Thursday, November 21, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, July 25, 2014
Retiree Healthcare: Hawaii's $3.5B Magic Trick
By Selected News Articles @ 4:36 PM :: 8006 Views :: Hawaii State Government, Hawaii Statistics, Labor, Taxes

Retiree Healthcare Tops Unfunded Pensions as Fiscal Threat

by Donna Rook, Heartland.org, July 24, 2014

Can anything be in worse condition than unfunded government pensions? Unfortunately, yes – and it’s something few people have heard of. It’s called OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits), or government retiree healthcare commitments. The average state has $11.46 billion of unfunded retiree healthcare debt compared to $10.85 billion of pension debt as of fiscal year-end 2012.

OPEB and pension benefits are part of employee compensation. Just like salaries, these retirement benefits are costs incurred each year the employees work. Like salaries, retirement benefits should be included in the state's budget and paid each year. Today’s taxpayers should pay all compensation costs for services they receive.

Unfortunately state governments do not include all of these compensation costs in the budget as employees earn them. Instead, states typically handle OPEB benefits on a “pay-as-you-go” basis. Because no money is set aside each year to cover these expenses, future taxpayers must cover retirees' healthcare checks when they are written. Current employment costs are paid by future taxpayers who did not receive services from the retired employees.

Accounting Tricks

Some states use an accounting trick to make their OPEB debt appear lower. By dropping a few dollars into an OPEB fund, states can assume higher rates of return, decreasing the estimated size of their unfunded promises. Hawaii recently “pre-funded” $100 million of their $11.2 billion retiree health promises. An accounting loophole then allowed the state to assume a rate of return of 7 percent instead of 4 percent on investments. Hawaii’s unfunded OPEB debt “magically” decreased from $11.2 billion to $7.7 billion – a $3.5 billion reduction with the stroke of a pen.

Across the Fortune 1000 companies, combined debt for retiree medical benefits totals $285 billion, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. State retiree medical benefit debt totals more than twice that amount, $573 billion. Sadly, state citizens are not as well informed about their government’s retiree healthcare funding as business investors. Governments are still allowed to hide all their retiree healthcare debt from public view.

Hidden Health-Care Debt

Beginning in Fiscal Year 2015, governments will be required to disclose all their retiree pension debt to the public. But the hidden retiree health-care “grenade” will continue to rattle around the floor, pin loose and ready to fall out. If current revenues are not enough to cover increasing health expenses (for prior services), other spending priorities may suffer.

Truth in Accounting believes the solution to this problem begins with the budget. Rather than including current year checkbook receipts and only checks written, states should calculate all bills and expenses incurred regardless of when they will be paid. Budget documents should clearly estimate year-end debt (the balance sheet, including pension and retiree healthcare debt). We call this FACT-based budgeting (Full Accrual and Calculation Techniques). FACT - based budgets would fully inform citizens of the results of their state’s spending plans, enabling them to hold their elected officials responsible.

See how your state’s retirement pension and healthcare debt has grown since 2009, and compare it to other states by using the “Create Your Own Chart” option at http://www.statedatalab.org/

  *   *   *   *   *

Donna Rook (drook@statedatalab.org) is president of StateDataLab.org, a project of Truth in Accounting.

Background: Act 268 Hawaii Unfunded Liabilities Plan: Pot of Gold for Corrupt Union Leaders

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii