Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector

Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector PDF

Author: Robert L. Clark

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1849808139

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While retiree health plans are a dying benefit in the private sector, all US states and many local governments extend health insurance coverage to their retired employees. This book is the first to thoroughly examine public sector health insurance plans. Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector provides a detailed description of the current plans offered and compares how they vary across states. Health insurance is an important component of compensation in the public sector as it helps governments attract and retain quality workers and encourages timely retirement for career employees. Rapidly rising medical costs, an aging labor force, and an increasing number of retirees have dramatically increased the cost of providing this benefit. A central theme of this analysis is a presentation of the actuarial accrued liabilities, the unfunded liabilities and the annual required contribution of the employers based on the actuarial statements for retiree health plans. The authors alsoinvestigate why some states face major funding problems while the costs of other states? plans are much more manageable. Extensively researched and well-suited for classroom and professional use alike, academics in the fields of economics and public policy will find this an unmatched resource. So too will policymakers, economists, legislators, public sector union leaders and those invested in public sector healthcare.

The Funding Status of Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector

The Funding Status of Retiree Health Plans in the Public Sector PDF

Author: Robert Clark

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13:

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While no longer common in the private sector, most public sector employers offer retiree health insurance (RHI) as a retirement benefit to their employees. While these plans are thought to be an important tool for employers to attract, retain, motivate, and ultimately retire workers, they represent a large and growing cost. This paper reviews what is currently known about RHI in the public sector, while highlighting many important unanswered research questions. The analysis is informed by detailed data from states on their liabilities associated with RHI, which were produced in accordance with the 2004 Government Accounting Standards Board Rule 45 (GASB 45). We consider the extent of the unfunded liabilities states face and explore what factors may explain the variation in liabilities across states. The importance and sustainability of RHI plans in the public sector ultimately depends on how workers view and value this post-retirement benefit, yet little is known about how RHI directly impacts the public sector labor market. We conclude with a discussion of the future of RHI plans in the public sector -- National Bureau of Economic Research web site.

Iceberg Ahead

Iceberg Ahead PDF

Author: Edmund J. McMahon

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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"New York taxpayers spend billions of dollars a year on health insurance coverage for retired state and local government employees, many of whom are too young to be eligible for Medicare. But the mounting "pay-as-you-go" bill for retiree healthcare is just the tip of a much larger iceberg. Now, thanks to a new government accounting standard, the true cost of this long-term entitlement is finally emerging from the murky depths of state and local finances. Based on a review of financial reports for the state and its largest local governments, school districts and public authorities, this report estimates that New York's total unfunded liability for public-sector retiree health insurance comes to $205 billion. This figure represents a mammoth potential transfer of wealth from future taxpayers to current government employees and retirees--for a type of benefit that is not available to the vast majority of private-sector workers. The burden of retiree health care is clearly unsustainable and unaffordable. This report, designed as a primer on the issue for taxpayers and government officials, recommends a four-step plan for curbing retiree health care costs before it is too late."

The Role of Retiree Health Insurance in the Early Retirement of Public Sector Employees

The Role of Retiree Health Insurance in the Early Retirement of Public Sector Employees PDF

Author: John B. Shoven

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Most private sector workers with employer-provided health insurance have a strong incentive to continue working until Medicare eligibility in order to maintain group health coverage. However, most government employees have access to retiree health coverage, which allows them access to group health coverage even if they retire before Medicare eligibility. We study the impact of retiree health coverage on the probability of stopping work among public sector workers between the ages of 55 and 64. We find that, for state and local government employees, retiree health coverage raises the probability of stopping work by 5.1 percentage points (around 28 percent) between ages 60 and 64. However, we find no evidence that retiree health coverage influences state and local employees' decisions to stop work at ages 55-59, or that such coverage has an effect on the probability of stopping work for federal and military employees.

How Does Retiree Health Insurance Influence Public Sector Employee Saving?

How Does Retiree Health Insurance Influence Public Sector Employee Saving? PDF

Author: Robert Louis Clark

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13:

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Economic theory predicts that employer-provided retiree health insurance benefits crowd-out household wealth accumulation. Nevertheless, there is little research on the impacts of retiree health insurance on wealth accruals, so this paper utilizes a unique data file on three baseline cohorts from the Health and Retirement Study to explore how employer-provided retiree health insurance may influence net household wealth among public sector employees, where retiree healthcare benefits are still quite prevalent. We find that most full-time public sector employees who anticipate receiving employer-provided health insurance coverage in retirement save less than their private sector uncovered counterparts.

Providing Health Care Benefits in Retirement

Providing Health Care Benefits in Retirement PDF

Author: Judith F. Mazo

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13:

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This volume, from the Pension Research Council of the Wharton School, highlights many of the special health insurance problems facing the elderly and some of the solutions that any reform process must consider.