Episode 39: Plumbing and the PBGC: How Plans and Participants are Getting Stuck
American Benefits Podcast
English - March 24, 2022 11:00 - 38 minutes - 15.1 MB - ★★★★★ - 11 ratingsGovernment Business policy americanbenefitscouncil benefits employeebenefits employees employers employersponsored healthcare largeemployers retirement Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Even casual observers know that, over the past several decades, the nation's retirement system has evolved from a predominantly defined benefit system to a predominantly defined contribution system. That said, there are still nearly 47,000 defined benefit plans in the United States, (half of which are insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or PBGC), covering almost 33 million people and totaling more than $3.2 trillion in assets.
On this past New Year's Eve, the PBGC’s Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate, Connie Donovan, issued the 2021 Annual Report of the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate, highlighting the agency’s successes and improvements, as well as areas of lingering concern. (See the report here: https://www.pbgc.gov/documents/2021-annual-report-participant-and-plan-sponsor-advocate)
In this episode, Donovan speaks with host Jason Hammersla about the customer experience with PBGC, including what she has characterized as “internal administrative issues” within the agency.