Compared to most states, New York has done a good job setting aside money for public employee pensions. But for retiree health benefits, it’s unfortunately just pay as you go.
That will leave taxpayers in the years ahead with a large and growing tab, an issue highlighted in a new report from the nonprofit Pew Center on the States. Pew found that the 50 states had a combined unfunded liability for retiree health care — the gap between what’s been promised and what’s been salted away to pay for those promises — of $627 billion.
In New York, taxpayers are on the hook for an estimated $57 billion just for state retirees. But the picture is even scarier: a study by the nonprofit Empire Center for Public Policy looked at public employees at every level of government and came up with a retiree health care figure of $205 billion….
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Empire Center sues Department of Health over nursing home records
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ALBANY, N.Y. () — The Empire Center filed a against the state Department of Health on Friday.
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Good news: That New York pork isn’t going out the door after all
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EDITORIAL: Nursing home report requires a second opinion
No doubt, the Health Department and the governor would like this report to be the final word on the subject.
But if it’s all the same with them, we’d still like a truly independent review. Read More