The County Administrator speaks about fairness in his letter to the editor about the Board of Supervisors' decision to rescind the Retiree Insurance Program.
What is unfair is:
1. Taking away a benefit program which has been promised and provided to Pima County pre-Medicare Retirees for 40 years;
2. Failing to apply for Federal Assistance to help defray any additional costs which might be incurred to continue this program;
3. Withholding claims data which would determine if, in fact, Retirees are more expensive to insure than active employees of the same age group;
4. Withholding data to determine if, in fact, the County's contract with United Healthcare is cost effective;
5. Claiming that Retirees have a viable option of using the Arizona State Retirement System/United Healthcare plan, when that "option" costs Retirees thousands of dollars more per year (out of pocket) than the Pima County plan; and finally
6. Claiming that taxpayers or active employees subsidize Retiree health insurance when, in fact, Retirees pay 100% of their premium cost.
I have just read the County Administrator's response.
In June of 2010 I paid $118 out of pocket for health and dental insurance from Pima County.
In March of 2011 I paid $395 out of pocket for health and dental insurance from ASRS.
When you do "real math" $395 - $118 = $277 dollars more per month - not $112... My co-payments for services have also gone up with the ASRS plan.
These are real numbers - I have payment documentation from both Pima County and the ASRS. I challenge the County Administrator to provide documentation for his Retiree out of pocket cost claims.
It also appears that the County Administrator is changing his statements about Retiree claims. He has said that Retirees had more high dollar claims. This has since been debunked by Linda Trozzi's superb research. He now says that Retirees overall claims are higher. Once again, I challenge the County Administrator to provide verifiable documentation to back up his statements regarding Retiree claims experience.
What we do know is that Pima County is paying much more than it should for health care coverage. The County's inability to negotiate realistic rates from this provider has hurt Retirees, Active Employees and Pima County taxpayers. An investigation of this contract seems to be in order.
Recent Comments
What is unfair is:
1. Taking away a benefit program which has been promised and provided to Pima County pre-Medicare Retirees for 40 years;
2. Failing to apply for Federal Assistance to help defray any additional costs which might be incurred to continue this program;
3. Withholding claims data which would determine if, in fact, Retirees are more expensive to insure than active employees of the same age group;
4. Withholding data to determine if, in fact, the County's contract with United Healthcare is cost effective;
5. Claiming that Retirees have a viable option of using the Arizona State Retirement System/United Healthcare plan, when that "option" costs Retirees thousands of dollars more per year (out of pocket) than the Pima County plan; and finally
6. Claiming that taxpayers or active employees subsidize Retiree health insurance when, in fact, Retirees pay 100% of their premium cost.
In June of 2010 I paid $118 out of pocket for health and dental insurance from Pima County.
In March of 2011 I paid $395 out of pocket for health and dental insurance from ASRS.
When you do "real math" $395 - $118 = $277 dollars more per month - not $112... My co-payments for services have also gone up with the ASRS plan.
These are real numbers - I have payment documentation from both Pima County and the ASRS. I challenge the County Administrator to provide documentation for his Retiree out of pocket cost claims.
It also appears that the County Administrator is changing his statements about Retiree claims. He has said that Retirees had more high dollar claims. This has since been debunked by Linda Trozzi's superb research. He now says that Retirees overall claims are higher. Once again, I challenge the County Administrator to provide verifiable documentation to back up his statements regarding Retiree claims experience.
What we do know is that Pima County is paying much more than it should for health care coverage. The County's inability to negotiate realistic rates from this provider has hurt Retirees, Active Employees and Pima County taxpayers. An investigation of this contract seems to be in order.
Thanks for your articles on this important issue.