Free Health Care, Anyone?
To piggy back on Josh’s earlier post, as you all know, my friend Brian Howey of the Howey Political Report reports the state is sitting on a billion dollar ticking time bomb. Because of government regulations the state of Indiana must disclose its non-pension liabilities, one of which is health insurance for lawmakers. When lawmakers serve for more than six years they get automatic health insurance for life, and their spouses as well. State Auditor Connie Nass says the liability runs in the millions of dollars. I spoke with House Speaker Brian Bosma this afternoon. Bosma says he doesn’t think the pension liability is a billion dollars, but it is still high enough to be concerned. He tells me he thinks the benefit needs to changed and will likely do so this session. However, under Indiana common law it will be difficult to take away vested benefits from current lawmakers. The good news though is anyone elected after 2006 needs to be ready to go get their own insurance.
