Retired public employees will have to pay more for their health care starting in January 2022 following a 9-2 vote this week by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System board.
“The basic problem is we have no money to fund health care,” OPERS Executive Director Karen Carraher said.
The health care trust fund, which is separate from the pension fund, will last 11 years with no additional funding. But OPERS’ analysts estimate it will be at least 15 years before the pension fund can resume setting aside money for the health fund.
“So, obviously, the math doesn’t work,” Carraher said.
The goal, she said, is to keep the health care trust fund solvent, and that means cutting health benefits for its 304,000 workers when they retire and 213,000 current retirees.