Q and A with IEA President Cinda Klickna on the Teacher Retirement Insurance and Medicare.

IEA President Cinda Klickna.

Last week IEA President Cinda Klickna sent out the following information to IEA members.

On Aug. 21, the Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program (TRIP) Committee met with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS).  The committee is made up of representatives from the Illinois Education Association (IEA), Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), Illinois Education Association-Retired (IEA-R), Illinois Retired Teachers Association (IRTA) and school management.  Items discussed included program funding and plan design. In addition, CMS announced that TRIP Medicare primary retirees would be required to enroll in a state-sponsored Medicare plan.  The premiums and plan design of the state-sponsored Medicare plan have yet to be made public.
The State of Illinois requested bids for a state-sponsored Medicare plan on June 21.  It is the goal of CMS to have a contract in place by Oct. 1, which will allow an enrollment period to make choices that will be effective Jan. 1.  One or more of the following options will be available choices for coverage for anyone who has Medicare as their primary coverage:
* Medicare Advantage Plan
* HMO
* Nationwide PPO
* Medicare Supplement
Once the contracts are in place, CMS will schedule informational/educational seminars regarding the new health plan options for those retirees who will be affected. The locations and times of the seminars will be posted on the IEA and CMS websites once they are scheduled.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.  Please check back often.
Note: At this time, members who have one or more dependent(s) on their coverage, who do not have Medicare as their primary coverage, will not be required to change to one of the new Medicare plan options.
The committee will be meeting again in October. All stakeholder groups will be working together to continue to keep you updated on the Medicare plan.

I hope this is helpful but the State has advised that until it concludes their RFP (Request For Proposals) process for this new Medicare plan, there will continue to be a lack of specifics.

We will be quick to share any new information that comes to light with regards to this.

I received a lot a inquires about these developments, as I am sure President Klickna did. There is not much information about coverage and cost included. Following a meeting of our local Skokie Retired chapter, I sent the following questions to President Klickna and she promptly shared her answers.

Question: Is it true that the Committee overseeing our coverage and cost has not met for six years  – until a few weeks ago?

Answer: You are correct that the TRIP Committee has not met in six years. The last time that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (the director runs the finances of the plan) called the advisory committee to meet was to inform the committee of a number of benefit cuts that the State was going to implement. We, along with the other stakeholders on the committee, stressed our staunch opposition to those changes then but the director still has the final say as to what the benefits and premiums of the plan will be. That is why I refer to the committee as an advisory committee.
Will serves on this committee.  Others include Rich Frankenfeld (TRS), IFT, etc.
Here is the language from the Constitution:
(5 ILCS 375/6.5) Sec. 6.5. Health benefits for TRS benefit recipients and TRS dependent beneficiaries. . .

. . . .

Subsection (g-5) Committee. A Teacher Retirement Insurance Program Committee shall be established, to consist of 10 persons appointed by the Governor.
The Committee shall convene at least 4 times each year, and shall consider and make recommendations on issues affecting the program of health benefits provided under this Section. Recommendations of the Committee shall be based on a consensus of the members of the Committee.
If the Teacher Health Insurance Security Fund experiences a deficit balance based upon the contribution and subsidy rates established in this Section and Section 6.6 for Fiscal Year 2008 or thereafter, the Committee shall make recommendations for adjustments to the funding sources established under these Sections.
In addition, the Committee shall identify proposed solutions to the funding shortfalls that are affecting the Teacher Health Insurance Security Fund, and it shall report those solutions to the Governor and the General Assembly within 6 months after August 15, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 97-386).
(h) Continuation of program. It is the intention of the General Assembly that the program of health benefits provided under this Section be maintained on an ongoing, affordable basis.
The program of health benefits provided under this Section may be amended by the State and is not intended to be a pension or retirement benefit subject to protection under Article XIII, Section 5 of the Illinois Constitution

Question: What is the role of the Committee in determining cost and coverage?

Answer: See language in the first question and the following is the legislative language that created the TRIP Committee:

(g-5) Committee. A Teacher Retirement Insurance Program Committee shall be established, to consist of 10 persons appointed by the Governor.
The Committee shall convene at least 4 times each year, and shall consider and make recommendations on issues affecting the program of health benefits provided under this Section. Recommendations of the Committee shall be based on a consensus of the members of the Committee.
If the Teacher Health Insurance Security Fund experiences a deficit balance based upon the contribution and subsidy rates established in this Section and Section 6.6 for Fiscal Year 2008 or thereafter, the Committee shall make recommendations for adjustments to the funding sources established under these Sections.
In addition, the Committee shall identify proposed solutions to the funding shortfalls that are affecting the Teacher Health Insurance Security Fund, and it shall report those solutions to the Governor and the General Assembly within 6 months after August 15, 2011 (the effective date of Public Act 97-386)

Question: Is it possible that the options offered after October may result in a reduction in benefits and services? Can we choose one option and then switch a year later if we are dissatisfied?

Answer: The Illinois Department of Central Management Services administers this program and has indicated that the annual Benefit Choice Periods will remain in place so that   members may make changes so that they can access health plans that work for them.

Question: If that (a reduction in benefits or coverage) happens, what will be the response of the IEA leadership?

Answer: First, we will be monitoring this carefully.  We know how crucial health insurance is to our members.  By the way, that is why we, along with the coalition, felt SB2404 addressed health coverage and would have provided a stronger protection for keeping a state plan.

Question: There was an understanding that there is limited information available to even you. But there was a deep concern that there will be little time afforded to retirees to make an educated choice.

Answer: I share the concerns of the members around what this new Medicare program will look like. Especially, since there is little information provided by the State with regards to premiums and benefit levels for our members. Additionally, the timeline in which the State wishes to implement this new program is likely to be confusing and problematic for members and we also believe that the State may be too optimistic in their possible implementation plan. We are prepared to weigh in with the governor’s office if any changes are not in the best interest of our members (the governor appoints department directors).

Question: Perhaps it was our old friend, Jack Tucker, who said it best: “What is the scoop on the new “Medicare” plan that we are REQUIRED to choose?” He added, “Just wondering why there is a deafening silence in terms of information.”

Answer:  IEA sent out information (I sent this to Jack the other day after he inquired) and posted it on the website. Here is the posting which is currently on the IEA home page. This was also the first story in the Insider yesterday (please make sure people are signed up to receive the Insider – signing up can be done very easily on the IEA website.) I am sorry if this is considered “deafening silence” as we are getting out information as soon as possible and as soon as we know.

I hope this is helpful but the State has advised that until it concludes their RFP (Request For Proposals) process for this new Medicare plan, there will continue to be a lack of specifics.

We will be quick to share any new information that comes to light with regards to this.