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Lawmakers advanced and passed the SECURE Act with an eye tonarrow the gap between small business workers who have access to aretirement plan and those who don't. According to Census Bureaudata, there are almost 5.5 million businesses in the country withless than 100 employees. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says alittle more than half of those workers—53 percent—have access to aretirement plan. Half of the private sector workforce—55 millionAmericans—don't have access to a workplace retirement plan.

The law's Open Multiple Employer Plan provisions allowsunaffiliated businesses—not just small ones—to pool workers underone plan, thereby creating economies of scale, and reducingindividual employer's fiduciary risk.

The plans won't be available until 2021, and take-up rates willlargely depend on how regulators craft rules that impactadoption.

Industry proponents of Open MEPs have long cautioned the plansare not a panacea for closing the access gap to retirement plans inthe private sector.

By some estimates, that may be a gross understatement. When theJoint Committee on Taxation scored the SECURE Act last year, itestimated 700,000 new qualified retirement plan accounts would beopened under the Open MEP policy over the next decade.

Some lawmakers used that figure to champion the bill. But if theJCT's estimate is accurate, that would mean a 1.3 percent reductionin the 55 million Americans that don't have a retirement plan.

Big single-plan sponsors express interest in Open MEPs

That would be a modest victory. Other estimates are morepromising. Recent analysis by the Employee Benefit ResearchInstitute assumed an Open MEP adoption rate of 30 percent amongemployers that do not currently sponsor a retirement plan.

If accurate, that would translate to hundreds of thousands ofemployers participating in an Open MEP.

While it's hoped that Open MEPs will stimulate plan adoptionamong small employers, existing sponsors, and even large employers,may also see them as an attractive alternative.

A survey of plan sponsors by the Secure Retirement Institute—theretirement arm of LIMRA—shows 55 percent would considertransitioning to a MEP. Among sponsors with more than 1,000employees, two-thirds expressed interest.

Lower plan costs was cited as the top reason for considering aMEP.

But the survey also revealed that employers are not sure whatthe plans are. More than six in 10 employers expressed no or littlefamiliarity with the plans. Small employers were more likely to bein the dark.

"We're seeing interest from plan sponsors and advisors, but thejury is still out," said Mark Paracer, assistant research directorof the Secure Retirement Institute.

"There's a lot we don't know right now, and a lot of work thatstill has to come from the Labor Department," he added.

For instance, MEPs are presumed to be cheaper for sponsors. Butthat won't be known until a market forms.

Another wildcard: Will advisors have the incentive to recommenda MEP to an existing plan sponsor?

"Recordkeepers are in the same situation—they don't know howthis will play out. But they are investing in the educationalprocess with advisors," said Paracer.