Though Connecticut’s successful slashing of its pension debt dominates the headlines, state officials and workers have collaboratively reduced another onerous burden dramatically over the past five years. When that burden gets out of hand, it mirrors the state’s pension debt and consumes a disproportionate share of the budget, pulling dollars away from education, town aid and other core programs. Launched in 1978 by state law and later guaranteed through labor contracts, the retirement health care benefit originally had no pre-pay element. Those savings have been used chiefly to reduce pension debt and bolster reserves. Scanlon said his office always will pursue savings involving health care and insurance costs, but medical costs are very volatile, and negotiated premium discounts alone can’t eliminate all unfunded obligations involving retiree health care.