Reforms that engender competition, both internal and external, and thereby contribute to greater efficiency and more rapid growth must be complemented with safeguards that address the risks that these forces generate.
Estimates of unfunded pension liabilities for the states as whole span a wide range, but some researchers put the figure as high as $ trillion at the end of 2009. 5 Estimates of states’ liabilities for retiree health benefits are even more uncertain because of the difficulty of projecting medical costs decades into the future.