Retiree Health Care
West Virginia Tackles Retiree Health Costs
West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin promoted a bill pledging $30 million a year in tax money to help meet the state’s health care debt to retired workers. West Virginia has become the first state to pledge tax revenue to help finance its retiree health care burden, a major development in states’ efforts to pay down their […]
In Graying West Virginia, a Mountain of Retiree Health Bills
One of the perks of being a West Virginia state employee or public school teacher is a monthly subsidy — paid primarily by the state — that helps workers cover the costs of their health insurance premiums upon retirement. The average monthly subsidy is $333 per retiree. Like similar benefits in other states, West Virginia’s […]
Summary of the Connecticut State of the State Address
Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, a Republican, focused on ways to create jobs and cut the deficit in a sobering state of the state address Feb. 3. She called out the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature for partisan bickering at a time when a devastating economic recession has thrown 94,000 residents out of work and caused a deep fiscal […]
Summary of the Delaware State of the State Address
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) highlighted during his state of the state speech Jan. 21 his administration’s efforts to curb state spending and promote jobs, and he promised to do more of the same. “In the end, we want our state government to provide core services and enhance our quality of life in a way […]
Price tag for state retiree benefits: $2.73 trillion
States have set aside about $2 trillion to cover the cost of pensions and health insurance promised teachers, police officers and other public-sector workers, but retiree benefits are still underfunded by about $731 billion, a new study released Tuesday (Dec. 18) shows. Of that shortfall, nearly half ( billion) is needed for future retirees’ health […]
Long-Term Care on States Short List of Priorities
Bishop says the best part of this “partnership plan” is that he doesn’t have to sell his house or wipe out his pension and personal savings if he outlives his private benefits. The state will step in and pick up his bills under Medicaid, the health care plan that the federal and state governments run […]
States Target Deceased to Recoup Nursing Home Costs
States are leaving no stone unturned in their search for ways to save money in health care not even gravestones. Georgia and Michigan are the last of the 50 states to work to adopt “estate recovery” plans, in which states seize assets from the estates of dead patients who lived in nursing homes on the […]