NBER Benefits Program - New Developments

Dear NBER Family Members -

    Last summer, I asked a team of administrators and legal advisers to
review the NBER's benefit programs and to suggest ways to modernize,
simplify, and improve our offerings. They have recommended, and we have
implemented, three changes that I would like to bring to your attention.

1. Creation of an NBER Medical Reimbursement Account program. I
suspect that many of you take advantage of a Medical Reimbursement
Account (often called a Flexible Spending Account) at your university.
These accounts make it possible to use pre-tax dollars to pay for
qualifying medical and dental expenses, subject to a requirement that
you set your contribution amount at the start of the plan year and that
you forfeit any funds contributed to the account that you do not use for
medical reimbursements within the year. The amount that can be
contributed to these accounts is usually limited by university policy.
I am happy to report that the NBER has adopted a Medical Reimbursement
Account, with a $5000 contribution cap, that will cover all salaried
employees. If you receive salary income from NBER, this new option may
be of interest. The open enrollment period for this new program is
March 1-March 31, 2009, so if you would like to participate, you will
need to take action in the next three weeks. I am attaching both a
memorandum describing this plan and an enrollment form. To join this
plan, please return the relevant documents to Diane Birnbaum, NBER's
Director of Human Resources, by March 31. I hope that this plan will be
a valuable benefit for some members of the NBER family.

2. Discontinuation of NBER Life Insurance. The NBER has historically
provided a $50,000 term life insurance policy to salaried researchers,
primarily those who received their summer support through the NBER. The
underlying group life insurance policy has a number of conditions on
eligibility that raise questions about whether it would actually cover
most NBER affiliates. Although the cost of this benefit is modest, the
benefits it provides also appear to be quite limited. At the end of
March 2009, the NBER will therefore drop this insurance program. I hope
that if you were relying on the NBER's insurance as part of your broader
estate and financial plan, you will make appropriate adjustments in
light of this change.

3. Expansion of the NBER 403(b) Plan. The NBER has historically
limited access to our 403(b) plan, which allows voluntary pre-tax
contributions to a tax-deferred retirement saving account. We have
expanded the plan so that all salaried NBER employees may participate -
even hourly research assistants may join the plan and begin saving for
their retirement years. If you are a salaried employee and you would
like to join this plan, please contact Diane Birnbaum (hr_at_nber.org) for
further details.

I am always on the lookout for ways to improve the NBER's performance.
I believe that our benefits review has yielded important advances in our
administrative structure. I always welcome your suggestions of other
changes that would make the NBER a more efficient and effective
organization. All best wishes.

Jim Poterba