Hawaii legislators and a new state administration are expected to focus on dealing with needs created by a struggling economy while balancing the budget, but they must pay as much attention to a looming fiscal crisis with baby boomers at the cusp of retirement. A multipronged approach will surely be needed, so a cohesive blueprint for action needs to be drawn up by a blue-ribbon panel already well-versed in the problems and ready to provide strategic solutions.

"Graying of Hawaii," a four-day series in the Star-Advertiser this week about Hawaii’s aging population, reported how fewer wage earners will need to support a growing senior population, including state and county employees promised generous pension and health care benefits in retirement. The state government has neglected to adequately cope with the problem.

"What you’re seeing is not future tense," says Bill Boyd, a labor economist at the University of Hawaii at West Oahu. "It’s happening right now, and it will simply be extended into the future. Going forward, poorer, older people is what you’ll have."

It is alarmingly clear that in many ways, Hawaii cannot, must not, continue on its current paths. They are unaffordable.

State and county employees are covered by a pension plan largely funded by taxpayers. Their Employment Retirement System has less than two-thirds of what is needed to make good on retirement payments. Its unfunded liability totals $6.2 billion, highest in the nation. Retirees under the system now number 38,700, and an additional 15,000 active state and county employees are eligible to retire now.

Marcus Oshiro, state House Finance chairman, calls it "an unsustainable situation going forward," and that can also be said about future health care of Hawaii retirees.

Annual payments from Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund, for example, are expected to soar from $276.1 million in 2008 to $692.8 million in 2022 in order to pay for entire medical premiums for nearly all 169,000 active and retired state and county employees and their dependents. A consulting firm predicts that unfunded liability over the next three decades will reach $10.8 billion.

However painful, careful reform to government pension plans must happen, as it has in other states. Changes such as raising retirement ages and cutting generous benefits bankrolled by taxpayers must be considered going forward.

Hawaii’s population of 65 and older is expected to nearly double by 2030. Many workers are losing their jobs long before reaching that threshold, unable to rely on 401(k) investments that have melted from the recession.

Gov.-elect Neil Abercrombie, in his election campaign, outlined a "silver wave" of opportunities for active older adults. That is precisely the kind of mindset change that will elevate the discussion and produce strategic results. There will indeed be a growing health-challenged populace as baby boomers age and live longer — but there also will indeed be a growing pool of people over age 60 who are active and want to continue contributing to society.

Abercrombie also talked about gerontology as a fledgling industry with much potential across the college, medical, nonprofit and business fields. This would be a wise pursuit, as the state is projected to be short 1,230 doctors and 2,669 registered nurses to care for an estimated 280,496 baby boomers who will be 65 or older by 2020. "There is no reason why Hawaii cannot be a world leader in this field" of aging, said Abercrombie’s campaign — and we wholeheartedly agree.

Just as President Barack Obama assigned a commission to study and make recommendations about dealing with deficit reductions, Abercrombie should appoint an action-oriented panel to tackle the baby boomer growth in the coming decades, and beyond.