Aon Hewitt, a large administrator of flexible spending accounts, has seen a 90 percent drop in requests for reimbursement for OTC items, says Craig Rosenberg, the firm's national practice leader for health benefits administration.
As a large administrator of self-directed IRAs, we've witnessed thousands of investors use their self-directed retirement plans to buy properties and realize excellent returns by selling them at a later date or renting them and allowing them to cash flow, as discussed earlier.
"I think you're going to see more graphics to illustrate the concept of the glide path," or the way the mix changes over time, said John Ameriks, head of investment counseling and research at the Vanguard Group, one of the largest administrators of 401(k) plans.
Russell and SSB Citi (the assetmanagement arm of Citigroup, in Stamford, Connecticut)are probably the largest administrators of multimanager funds: Citi has 33, all domiciled offshore or outside the U.S., and Russell has 144 (30 offshore), with $66 billion under management.
For instance, Fidelity Investments, the largest administrator, said that among its clients, only 56 percent of eligible employees participated in plans without automatic features versus 90 percent in the automated plans.
As for ACS' The HSA Solution, it's the most frequently selected HSA product in the U.S. by employers and individuals, and is now the largest administrator of HSAs in the country, based on the number of consumer accounts.
At colleges without large endowments, administrators are worried about the pressure they will face.
Therapy is in too short supply; students — who wrestle with emotional and learning disabilities — are crammed in classrooms that are too large; and administrators sometimes conspire to push out troubled children.
Only if they are well prepared will clinical microbiology laboratories be able to implant the new technologies, be recognized as a cornerstone of the healthcare system, and achieve better recognition by society at large, hospital administrators and healthcare authorities.
"Our view in 1980 was unsophisticated about individual decision makers," said Stephen P. Utkus, director of the Vanguard Center for Retirement Research at Vanguard Group, one of the largest plan administrators.
