The waiting room at the ER, originally uploaded by guacamoley.

New Jersey retirees have had it pretty good when it comes to health care. State workers could retire at 55 and avoid high copays and medical bills. The government wrote the check and everyone was happy. Well, almost everyone.

Thirteen years after the state stopped setting aside money in its fund for retired public workers, the state’s lawmakers are now grappling with an accounting headache of mammoth proportions. To be more precise: a $58 billion shortfall that threatens existing public services and is costing retirees more money than they ever expected to pay for health care. The New York Times recounts the problem today.

New Jersey isn’t alone in this predicament. The same type of problem faces Washington, D.C. The only difference is that Congress continues to ignore the $32 trillion Medicare imbalance. Our elected representatives would rather not face the brewing crisis, instead avoiding entitlement reform and bringing real accounting to the budget process.

It’s one of the reasons my colleagues at Heritage are taking part in the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour to bring more attention to the problems at hand and get Congress to wake up and smell the coffee.