A panel appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to review taxpayer-subsidized health insurance for retired government workers suggested the city could drop coverage to help erase a financial shortfall. The option is the most severe of many the group offered Monday as part of a list that gives Emanuel potential leverage to force compromise from wary unions during talks about painful fixes of Chicago's severely underfunded employee pension systems. Last year the city spent nearly $109 million on health care for nearly 37,000 retired workers and their spouses and children, according to the report. Enrollment is expected to grow to more than 47,000 in the next 10 years, which would balloon costs to $541 million, it states. Phasing out coverage for most retired city workers would leave the bulk of retirees dependent on the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. __________________________ Most of the public pension debt is in future healthcare costs. Every public pension retiree will be taken off local Government rolls and stuck into the limitless spending of Obamacare. This is the beginning of State bailouts.
I'm surprised Rahm doesn't just suggest euthanasia for retired workers who need hospital services. That's not very many lost votes. Just 37,000.
It would also help keep food prices down as those people will no longer need food. And, they could be made into Soilent Green for others in the Chicago retirement system to eat.