company to cover the employees and dependents.

The Healthy Americans Act(HAA), also known as the Wyden-Bennett Act, is a Senate bill that had proposed to improve health care in the United States, with changes that included the establishment of universal health care. It would transition away from employer-provided health insurance, to employer-subsidized insurance, having instead individuals choose their health care plan from state-approved private insurers. It sought to make the cost of health insurance more transparent to consumers, with the expectation being that this would increase market pressures to drive health insurance costs down. The proposal created a system that would be paid for by both public and private contributions. It would establish Healthy Americans Private Insurance Plans (HAPIs) and require those who do not already have health insurance coverage, and who do not oppose health insurance on religious grounds, to enroll themselves and their children in a HAPI. According to its sponsors, it would guarantee universal, affordable, comprehensive, portable, high-quality, private health coverage that is as good or better than Members of Congress have today; A 2008 preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget Office concluded it would be "essentially" self-financing in the first year that it was fully implemented.

The National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS) is a nonpartisan non-profit research institute based in Washington, D.C., United States.

Health insurance in the United States is any program that helps pay for medical expenses, whether through privately purchased insurance, social insurance, or a social welfare program funded by the government. Synonyms for this usage include "health coverage", "health care coverage", and "health benefits". In a more technical sense, the term "health insurance" is used to describe any form of insurance providing protection against the costs of medical services. This usage includes both private insurance programs and social insurance programs such as Medicare, which pools resources and spreads the financial risk associated with major medical expenses across the entire population to protect everyone, as well as social welfare programs like Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, which both provide assistance to people who cannot afford health coverage.

Bradford P. Campbell was the Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security of the United States Department of Labor (DOL), the official in charge of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). Mr. Campbell was nominated by President George W. Bush as Assistant Secretary on May 3, 2007, and was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on August 3, 2007. He held the position until January 20, 2009. Prior to his confirmation as Assistant Secretary, Mr. Campbell had served as Acting Assistant Secretary since October 30, 2006 and as EBSA's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy since March 5, 2004.

A defined benefit (DB) pension plan is a type of pension plan in which an employer/sponsor promises a specified pension payment, lump-sum or combination thereof on retirement that is predetermined by a formula based on the employee's earnings history, tenure of service and age, rather than depending directly on individual investment returns. Traditionally, many governmental and public entities, as well as a large number of corporations, provide defined benefit plans, sometimes as a means of compensating workers in lieu of increased pay.

Phyllis Borzi

Phyllis C. Borzi was the Obama administration's Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security of the United States Department of Labor, the official in charge of the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research institute based in Washington, DC, that produces original research on health, savings, retirement, and economic security issues, including 401(k) and retirement plan coverage data, post-retirement income adequacy, health coverage and the uninsured, and economic security of the elderly.

Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act

The Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act is a law that allows some charities, schools, and volunteer organizations to remain exempt from pension plan rules under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code.

References

  1. ↑ "How the outcome of the presidential race could influence benefits". Employee Benefit News, Cort Olsen May 01 2016
  2. ↑ John Holahan; Alan Weil; Joshua M. Wiener (2003). Federalism and Health Policy. The Urban Institute. pp. 392–. ISBN   978-0-87766-716-2.
  3. ↑ "U.S. top court rules for Liberty Mutual over Vermont healthcare law". Reuters Washington Mar 1, 2016 By Lawrence Hurley
  4. 1 2 Bradford, Hazel (August 5, 2013). "Benefits groups team up to expand reach". Pensions&Investments. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  5. ↑ "APPWP, the Washington-based private pension trade group, changed its..." Pensions&Investments. September 21, 2000. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  6. ↑ Anand, Vineeta (September 18, 1995). "Roth sets for expanded IRAs". Pensions&Investments. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  7. ↑ Glenister, Michael (September 26, 2014). "Groups call on BCBS and IOSCO to protect pension funds from initial margin rule". Thomas Murray IDS. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  8. ↑ "American Benefits Council Elects New Officers And Executive Board, Reports Record Membership Growth". BenefitsLink.com. March 11, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Roundtable Discussion on Financing Comprehensive Health Care Reform". The United States Senate Committee on Finance. May 12, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  10. ↑ "The Tri-Committee Draft Proposal for Health Care Reform". U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor. June 23, 2009. Archived from the original on December 6, 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Testimony of Kenneth W. Porter on behalf of the American Benefits Council before a hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on the Administration's Pension Reform Proposal". U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce. March 2, 2005. Archived from the original on December 6, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Testimony of Sallie Ballantine Bailey on behalf of the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Benefits Council, Business Roundtable, ERISA Industry Committee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, before a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Subcommittee on Retirement Security and Aging on PBGC Reform: Mending the Pension Safety Net" (PDF). U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. U.S. Senate. April 26, 2005. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Aon Hewitt and American Benefits Institute Survey Shows Multinational Companies Want Increased Control of Global Benefits Programs". Aon. Aon Hewitt. October 10, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
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