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Wwkvoter, the other issue with "Blue Cross for life" is employees were never expected to live that long when this benefit was implemented. It was a different time then and not to sound morbid but I think the belief was people would retire and within 10 years or so they'd pass away with their spouse not far behind them. Great advancements in technology and health care have driven the average life expectancy up and the system has never caught up to it. As you said, nobody wanted to be the politician that took that benefit away, they'd be run out of office faster than they could ever say "reform".

Even today my fear is that nobody on the City Council wants to confront this problem. They'd rather wait until they have no options left at all. By then, many of them will be retired, collecting their own pensions and health care and laughing at the mess they've left for others to clean up. It is the equivalent of being the hotel maid after Zeppelin leaves the room and it is a shame. Not 1 member of this City Council has shown any guts whatsoever and the most outspoken on this issue, Merolla, has severely damaged his credibility by withholding the audit information while voting on Union contracts (as reported by the Boston Globe.) There are no adults in the room, no bold leadership and the only people who are feeling the effects are taxpayers and students. I truly hope something drastic changes because right now I am not optimistic anything gets fixed. We have to ask ourselves if not now, when?