{"id":716,"date":"2011-05-02T16:41:58","date_gmt":"2011-05-02T21:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pensionblog.com\/?p=716"},"modified":"2011-05-02T16:41:58","modified_gmt":"2011-05-02T21:41:58","slug":"public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Federal, state and local regulations often include mandated health benefits for officers disabled in the line of duty. These benefits are a way to reward officers for protecting and serving the public at great risk of bodily harm. The value of these benefits must be accounted for under GASB accounting rules, and there are a few important considerations when doing so.<\/p>\n

Important considerations for OPEB plans:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

– Determining the implicit rate subsidy <\/strong>(health cost in excess of the average premium). This may include expected health care costs for disabled officers that are significantly higher than for non-disabled individuals.\u00a0 Another factor to consider is whether or not disabled officers are Medicare-eligible. If so, how does that reduce the expected health care costs?<\/p>\n

– Determining the direct subsidy<\/strong> (portion of the premium paid by the employer).\u00a0 This is the premium cost not only for disabled officers, but also for dependents.<\/p>\n

– Length of benefit coverage.<\/strong> Unlike regular retiree health care which can begin around age 50 to 55 for officers, disability health care begins much earlier.\u00a0 Often officers disabled in the line of duty are in their 30\u2019s and 40\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The earlier start creates significant additional costs.\u00a0 For example, the direct subsidy for a disabled officer age 40 could exceed $150,000 ($6,000 in premium per year for 25 years) \u2013 and this does not include any costs for dependent coverage or the implicit subsidy.<\/p>\n

– Participation assumptions.<\/strong> Most, if not all, officers elect the employer\u2019s coverage upon disability due to the employer\u2019s direct subsidy of the premium.\u00a0 In contrast, many regular retirees will waive the employer\u2019s coverage if they receive little or no direct subsidy.<\/p>\n

– Accounting for reimbursements<\/strong>. A number of states reimburse the employer for the direct subsidy costs. We haven’t found any written guidance on proper accounting, so we checked with GASB.\u00a0 They said they would probably view the reimbursement as a \u201cvoluntary nonexchange transaction\u201d accounted for under GASB 33, which would not reduce an employer\u2019s GASB 45 liability.\u00a0\u00a0 This would be similar to GASB’s view of the Federal Medicare Part D reimbursement known as the Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS).<\/p>\n

How to ensure that your plan is valued appropriately:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

To determine if your OPEB liability appropriately addresses the impact of disabled officers, you should:<\/p>\n

– Understand your state and local health care rules for officers disabled in the line of duty.<\/p>\n

– Identify any disabled officers you have and the amount they contribute to continue coverage.<\/p>\n

– Consult with your actuary to determine if the OPEB liability is your responsibility or if it is the responsibility of another higher level of government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal, state and local regulations often include mandated health benefits for officers disabled in the line of duty. These benefits are a way to reward officers for protecting and serving the public at great risk of bodily harm. The value of these benefits must be accounted for under GASB accounting rules, and there are a […]Read More… from Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,16,17,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPublic Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities - Via Actuarial Solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities - Via Actuarial Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Federal, state and local regulations often include mandated health benefits for officers disabled in the line of duty. These benefits are a way to reward officers for protecting and serving the public at great risk of bodily harm. The value of these benefits must be accounted for under GASB accounting rules, and there are a [...]Read More... from Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Via Actuarial Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d12b99182a3f87d009bc32f4e3fae3d2\"},\"headline\":\"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/\"},\"wordCount\":436,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"FAS 106\",\"GASB 45\",\"Other post-employment benefits (OPEB)\",\"Public plans\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/\",\"name\":\"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities - Via Actuarial Solutions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/\",\"name\":\"Via Actuarial Solutions\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Via Actuarial Solutions\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo2.png\",\"width\":365,\"height\":108,\"caption\":\"Via Actuarial Solutions\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d12b99182a3f87d009bc32f4e3fae3d2\",\"name\":\"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b74f57567d8c6771b369adfd23865c43?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b74f57567d8c6771b369adfd23865c43?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/author\/chrisg11\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities - Via Actuarial Solutions","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities - Via Actuarial Solutions","og_description":"Federal, state and local regulations often include mandated health benefits for officers disabled in the line of duty. These benefits are a way to reward officers for protecting and serving the public at great risk of bodily harm. The value of these benefits must be accounted for under GASB accounting rules, and there are a [...]Read More... from Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities","og_url":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/","og_site_name":"Via Actuarial Solutions","article_published_time":"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg"}],"author":"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d12b99182a3f87d009bc32f4e3fae3d2"},"headline":"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities","datePublished":"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/"},"wordCount":436,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg","articleSection":["FAS 106","GASB 45","Other post-employment benefits (OPEB)","Public plans"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/","url":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/","name":"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities - Via Actuarial Solutions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg","datePublished":"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-02T21:41:58+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vaniwaarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/police-and-firemen1.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/2011\/05\/02\/public-safety-benefits-can-significantly-affect-opeb-liabilities\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Public Safety Benefits Can Significantly Affect OPEB Liabilities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/","name":"Via Actuarial Solutions","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#organization","name":"Via Actuarial Solutions","url":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/logo2.png","width":365,"height":108,"caption":"Via Actuarial Solutions"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d12b99182a3f87d009bc32f4e3fae3d2","name":"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b74f57567d8c6771b369adfd23865c43?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b74f57567d8c6771b369adfd23865c43?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Grabrian, ASA, EA, MAAA"},"url":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/author\/chrisg11\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/viaactuarial.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}