U.S. retirement plan providers are challenged with record cost troubles, and many are dropping offered benefits or looking to rebalance funding between employers and employees, according to a new BNY Mellon Asset Servicing study.

By lowering co-payments on prescription drug co-payments and promoting disease management companies can cut health care costs, finds a three-year study commissioned by the Florida Health Care Coalition.

After correcting employer-imposed job tenure requirements, only 58 percent - or 44 million - of U.S. private-sector employees were provided paid sick days in 2010, according to new research from the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC, a Marsh Inc. subsidiary, White Plains, N.Y., has acquired the $4 million benefits brokerage and consulting firm Strategic Benefit Solutions Inc., based Alpharetta, Ga.

Retirees still require a large savings to cover out-of-pocket health expenses in retirement, despite the reduced retirement health costs the new health reform law brings, according to a nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute report.

In 2011, devices including smart phones and tablet computers are expected to help to drive consumer-driven health care, as people can monitor their health and prevent illnesses, according to a new Ovum report.

Compensation budgets are expected to stay intact in 2011, and few companies plan to take extreme measures, including pay freezes to lower costs, finds a new Aon Hewitt survey of more than 500 employers.

Based on a new Profit Sharing/401k Council of America survey, 403(b) plan sponsors took significant steps toward managing their plans for the last three years, even in this down economy and new regulations.