401(k)-style retirement plans are becoming the new normal in state and local pension reform efforts. Six states have passed 401(k)-style reforms since 2008 – with Oklahoma passing a 401(k)-style reform plan for new workers earlier this year. Memphis, Tennessee, is the most recent example of a city pushing to take politicians out of the retirement...
Insurers wouldn’t participate in the federal health exchange without an escape clause protecting them from the possibility that IRS subsidies would be ruled illegal, according to industry news. It was a smart move, as that possibility just got more likely in recent weeks. At issue is what the plain text of Section 1401 of the Affordable Care...
Illinois politicians have looted and mismanaged government-worker pensions for decades. Now the retirement security of government workers is at risk. It’s time to take politicians out of the retirement business and give workers control over their own retirement futures. Here are the top 10 facts you need to know about 401(k)-style retirement plans: 1) 401(k)s...
Illinois politicians have mismanaged government worker pensions for decades, creating one of the nation’s worst pension crises. Illinois’ five state pension systems collectively have only 41 cents on hand for every dollar they need to pay for future benefits. In the private sector, such a low funding level would mean bankruptcy. Even though politicians have...
People who don’t like the lawlessness displayed by the Obama administration in its implementation of the Affordable Care Act have something to celebrate. On Sept. 30, a federal court in Oklahoma ruled that the Affordable Care Act means what it says: ObamaCare insurance subsidies are only available in states that have established their own health-insurance...
Stock markets have reached all-time highs just a few years after the market meltdown of the Great Recession. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has more than doubled since the end of 2008 and many individuals have replenished their retirement accounts, and then some. But if you’re an Illinois government worker stuck in a state-run...
Good news for the Obama administration: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has granted the administration’s request to rehear the court’s July 22 decision in Halbig v. Burwell. That decision struck down an Internal Revenue Service rule that made ObamaCare insurance subsidies available in all 50 states, even though the...
Illinois has the worst-funded pension systems in the nation. But there’s one group of state-government workers that isn’t worried about whether their retirement checks will be slashed. Today, more than 13 percent of all active employees in the State Universities Retirement System, or SURS, participate in a 401(k)-style plan instead of a traditional pension plan...
Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...