State Retiree Benefits Fact Sheet – Mississippi

Although Mississippi's pension system is funded at a level below the 50-state average, it started to rise in 2006. The state has done a very good job paying the full amount required by its actuaries to achieve full funding over time—one of 16 states that has consistently paid 100% (or very close to 100%) of its annual required contribution during the last 10 years. Mississippi is one of seven states that had not completed its actuarial valuation of the long-term costs of retiree health and other non-pension benefits at the time of Pew's report, but its liability is likely to be small. The state does not offer a cash subsidy, but only the “implicit subsidy” that comes from including retirees and typically healthier active employees in the same health plan.