The Postal Service skipped a $5.5 billion payment due to the Treasury for Retiree Health benefits that was due on August 1, 2012.
They plan to skip another $5.6 billion payment due September 30 unless Congress either gives them the money or changes the law.
From my limited understanding, the Postal Service Retiree health plan is over funded, so this won't have any immediate impact on either services or retiree benefits. There is plenty of trouble down the road for both unless the service is restructured to account for the lower volume of mail being sent.
Skipping this payment mirrors what a lot of corporations do by skipping pension fund contributions, and eventually defaulting on their pensions. Unless health care costs reverse trend and start dropping, the retiree health plan will some day run out of funds. Who knows how long it will last.
With all the other fiscal cliff issues dead ahead in this election year, it seems like Congress wants to delay doing anything with the Postal Service until at least next year.
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