The Employee Benefit Research Institute sees savings, retirement and health issues becoming increasingly important in the lives of individuals, employers and public policymakers.
As the baby-boom generation gets closer to 65, the national population over 65 will increase from 13% to 20%, Dallas Salisbury, president of EBRI, wrote in the 2006 annual President’s Report. Health and retirement issues will move to the center of the policy debates and the 2008 presidential election.
EBRI is uniquely positioned to help all constituencies understand the implications of plans and strategies. “We can expect a growing number of commissions and caucuses and single-firm sponsored institutes to focus on these issues and we look forward to working with them all,” said Salisbury.
An estimated 1.3 million adults ages 21-64 are in plans with a health reimbursement arrangement or a heath savings account (HAS), another 2.6 million are eligible for a HSA, but have not opened an account, according to the 2006 Consumerism in Health Care Survey.
