Changes in retiree health benefits: Results of a national survey

Employers are increasingly concerned by the cost of health benefits provided to retired workers. One reason is that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the organization that establishes ''generally accepted accounting principles,'' has proposed altering the way firms report expenditures for retiree medical coverage on financial statements. We recently completed a national survey of business firms offering retiree health benefits to address three issues: 1) What is the current structure of retiree health benefit plans? 2) What changes are firms planning to implement in the structure of their retiree health benefits? 3) To what extent are these changes due to the FASB proposal? The FASB reporting proposal is only one factor underlying these changes. More important is the real financial pressure on firms due to the accelerating cost of retiree health care.