Huge tab for government worker benefits

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Not many workers in the private sector get the kind of healthcare benefits still available to state and local government employees. Many government workers are eligible for lifetime health coverage once they have put enough years into public service. The price tag is huge. And lawmakers and the governor keep putting off dealing with it. Efforts to curb the benefits have been met with fierce resistance by public employee unions. Calls to at least start paying down some of the bill – instead of continuing to push it into the future – have been blunted by the state’s chronic budget crisis.

Meanwhile, the costs keep mounting. Taxpayers are now on the hook for at least $51.8 billion to pay for healthcare and dental benefits promised state retirees, according to a report out today from the office of state Controller John Chiang. The amount reflects $3.6 billion that was added to the tab in the last year alone. Chiang called for lawmakers to start putting money aside to pay down this enormous bill. Just like he did last year. And the year before that. And the year before that.

-- Evan Halper in Sacramento