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Benefit Plans
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2021
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Benefit Plans Benefit Plans
Components of Net Periodic Benefit (Income) Cost
Net periodic benefit (income) cost consisted of the following:
PensionPostretirementPensionPostretirement
For the Nine Months Ended
September 30,		For the Three Months Ended
September 30,
 (in millions)20212020202120202021202020212020
Service cost$51 $55 $15 $13 $17 $18 $5 $5 
Interest cost139 188 29 44 46 62 8 14 
Expected return on plan assets
(393)(376)(10)(11)(131)(125)(2)(4)
Amortization:
Net loss99 108 16 7 33 55 2 — 
Prior service cost (credit)
3 4 (35)(22)1 2 (20)(7)
Net periodic benefit
(income) cost
$(101)$(21)$15 $31 $(34)$12 $(7)$8 
Employer Contributions
Altria makes contributions to the pension plans to the extent that the contributions are tax deductible and pays benefits that relate to plans for salaried employees that cannot be funded under Internal Revenue Service regulations. Altria made employer contributions of $23 million to its pension plans and did not make any contributions to its postretirement plans during the nine months ended September 30, 2021. Currently, Altria anticipates making additional employer contributions to its pension plans of up to approximately $5 million and no additional contributions to its postretirement plans for the remainder of 2021. However, the foregoing estimates of 2021 contributions to the pension and postretirement plans are subject to change as a result of changes in tax and other benefit laws, changes in interest rates, as well as asset performance significantly above or below the assumed long-term rate of return for each respective plan.
During the second quarter of 2021, Altria announced several amendments to its salaried retiree healthcare plans, primarily changing its post-age 65 coverage to a private medicare marketplace. These amendments triggered a plan remeasurement as of May 31, 2021 and resulted in Altria recording a reduction of $432 million to its accrued postretirement health care costs liability and a corresponding reduction to its accumulated other comprehensive losses on its condensed consolidated balance sheet. Ongoing amortization has been adjusted to reflect these changes as of June 1, 2021 and is reflected in the amounts shown above.