"Los Angeles has the best-funded retiree health care among the nation's big cities ... and it's also paying a big price for a policy praised by many but practiced by only a few. The city's rare attempt to set aside money now to pay for retiree health care promised in the future accounts for nearly a quarter of the soaring retirement costs former Mayor Richard Riordan warns are driving the city toward bankruptcy. Most cities, as well as the state of California, just pay the annual health care bill for their retired workers."

MORE >>