Illinois Policy Institute - Blog - Illinois' $44 billion retiree health pricetag

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3/6/2012
by Jonathan Ingram

Everyone’s heard about Illinois' huge unfunded pension liabilities. But did you know that the state has another liability, totaling $44 billion, for retiree health insurance?

The state hasn't set aside any funds to make those future payments, and worse yet, many retirees contribute little or nothing to their health insurance premiums. In the state’s largest retiree health program, for example, retirees only contribute an average of nine percent toward their premiums. These overly generous benefits are growing two and a half times faster than state revenues and will work in tandem with rising pension costs to crowd out valuable government services.

Last week, the Institute proposed fair and practical solutions to fix the retiree health system. Our solutions reduce this enormous burden on taxpayers, while still rewarding employees for lifelong service, discouraging early retirement and protecting low-income retirees. To learn more about our solutions to this growing problem, read the full report.

NEWS UPDATE

White House quietly increases budget for ObamaCare's exchange subsidies by $111 billion. Budget officials now admit ObamaCare subsidies will cost at least 30 percent more than last year's estimates for the 2014-2021 period.

ObamaCare's new tax on medical devices will hurt patients and destroy jobs. Federal officials believe the new tax on medical devices will drive total health care costs up by $18 billion per year. If that weren't bad enough, economists estimate that the tax could cause 10 percent of the industry's workforce to lose their jobs.

New ObamaCare regulations threaten health savings accounts. A new report by Milliman confirms the Institute's warning that consumers with high-deductible health plans are likely to see their premiums skyrocket or see their plans disappear altogether.

This was originally sent to supporters on our email list that designated an interest in health care policy. To get updates like this as soon as they are available, click here.