PENSION AND POSTRETIREMENT BENEFIT PLANS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Retirement Benefits [Abstract]

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits [Text Block]

RETIREMENT BENEFITS

The net periodic benefit cost of defined benefit pension plans includes:

	Three Months Ended March 31,
Dollars in Millions	2020			2019
Service cost – benefits earned during the year	$	12		$	7
Interest cost on projected benefit obligation	8			44
Expected return on plan assets	(23		)	(64		)
Amortization of prior service credits	(1		)	(1		)
Amortization of net actuarial loss	11			18
Curtailments and settlements	2			49
Net periodic pension benefit cost	$	9		$	53

Pension settlement charges were recognized after determining the annual lump sum payments will exceed the annual interest and service costs for certain pension plans. The charges included the acceleration of a portion of unrecognized actuarial losses. Non-current pension liabilities were $560 million at March 31, 2020 and $569 million at December 31, 2019. Defined contribution plan expense in the U.S. was approximately $85 million and $40 million for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Comprehensive medical and group life benefits are provided for substantially all U.S. retirees electing to participate in comprehensive medical and group life plans and to a lesser extent certain benefits for non-U.S. employees. The net periodic benefit credits were not material in both periods.

As a result of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Retirement Income Plan termination in 2019, $381 million of assets held in a separate account within the Pension Trust used to fund retiree medical plan payments was reverted back to the Company, resulting in an excise tax of $76 million in the first quarter of 2020.