The North Carolina State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees: Strategies in Creating Financial Stability While Improving Member Health.

The North Carolina State Health Plan provides health care coverage to more than 700,000 members, including teachers, state employees, retirees, current and former lawmakers, state university and community college personnel, and their dependents. The State Health Plan is a division of the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer, self-insured, and exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act as a government-sponsored plan. With health care costs rising at rates greater than funding, the Plan must take measures to stem cost growth while ensuring access to quality health care. The Plan anticipates focusing on strategic initiatives that drive results and cost savings while improving member health to protect the Plan's financial future.

The Importance of Preserving Tax-Preferred Status for Employer-Sponsored Health and Retirement Plans.

The future of employer-sponsored health and retirement plans may be at risk. For years, employers have struggled to maintain and pay for these plans despite the increasing compliance and financial burdens imposed by legislative and regulatory action. Now, as Congress begins to lay the foundation for comprehensive tax reform, the need to raise federal revenue may trump the continuation of the tax preferences for employer-provided health and retirement benefits. Recent actions illustrate that the drive for federal revenue may not be sufficiently tempered by the potential negative impact on employers and employees who must bear the brunt of these revenue-induced changes. This article considers the erosion of protections offered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the importance of maintaining the tax treatment of employer-provided benefits.

Health Savings Accounts: An Emerging Cornerstone of the Health-Wealth Bridge?.

Several trends may help make health savings accounts (HSAs) a ubiquitous part of Americans' financial planning. When one looks at the totality of factors, it is easy to see how HSAs can become a vital connection be- tween active and retiree health care needs and between retirement income and retiree medical needs. However, it is also easy to see the clouds over the horizon that could stall HSA growth in coming years. This article discusses both.

The HSA in Your Future: Defined Contribution Retiree Medical Coverage.

In 2004, when evaluating health savings account (HSA) business opportunities, I predicted: "Twenty-five years ago, no one had ever heard of 401(k); 25 years from now, everyone will have an HSA." Twelve years later, growth in HSA eligibility, participation, contributions and asset accumulations suggests we just might achieve that prediction. This article shares one plan sponsor's journey to help employees accumulate assets to fund medical costs-while employed and after retirement, It documents a 30-plus-year retiree health insurance transition from a defined benefit to a defined dollar structure and culminating in a full-replacement defined contribution structure using HSA-qualifying high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and then redeploying/repurposing the HSA to incorporate a savings incentive for retiree medical costs.

Retirement Financial Planning and the RN: An Integrative Literature Review.

This integrative literature review examined the current research on RN retirement. The review identified 3 critical gaps in knowledge: (a) minimal knowledge regarding the economic impact on RN retirement, (b) incomplete information regarding the demographics of RN retirement, and (c) a scarcity of prospective longitudinal RN workforce studies. Future research must address these gaps to better address RN workforce sustainability.

Road to Retirement: Not Necessarily the Road Less Traveled--Part I.

This article is the first of a three-part series that discusses the steps toward a successful retirement. This part reviews Social Security benefits, provides suggestions for selecting the timing for accepting Social Security benefits, and offers an explanation of individual retirement accounts. The article also acts as a checklist for retirement.

Road to Retirement Part III: Other Options for Retiring Physicians.

Retirement provides many opportunities for physicians in this stage of their lives. This final installment of the three-part series on retirement discusses the post-retirement options that physicians can avail themselves of when they leave the conventional practice of medicine. We will also provide a checklist for the retiring doctor.

Dust Off the Historical Approach to Total Compensation.

Employers have been afforded new opportunities with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). ACA creates a unique opportunity for employers to take a fresh, strategically based total compensation approach to planning. The concept of a total compensation framework is not new; however, a new way to achieve this approach is now possible. Employers need to create their own level playing field, and a total compensation approach is the optimal solution. This article discusses how employers that consider a framework driven toward total compensation accomplish many key objectives.

December financial checkup for physicians.

December is a busy month for holiday fun, but don't neglect your financial health! Physicians should review their business and personal finances at year end to ensure they are on target both for income generated and taxes paid. Preparing for the April 15 tax filing is aided by a thorough review in December. Payroll items such as W2s, 1099s, and employee benefits need to be reviewed. Retirement savings should be analyzed. Make sure to look at your business profit/loss statement and balance sheet. Personal contributions and other tax planning strategies need to be completed by the end of the year. Your CPA can help!

Multiple employer plans: helping you tackle tomorrow today.

With the day-to-day issues that you face, planning for retirement probably isn't at the top of your list. Tomorrow will be here before you know it, and saving for retirement should be a priority for us all. But where to start? Multiple employer plans are a great way to save time and money. This article details how you can gain efficiency in your retirement plan administration.

Estate and business planning for the retiring physician.

Retiring physicians have much to think about for estate planning purposes. The authors stand ready to help physicians sell or close their medical practice, navigate the 2010 Tax Act, take advantage of current planning opportunities, and prepare appropriate estate planning documents. Every estate is unique, so it is important to contact an estate planning advisor before taking any action.

The challenge of funding hospital employee retirement benefits.

Hospitals face a difficult challenge in meeting existing benefits obligations to employees while maintaining financial reserves to invest in electronic health records, quality improvement, and more effective integration of care. Although they may no longer be able to afford offering employees defined-benefit plans, many forward-looking healthcare organizations are finding ways to keep their commitments without sacrificing the balance sheet. One such organization is Scripps Health in San Diego, whose innovative benefits packages have contributed to its being ranked 56th in Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list in 2012.

Employment-based retirement plan participation: geographic differences and trends, 2010.

LATEST DATA: This Issue Brief examines the level of participation by workers in public- and private-sector employment-based pension or retirement plans, based on the U.S. Census Bureau's March 2011 Current Population Survey (CPS), the most recent data currently available (for year-end 2010). SPONSORSHIP RATE: Among all working-age (21-64) wage and salary employees, 54.2 percent worked for an employer or union that sponsored a retirement plan in 2010. Among full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 21-64 (those with the strongest connection to the work force), 61.6 percent worked for an employer or union that sponsors a plan. PARTICIPATION LEVEL: Among full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 21-64, 54.5 percent participated in a retirement plan. TREND: This is virtually unchanged from 54.4 percent in 2009. Participation trends increased significantly in the late 1990s, and decreased in 2001 and 2002. In 2003 and 2004, the participation trend flattened out. The retirement plan participation level subsequently declined in 2005 and 2006, before a significant increase in 2007. Slight declines occurred in 2008 and 2009, followed by a flattening out of the trend in 2010. AGE: Participation increased with age (61.4 percent for wage and salary workers ages 55-64, compared with 29.2 percent for those ages 21-24). GENDER: Among wage and salary workers ages 21-64, men had a higher participation level than women, but among full-time, full-year workers, women had a higher percentage participating than men (55.5 percent for women, compared with 53.8 percent for men). Female workers' lower probability of participation among wage and salary workers results from their overall lower earnings and lower rates of full-time work in comparison with males. RACE: Hispanic wage and salary workers were significantly less likely than both white and black workers to participate in a retirement plan. The gap between the percentages of black and white plan participants that exists overall narrows when compared across earnings levels. GEOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES: Wage and salary workers in the South and West had the lowest participation levels (Florida had the lowest percentage, at 43.7 percent) while the upper Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast had the highest levels (West Virginia had the highest participation level, at 64.2 percent). OTHER FACTORS: White, more highly educated, higher-income, and married workers are more likely to participate than their counterparts.