A session on "Pension and Health Care - Building a New Bridge to Retirement" will be presented by John Bartel, Mary Beth Redding and Deanna Van Valer on Thursday May 1st at the Western Region IPMA-HR conference in San Francisco.
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A new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts, “A Widening Gap in Cities: Shortfalls in Funding for Pensions and Retiree Health Care” found a funding shortfall of $217 billion for 61 of the nation’s largest cities in 2009. Of this, $118 billion was for retiree healthcare (“OPEB”) benefits. The report examines plans of the largest city in each state, plus other very large cities. In all, over 45% of U.S. municipal employees are covered by the surveyed plans.
To get a better view of the present state of major pension plans, and the potential impact of their vulnerabilities on governments, taxpayers, and investors, Morningstar has analyzed current data for pension plans administered by each of the 50 states.
This 2012 survey of over 2,330 local units of government nationwide in Cobalt Community Research's "National Study of Local Government Health and OPEB Funding Strategies" found that, compared to 2011, "7% fewer local units of government ... provide health coverage to their active employees. Governments who do provide health coverage are paying a slightly smaller share of the premium. Fewer local governments are self-insuring. ...[There is] a significant drop in the percentage of local governments who provide health insurance for retired employees, especially in the Midwest. ...[T]here was a slight decrease in the percentage of local governments who are fully or partially prefunding their retiree health liabilities."
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