Nearly all states are struggling with the cost of public employee and retiree health care. The National Conference of State Legislatures documents ongoing reform debates in nearly 30 states, including:
- Six states pursuing increased employee contributions and co-pays.
- 11 states pursuing cuts in levels of coverage.
- In Florida, the media declared public employees have “an unbeatable deal”
- In Connecticut, the Legislature approved a big insurance pool, offering the state worker plan to municipal, non-profit, and small-business workers. The governor vetoed the plan.
- In Illinois, Gov. Pat Quinn this spring proposed shifting $200 million in health care coverage costs from taxpayers to public workers.
Findings from a December 2008 survey by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence:
- In the past five years, five states have cut retiree health care benefits. One state has eliminated those retiree benefits.
- The majority of states (including Michigan) have increased retirees’ health care premium, office visit, and prescription co-pays in the past five years.
- Otherwise, many states are stuck by the policy prospects. Few are planning decisive action soon to deal with millions and millions of dollars in unfunded public retiree health care obligations, according to the Center for State and Local Government Excellence. That center recently found that fewer than 10 percent of states expected to implement big fixes on either the cost or revenue side.
2 Comments
After benefits for public school teachers are brought under control, the next area that needs cropping is the freedom from state income tax on pensions. I speak as one who was stunned years ago to discover I was not expected to pull my weight. I still feel guilty every year when I file my request for the homeowners credit. Surely there is some way of determining whether this awful perk really keeps retired people from moving to Florida, the only rationale I have ever heard for this plum. At the very least, the benefit ought to be pro-rated. I for one, as a retired university professor, could easily afford to pay my share.
All of this stuff wouldn’t be happening if our PRESIDENTS of AMERICAN would stop sending our jobs overseas. If this stopped, there would be more than enough taxes to fund everything we need.