We often hear about out of control unfunded pension liabilities, but NYC government employee’s health insurance is also a ticking time bomb.
The Citizens Budget Committee estimates the current and future retirees now have an unfunded health insurance liability of $95 billion. And, this figure will grow at an unprecedented rate per year, generating an unfunded liability of $175 billion in ten years.
Let’s put that in perspective. This year’s total budget is estimated at $87 billion, so unfunded health care alone in ten years will be equal to 200% of this year’s total city budget.
And, we can add the pension liability of an estimated $100 billion, and you have unfunded pension and health insurance liabilities that in ten years will be more than three times this year’s total budget. This will require a budget in 2027 of equal to 400% of our current budget to fully fund these liabilities.
New York City provides its employees the most generous pension and health plans than any other major city in the United States.
Mayor de Blasio doesn’t seem to be worried. He is campaigning with Bernie Sanders later today. Perhaps he believes Bernie’s “Medicare for All” will become law and bail out the city….but who will pay the bill? We think you know who will be stuck with the tab.