Pew Memorial Trust policy synthesis: 2. Postretirement health benefits

Abstract

One-fourth of all those over 65 have some form of employer-provided retirement medical benefits. For these retirees and dependents, having this medical coverage may mean the difference between retirement security and ruin; but for employers, providing it could mean serious financial strain or even a threat to survival. The unfunded liability for retirement medical coverage has been variously projected from +100 billion to nearly +2 trillion. Continuing corporate concerns over the costs of health care, and recent changes in federal policies regarding Medicare and the taxation of employee benefit funds, threaten to alter the system of postretirement health benefits substantially and perhaps irrevocably for many. Employers are being forced to reassess their retiree commitments. Some corporations have undertaken to modify and even eliminate postretirement medical coverage for those over 65. These changes will affect not only the corporations involved and their retirees, but also the national and state governments to whom retirees may turn for additional assistance in meeting their health care needs. The purpose of this synthesis is to explain the issue of postretirement health benefits (PRHBs) for both public and private sector policymakers who will be most involved with this issue over the next five years. The analysis identifies the issues involved, considers the dimensions of the problem, and attempts to assess the implications for the future.