A $2-Trillion Fiscal Hole

Wall Street Journal article estimates the unfunded liabilities of state and local government’s retiree health care plans to be $1.4 trillion, about double the unfunded pension liabilities of $700 billion.

Pennsylvania has yet to issue estimates of the state’s liability under GASB 45 (though local governments have begun to announce their estimates) – but if the national trend in an indication, PA may have over $20 billion in retiree health plan liability (our pension systems are $11 short of being fully-funded). Those number add up to, well, a lot of money.