A Shock to The System

摘要

ON NOV. 16, DELORES Campbell heard the words she'd been dreading for months. Seated at the back of a packed conference room in Charleston, W. Va., she listened carefully as a consultant to the state's Public Employees Insurance Agency outlined a dire scenario. West Virginia is spending 100 million dollars a year on retiree health-care benefits, he said, and if nothing changes, the tab could hit 1 billion dollars a year in just five years. On top of that, the state, which now estimates that it has promised current and future retirees 8 billion dollars in health care over the next 30 years, could see that figure balloon to 50 billion dollars in 2040. West Virginia has nothing saved against that pledge and to lower costs is considering doing away with a program that supplements Medicare for those over 65. "It looks pretty bad for us," says Campbell, 67, who taught social studies to sixth graders for 38 years before retiring in 2004.