The Issue is Insurance
SOUTHERN FAIRFIELD #66 7/1/11
Despite dire economic times, our membership has stayed about the same. We are very pleased with your continued support, but we must grow our organizations, as the issues are becoming more challenging to our retirees. We need the financial resources to hire a lawyer from time to time to protect our rights, e.g. the taking of $60,000,000 from our Health Insurance Premium Account. These funds were to be paid back with interest but not a penny has come forth from our state.
We will become more active: buses to Hartford to demonstrate our purposes, political action to bring our stands directly to our legislature and reaching out to our fellow citizens that have issues similar to our own.
To follow up on our stated goals requires membership numbers which in turn, provides the economic down payment for reaching our desired ends.
Insurance
We cannot wait any longer for action because there has been no action by our state group for the past ten years and this is unacceptable.
The numbers are staggering. Because they are not covered by Medicare, almost ten thousand retired Connecticut educators are paying outrageous sums to their local boards of education for these "group rates", for local insurance coverage. The numbers are 8,264 retirees below sixty-five years of age and over fifteen hundred additional retirees that are over sixty-five. These figures are provided by the Teacher Retirement Board. "Group Rates" range from $6,000 to almost $11,000 per person in Connecticut.
Let me site an example: Stamford. The group rate there is $8,000/year while the working teachers and the state provides an additional $1,300 so the total insurance cost is $9,300. These figures change only for the contribution by retirees.
It is crucial to understand:
Since 1987 - The State pays $434/yr or $36.70/mo
The workers pay $866/yr or $73.30/mo
Percent wise, the retiree pays 86.2% and the State pays 9.3%. The working teachers pay 1.25% of their gross income. This past year these funds amounted to almost $47,000,000 leaving a surplus of about $15,000,000. Our present Health Insurance Premium Account has over $60,000,000 in surplus and our state borrowed an additional $60,000,000 from the H.I.P.A. account. We would have $120,000,000 of dollars of surplus in H.I.P.A.
Please note that the New York Times stated on 6/17/11, p32 "currently, most state and local employees pay 1.5 percent of their salaries for their health insurance". In New Jersey "a typical worker makes $65,000 a year, and the cost of full family coverage would rise to about $3,600 a year from about $1,000".
Do you see why we must act now?