Some Wisconsin cities are obligated to pay several thousand dollars per resident, the report states.
‘On the Verge of Insolvency’
Thurston Powers, a legislative analyst with the Center for State Fiscal Reform at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), says costs of other post-employment benefits (OPEB)—benefits besides pensions a state or local government employee receives as part of his or her package of retirement benefits—can fluctuate wildly from year to year.
“Most OPEBs are operated as pay-as-you-go and thus subject to large changes in year to year annual required contributions,” Powers said. “Cities compound all these problems by having smaller participant pools, making swings like a 24 percent increase in unfunded liabilities unsurprising.
Regulatory Price Hikes
Jim Martin, founder and chairman of the 60 Plus Association, says the Affordable Care Act and regulations such as the Independent Patient Advisory Boards are driving up costs for everybody and making it increasingly difficult for seniors to receive good health care because seniors use health care more than other age groups.
“The fact is seniors are getting less care for more costs, and market-based reforms can help us save the system,” Martin said. “You can’t keep throwing good money at a bad system because there’s only so much money from taxpayers.”
Trump Reforms Helping
Katebi says some of the reforms Martin seeks are happening now.
“Several of the changes to the health insurance landscape made by the Trump administration and proposed by Congress—such as expanding access to association health plans, making short-term health plans last longer, and the introduction of legislation to make it easier to contribute to Health Savings Accounts—should help alleviate at least some of the worry retirees face,” Katebi said.
INTERNET INFO:
“Promises to Keep: Unfunded liabilities improve but still pose challenge for many cities,” The Wisconsin Taxpayer, May 2018: https://wispolicyforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Taxpayer_1805.pdf
