Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Retire Early? You're (Somewhat) on Your Own in Idaho

Categories: Idaho

The State of Idaho has been paying health insurance premiums for early retirees. That's going to change for new employees. People who are already already retired and under 65 will be given premium assistance, but at a capped amount. Everyone 65 and older will be dumped into Medicare.

There are several lessons from this story. One, if there's a government program, expect employers to seize that as an opportunity to shed the load onto the public. It doesn't matter whether the employer is a for-profit company or a unit of state government. Two, unfunded liabilities (both pension but also health care) are serious problems for state and local governments.