Products September 20, 2007

The Standard Offers Fee Education to Participants

September 20, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Standard has announced a new fee education campaign is now available to employees of its retirement plan clients.
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https://mail.plansponsor.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://retirement.standard.com Getting the Most from Your Plan: a Participant’s Guide to Retirement Plan Fees, describes the services covered by retirement plan fees, with examples and illustrations, the announcement said. The guide also educates participants about the potential negative effects and costs associated with taking loans and early withdrawals from their retirement plan.

“Understanding how plan fees work, their impact on investment earnings and how to avoid or eliminate some fees are all critical to becoming an informed investor,” said Sheri Fitts, director of communications and large case sales, in the announcement.

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Earlier this year, The Standard created a similar educational campaign for plan sponsors, entitled A Plan Sponsor’s Guide to Retirement Plan Fees.

Both the plan sponsor and plan participant guide are available for viewing or downloading by visiting  http://retirement.standard.com/ .

Benefits September 19, 2007

Segal: Health Plan Costs Remain Above Inflation

September 19, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Medical and prescription drug trends are expected to decline further in 2008 according to the Segal Co., but health plan costs still hover above inflation.
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Projected trend cost increases for point-of-service (POS) medical plans (including prescription drugs) for active employees and retirees under 65 have declined from a high of 14.9% in 2003 to 11% in 2007 and are projected to be 10.5% for 2008.

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Health maintenance organization (HMOs) (including prescription drugs) rates were 11.7% in 2007 and are expected to drop to 10.7% in 2008. Medicare Advantage HMO plans have the lowest projected medical cost trend for 2008 at 8.8%.

Prescription drug price hikes for active workers and retirees were 11.9% in 2007 and are projected at 10.7% for next year. Prescription drug projected cost trends have declined dramatically, by nearly nine percentage points, since their high of 19.5% in 2003.

Dental rates are expected to go down for all types of plans. However, fixed-scheduled plans and dental maintenance organizations (DMOs) have the lowest forecasted rates: 4.3%.

The survey also looked at medical trends by service type. For example, price inflation per hospital admission is expected to increase by 7.7% in 2008 for open-access PPO plans and prescription drug price inflation is projected to be 6.5%, whereas price inflation for physician services is forecasted to be at 4%.

The survey found some regional variation in medical trend projections – ranging from a low of 9.4% in the Midwest to a high of 11.7% in the West.

For a full copy of the Segal report go here .

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