Suffolk County faces an even higher liability, according to its latest accounting -- $4.1 billion over 30 years, according to county comptroller Joseph Sawicki.

Free health care for life is a prized benefit of public employment, but its rapidly rising cost to taxpayers is looming into view like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, thanks to the phasing in of a national accounting rule known as GASB-45.

That rule, issued in 2004, also applies to towns, villages, school districts and public authorities. It requires the 30-year cost of retiree health benefits to be listed on their annual financial reports. This year, for the first time, governments with as little as $10 million in revenue will begin reporting those costs in their financial statements, filed at the end of this month. But they are not required to set aside money to cover those costs.

"While we're facing difficult times, now is not the time to ignore this issue and push it aside," said state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli Tuesday, calling the expense "staggering."

New York State has the highest costs in the nation for retired employees' medical care -- an estimated $55 billion over the next 30 years. It, too, paid more last year for retirees' health benefits than their pension costs. Those health costs are only going to go up, warns DiNapoli, who has proposed creating a trust fund governments can use to save for their retirees' health costs. That will reduce the long-term expense, he argues.

But at the moment, county officials seem more interested in finding ways to reduce the obligations than set aside extra money to meet them.

"Knowledge of this figure does not change the pressure on our hard-pressed county taxpayers since we only pay one year's health care bill at a time," said Nassau Comptroller Howard Weitzman, who last year worked with the county legislature on a new benefits package for nonunion employees that increased the number of years required for them to vest lifetime benefits. But his office acknowledged that nonunion employees make up only a small share of the county workforce.

In Suffolk, County Executive Steve Levy is also looking to trim benefits, and blamed the current predicament on a series of nine government downsizings approved by the legislature in eight years that were followed by new hires into many of the same positions.

"Those early retirement incentives of the 1990s are coming home to roost," he said.

Levy has required nonunion employees to contribute at least 10 percent of their health benefits, and said the issue will figure prominently in future contract talks.

"New rules have to be written for new employees coming into the game," he said.