Politics, indeed, makes for strange bedfellows, be it in presidential races or in less obvious places such as the administration of public pension funds.

A lot is said about the sorry condition of those local and state public pension systems, with Illinois ranking among the sorriest.

The state's five largest state-funded pensions have a total unfunded liability of $112 billion by some estimates, because the state for years borrowed against the pension system to fund public services. This action became legislated in 1995, when then-Gov. Jim Edgar signed into law the “pension ramp,” which continued the practice of diverting funds for public services for 15 more years.

In short, Illinois “intentionally kicked the can down the road for generations through legislative action,” said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a nonprofit economic research organization in Chicago.

And though it's not the only chronically underfunded state — New Jersey and Pennsylvania are in a similar boat — the majority have made a “good-faith” effort to continuously fund their pension plans, according to a March 2015 report by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators.

Similarly, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, is front and center in this year's presidential election, with even ultraliberal Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is seeking the Democratic nomination, seeking to repeal it. But unlike his Republican counterparts — Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and businessman Donald Trump — who simply want to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Sanders is proposing a single-payer system or, as he puts it, “Medicare for all.”

That would meet with the approval of the vast majority of Canadians, who wouldn't give up their universal system, in effect for decades. “Generally, Canadians have a sentimental and emotional attachment for their health care system. They are quite happy with it,” said Tim Clarke, chief innovation officer for health and benefits consulting at Aon Hewitt in Toronto. And that's despite long waits to see the family doctor or for elective procedures.

The jury is still out on Solvency II, the European system of capital requirements for insurers that took effect Jan. 1. Many analysts expect underwriting in the bulk annuity market, the backbone of many private pension plans, to pick up by midyear after a slowdown during Solvency II's shakeout cruise. But one, London-based life insurer Prudential P.L.C., doesn't plan to wait for anticipated higher costs and increased bureaucracy. It has significantly reduced its U.K. annuity business rather than undertaking the financial engineering Solvency II would require, according to Nic Nicandrou, chief financial officer.

An up-and-coming entry in the burgeoning arena of voluntary benefits, or those offered by employers but paid for by participating employees, is critical care insurance. This comes into play on the diagnosis of major illness — cancer, heart attack and stroke, among them— and provides cash, often in a lump sum and without the 90-day wait typical of disability coverage, to help the policyholder with nonmedical expenses including mortgage payments. About 20% of private employers offer the coverage now, up from 11% in 2002.

“Wouldn't it help to maybe have $5,000, $10,000 of coverage to help you with those expenses that disability's not covering at that point?” said Old Lyme, Connecticut-based Daniel Pisetsky, founder of the National Association of Critical Illness Insurance.

Finally, Kevin Wagner, a Southfield, Michigan-based senior consulting actuary with Willis Towers Watson P.L.C., discusses the future of defined benefit pension plans. Once a staple of corporate America, only 20% of Fortune 500 companies still offer them to new salaried employees, according to Willis data, and Mr. Wagner doesn't see that trend changing anytime soon.

“I am not sure plan sponsors feel that it is their obligation to make sure that people have good retirement incomes. Employers have not reached the point where they feel it is their obligation to do that,” Mr. Wagner said, adding that regulatory foot-dragging doesn't help them change their minds.