Faculty Collaborate on Health Care Research

The Center for State and Local Government Excellence wants more help from NC State researchers to understand how to design, fund, and administer state and local government retiree health care. Rick Kearney, director of the School of Public and International Affairs, Jerrell Coggburn, chair of the Department of Public Administration, and Robert Clark, from the College of Management’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program, are extending their data collection and analysis work for the national center.

“We’re examining the gaps in health care benefits for state, local, and teacher retirees,” says Kearney, who is serving as principal investigator. “The funding status of health care plans remains in flux, particularly in the context of the current economic crisis. The field of teacher retirement plans and funding status requires in-depth examination, as does the role of retiree health plans in strategic human resource planning.”

The team will use the data it collects to develop proposals for joint funding by other organizations with an interest in retiree health care.