If your plan is the type of plan insured by PBGC, your plan is insured even if your employer fails to pay the required premiums. PBGC insures defined benefit plans, the type that promise to pay participants a specific monthly benefit at retirement. The easiest way to find out if your plan is insured by PBGC is to ask your employer or plan administrator, the person who administers the plan. Although PBGC insures most defined benefit plans, there are some that are not covered. These are normally sponsored by an individual company for the benefit of its workers.
Employers can end pension plans through a process called termination.
There are two types of termination. In a standard termination, an employer ends a plan that is fully funded after showing PBGC that there is enough money to pay all benefits owed plan participants and beneficiaries. Depending on the plan's provisions, the employer either pays each participant and beneficiary all the benefits owed in a lump sum or the employer purchases an annuity for those benefits from an insurance company. The insurance company will then pay the retirement benefits. Your plan administrator must tell you what insurance company or companies your plan is considering as a possible annuity provider before the money in the plan is distributed.