MetLife has been tracking employee benefits trends and developments for many years. For our 2023 Post Retirement Benefits Poll, MetLife commissioned a survey of 250 U.S. plan sponsors to understand their knowledge about – and plans for managing – their retiree health and retiree life liabilities in the near and long-term.
For this Poll, plan sponsors were surveyed to:
- Gauge the extent to which post retirement benefits are receiving corporate attention
- Assess the impact of COVID’s mortality assumptions on the cost projections of their retiree medical insurance and retiree life insurance obligations
- Understand the considerations and timing for selecting an insurer for a retiree medical and/or retiree life insurance buyout
- Probe on the extent to which they followed – and supported relevant provisions of – the Secure 2.0 Act of 2022
NEW: 2023 Post Retirement Benefits Poll Infographic
Post retirement benefit liabilities are accumulated over many years, and the benefits promises extend well into the future for millions of U.S. workers. Given that the number of retired Americans is expected to grow to 72 million by 2035, many of whom are covered by retiree benefits, those promises or obligations are often substantial.
Want more insights from the 2023 PRB Poll report?
Several market forces are impacting funding strategies:
say their company’s post retirement benefits receive significant attention from their corporate management teams
are evaluating the impact of COVID mortality assumptions on their retiree medical/life cost projections
supported the Secure 2.0 provision extension that allows allocated money from an overfunded DB plan to fund retiree medical/retiree life liabilities
Nearly nine in ten plan sponsors are familiar with a company’s ability to transfer some or all of a company’s retiree medical insurance and retiree life insurance liabilities to an insurance company.
Did you know?
Retiree medical buyouts and retiree life buyouts are often considered by companies that have de-risked their defined benefit pension plan.
Conclusion
As corporate plan sponsors work to keep their post retirement benefits commitments, there are strategies that employers can prepare in advance and deploy over time to reduce risk and strengthen the financial viability of fulfilling implied promises of future benefits made to their employees. As MetLife's PRB Poll found, plan sponsors are very interested in these retiree benefits funding strategies and will be for the foreseeable future.