Retirement Health Care
A Major Challenge for Employers and Employees
One of the most challenging issues facing public employers and their employees for the coming decade is retiree health care. In several articles, ICMA-RC’s Kathleen Harm, Consultant, Retiree Health Programs, and Gordon Tiffany, Director of Retirement and Financial Planning, examine the impact of retiree health care on public employees’ retirement planning and how employers might fund these expenses. You will also find links to related news and articles from ICMA-RC on this growing concern.
Painful Cures: Local Governments are Stretching to Pay for Previously Unaccounted Retiree Health Care Benefits (363K PDF)
From the October 2006 issue of American City & County magazine
New Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) rules issued in 2004 are forcing cities and counties to account for an estimated $1 trillion worth of liabilities related to promised retiree health care benefits. [read 363K PDF]
Under Pressure: New Account Standards Force Local Governments to Treat Their Ailing Retiree Health Care Benefit Plans (423K PDF)
From the February 2005 issue of American City & County magazine
A new Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) rule will require the full cost of retiree health benefits, earned in the current and prior years, to be reflected yearly in financial statements. The dramatic increase in the cost for health care benefits will also add pressure on local governmental resources. This article focuses on how local governments can prepare for the GASB rule. [read 423K PDF]
A Pox on Your Budget: Retirement Health Benefits Bode Ill for Local Finances (1,063K PDF)
From the February 2004 issue of American City & County magazine
A new Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) rule will require the full cost of retiree health benefits, earned in the current and prior years, to be reflected yearly in financial statements. The dramatic increase in the cost for health care benefits will also add pressure on local governmental resources. This article focuses on how local governments can prepare for the GASB rule. [read 1,063K PDF]
Health Care: It’s Going to Cost You (100K PDF)
From the December 2003 issue of Public Management magazine
By Kathleen Harm
No consensus exists as to when double-digit inflation in health care costs and health insurance premiums may end. This article summarizes the types of retiree health care programs to be offered by a governmental entity, compared with what is offered in other jurisdictions, and the anticipated problems in covering the projected costs of retiree health care to the employer and to the employee/retiree. [read 100K PDF]
Retiree Health Care Benefits in State and Local Governments: Challenges and Opportunities (867K PDF)
From the December 2003 issue of Employee Benefit Plan Review
This article provides a framework for examining the future of retiree health care benefit programs, focusing on those offered by state and local governments with special considerations for public safety workers. It discusses such key anticipated issues as pay-as-you-go versus prefunding mechanisms, accounting changes, and new developments in prefunding retiree health benefits. [read 867K PDF].
Employee Benefit Plan Review is published by Aspen Publishers.