"Taking the first steps in overhauling its employee health-care coverage, the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved raising the age for retiring with full benefits to 65 from 60."
"However, the board delayed action until next year on the more contentious question of whether to stop offering health-care coverage for the dependents of future employees."
Despite the increasingly outlandish rhetoric from the Beshear Administration, a seventy cent tax increase on cigarettes isn't going to save the state. Revisiting public employee benefits would be a much more meaningful step in the right direction.
Since the public sector regulates private sector access to health insurance, we should bring public sector benefits more in line with ours. Putting them on the same side of the table with the rest of us may remove some of the resistance to market reforms to bring down costs.
