mbeals

1/8/2013 - Taming the health-care monster? (The Washington Post)

Are we finally controlling health spending? Few issues loom larger in the economic outlook. For years, spiraling health costs — mainly for Medicare and Medicaid, which serve the elderly and the poor — have consumed a growing share of the federal budget. Meanwhile, rapid increases in premiums for employer-provided insurance have squeezed take-home pay. So… Read more 1/8/2013 - Taming the health-care monster? (The Washington Post)

12/20/2012 - Chained CPI: Diet COLA for Social Security (The Wall Street Journal)

As negotiations between President Obama and Speaker Boehner rapidly close on the end of the year deadline for avoiding the fiscal cliff, media attention has been focused on the back-and-forth over increasing taxes. But there hasn’t been much attention to the spending side of the negotiations. That is, however, with one exception — changing the… Read more 12/20/2012 - Chained CPI: Diet COLA for Social Security (The Wall Street Journal)

12/19/2012 - New study reveals stark differences among baby boomers (Investment News)

Younger boomers appear to be less comfortable with financial advisers than older ones. Baby boomers, the roughly 78 million Americans between the ages of 48 and 66, are the meat and potatoes of the financial advisory industry. They control the bulk of investible assets in the country and constitute the core of most advisers’ book… Read more 12/19/2012 - New study reveals stark differences among baby boomers (Investment News)

12/19/2012 - For Some, Home = Office (The Wall Street Journal)

Today, nearly half—47%—of Aetna’s 35,000 U.S. employees work from home. We aren’t talking about checking email after dinner or working from home on Fridays. We’re talking staying home every day: no desk, no cubicle, no computer in an office somewhere. Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.

12/12/2012 - 5 principles for fixing Social Security (The Wall Street Journal)

Someone asked whether I wanted to put together a specific list of changes to the Social Security program with attendant cost estimates.  After some thought, I declined.   While I care very much about the future of the program, solving Social Security’s financing challenge is conceptually easy – the problem is relatively small and dozens of… Read more 12/12/2012 - 5 principles for fixing Social Security (The Wall Street Journal)

12/11/2012 - Raising Medicare age could leave hundreds of thousands uninsured (The Washington Post)

It looks increasingly possible that lawmakers will reach a fiscal cliff deal that includes a hike in the Medicare eligibility age — a concession to those on the right who seem determined to see very deep entitlement cuts, even if they take benefits away from vulnerable seniors. One argument for raising the eligibility age is… Read more 12/11/2012 - Raising Medicare age could leave hundreds of thousands uninsured (The Washington Post)

12/11/2012 - Employer-Sponsored 401(k) Plans Would Drop ‘Significantly’ if Tax Treatment Curtailed: Study (Advisor One)

A new report by the American Benefits Institute and Mathew Greenwald & Associates has found that curtailing the current tax treatment of contributions that workers and their employers make to 401(k) plans will “significantly reduce” employers’ willingness to sponsor plans. The survey comes after 11 senators signed onto a resolution calling for the protection of retirement… Read more 12/11/2012 - Employer-Sponsored 401(k) Plans Would Drop ‘Significantly’ if Tax Treatment Curtailed: Study (Advisor One)