The American Hospital Association recently expressed support for the Senate's highway bill, which includes a provision that pension plan interest rates would be based on historical averages to protect employers from wild variations in interest rates.
In a letter (pdf) to Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), AHA Executive Vice President Rick Pollack urged that pension provision be adopted as part of the bill because it would create a "stabilization range" for hospitals to compute their pension liabilities.
"Instead of being forced to use the two-year corporate bond rates in computing their pension liabilities, the new proposal would allow hospitals to compute liabilities using rates for a 25-year period within which the two-year rates must fall," Mr. Pollack wrote. "This more flexible approach would narrow fluctuations in computing pension contributions."
In a letter (pdf) to Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), AHA Executive Vice President Rick Pollack urged that pension provision be adopted as part of the bill because it would create a "stabilization range" for hospitals to compute their pension liabilities.
"Instead of being forced to use the two-year corporate bond rates in computing their pension liabilities, the new proposal would allow hospitals to compute liabilities using rates for a 25-year period within which the two-year rates must fall," Mr. Pollack wrote. "This more flexible approach would narrow fluctuations in computing pension contributions."
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