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Wednesday, October 03, 2018

USPS retiree health fund is in jeopardy

The money set aside for the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund will run out by 2030 if the U.S. Postal Service fails to keep making payments to the fund, according to a Government Accountability Office report publicly released Oct. 1.

As of fiscal year 2017, the agency is behind by $38.2 billion in required payments to the fund, but USPS has said that its current financial outlook has made filing those payments unaffordable.

And USPS finances aren’t projected to get any better. For more than a decade the agency has experienced large operating costs, while finding few ways to increase revenue or cut costs, according to the report.

“If the fund becomes depleted, USPS would be required by law to make the payments necessary to cover its share of health benefits premiums for current postal retirees. Current law does not address what would happen if the fund becomes depleted and USPS does not make payments to cover those premiums,” the report said.

“Depletion of the fund could affect postal retirees as well as USPS, customers and other stakeholders, including the federal government. About 500,000 postal retirees receive health benefits and [the Office of Personnel Management] expects that number to remain about the same through 2035.”

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good the only difference with Maryland doing the same thing is they are not continuing to pay for senior retirees.

Anonymous said...

I told you guys to max out your 401K contributions,but you wouldn't listen.You could not see the writing on the wall years ago when the USPS began to fail.

Anonymous said...

The USPS has a business model that is unsustainable and management that couldn't care less.