Pew Study Finds States Face $2.73 Trillion Bill for Retire...( WASHINGTON Dec. 18 --- States ha...),Health

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --- States have promised at least $2.73 trillion in pension, health care and other retirement benefits for public employees over the next three decades, according to a report released today by The Pew Charitable Trusts' Center on the States. Promises with a Price, the first 50-state analysis of its kind, finds that states have saved enough to cover about 85 percent of their long-term pension costs, but only 3 percent of the funds needed for promised retiree health care and other non-pension benefits. All told, states already have set aside about $2 trillion to meet their long-term obligations. But they still need to come up with about $731 billion -- a conservative figure that does not include all costs for teachers and local government employees.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071218/DC10085 )

"Now we know the magnitude of this bill -- and paying it will require an enormous investment of taxpayer dollars," said Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States. "For states that have dug themselves into a deep hole, there are no quick and easy solutions -- but there are fiscally responsible steps all states can take. These will require time, attention and, above all, political will."

The full report and fact sheets for each state are available at http://www.pewtrusts.org.

Pensions

Nationally, state pension plans are in reasonably good shape. At the end of fiscal year (FY) 2006, states had set aside over $1.99 trillion of the $2.35 trillion they had made in pension promises -- leaving about $361 billion unfunded.

But the good news nationally masks important variations across the states:

-- Over the past decade, only a third of the states have consistently set aside the amount their own actuaries
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