Retired school teachers, and retired community college professors, might be about to lose their health insurance benefits. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn wants to cut the state of Illinois’ contributions for the health insurance benefits that go to retired teachers. The plan could also result in higher premiums for retired teachers.
There used to be something called the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program. This was a federal program that was created as part of the Affordable Care Act. This program provided funding that would enable employers to afford to continue to offer their retired employees a health insurance plan.
Specifically, this program is designed to help “early retirees”. This phrase refers to people who are between the ages of 55 and 65, and who have retired earlier than would typically be expected. This group is too young to be eligible for Medicaid, and tends to have great difficulty finding affordable health insurance coverage.
The funding that went to the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program has been running out. The result is growing trend where employers have decided to completely cancel the health insurance benefit that they were offering to retired workers.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has unveiled a budget proposal that requires several cuts. One thing he wants to cut is the state of Illinois’ contribution toward health insurance benefits for retired school teachers, and for retired community college professors. Governor Quinn says that these cuts (along with several others) are intended to avoid a financial meltdown over rising pension and health care costs.
According to the Chicago Tribune, these cuts would affect two insurance programs that retired teachers are getting health insurance from. The state of Illinois would save around $92 million from these cuts. There are around 77,000 retired teachers, and their dependents, outside of Chicago that are covered by the Teachers Retirement Insurance Program and the Community College Insurance Program.
The funding cut will require retired teachers to pay a higher premium for their health insurance. Many will not be able to afford to continue that coverage. Extra costs could be shifted to the public school districts, which would then increase the property taxes of the homeowners within the borders of those districts. Governor Quinn’s plan would require a change in a current Illinois law that requires the payment of teacher retirement insurance money.
Image by Chris Eaves on Flickr