Fred,
FYI–Just wanted to let you know that even though I won’t be Medicare age for a few more years I attended the afternoon CMS meeting in Peoria earlier this week with some friends. Unlike other venues, there was plenty of parking and the accommodations were more than adequate. There were plenty of little freebies as well. I must say that I thought the presentation was pretty straight forward and all questions asked were answered. The people with the various providers [in this case Coventry, United Health Care] and CMS representatives couldn’t have been nicer or more willing to answer questions at their tables outside of the auditorium. I found out several interesting things.First, I was surprised to find out that in addition to medical, state employees also get vision and dental plans [as opposed to discounts] where the college instructors and teachers don’t. CMS explained this by saying they just administer the plans they are given and that the benefits offered are those that were negotiated for the various groups at their inception. I got the impression it may have also been done legislatively as well. If this is true, I’m wondering if there has ever been any attempt to add these additional benefits for TRIP recipients. Certainly dental and vision coverage would be beneficial.
The second thing that surprised me was while talking to people in the Peoria area we saw their state senator Darrin LaHood along with the other legislative sponsors of the meeting. I mentioned that these were the same folks who were going to try to legislatively reduce our COLAS. The people I talked to seemed to not have any knowledge of what I was talking about. I made sure they were retired teachers as opposed to state workers. I’m just flabbergasted that there are still people out there who aren’t aware of what’s going on. I think perhaps I’ve lost perspective by presuming if my circle of friends and acquaintances know about proposed pension “reform” then almost all the retired teachers in the state probably do too. Could this be why our legislators are so brazen in their attempts to deny us our earned benefits because they have the larger picture–that a lot of people really don’t know what’s going on and they’re relying on that? I’ve expressed this concern over the last couple of years to friends up north when I meet people in the Quad Cities, Peoria, and Carbondale area. I would think that downstaters in paricular would be just as concerned, if not more about losing their COLAs since downstate salaries and corresponding pensions are on average considerably less than in other areas of the state and any subsequent reduction of their pensions would be almost immediately devastating whereas some of us up north may not feel the immediate impact for several years.
Thanks for all you and your bloggers do. I think Ralph Martire and you would make a great dynamic duo against 1TQ and Vallas. Well at least I can put that on my Santa’s wish list.Thanks for letting me rant.
Victor
Fred Klonsky 
Other reasons not informed — Decision Guide and health packets sent UPS by CMS of IL. So if you are a snowbird this information will not reach you. If it had been sent through the post office, and you have had your mail forwarded, you would have received it. I called United Health care and the agent would not mail me a packet through the US post office, he was instructed not to mail any packets as CMS of IL was in charge! All this information is available on the CMS of IL website if you have a computer available to you.
Victor I don’t know where the disconnect is. I remember when there was a time that all politicians feared old people, the elderly, the retired, senior citizens etc. because they knew we “…were old and had nothing better to do than pay attention and vote.” These days there doesn’t appear to be the same caution concerning the vote of senior citizens and I don’t know why. We have to re-instill that respect for our votes!
Thanks for the insight, Victor. I am flabbergasted that every teacher and retired teacher and/or State worker in the State would not aware that their COLA might be reduced! I am resonably sure that most of our local Reired teachers know and understand about it in West Central Illinois. But, like you say the impact is probably greater around here and is something many of them really count on. Down the road the buying power will make a big difference as it becomes less and less.
A lot of people don’t have a clue when it comes to money. Financial awareness classes should be taught in elementary school.
Great comment about the possibility of legislatively enacting dental and vision insurance for teachers, as state workers have it in their insurance packages. I understood that it came to CMS that way, but it would be nice to add it in the future. Also, state workers can opt out of state insurance for a time, and are allowed back it. Not teachers. And yes, the smaller your pension, the earlier you will lose out with COLA being (essentially) taken away … it takes a certain amount of $$ to live comfortably, and those with a larger pension have a bigger cushion before they would feel the pinch of limited raises. Thanks for the great information in your blog, Fred. Very much appreciated.
We must alert every retiree and public employee! They (CMS and politicians) want us to not be informed. They want confusion about the signup so the attention and energies we have will go towards making sure everyone is informed to sign up in time. Meanwhile, there has been virtually no time to analyze the actual benefits of lack of benefits. CMS talks about huge “savings”. Where does CMS think these “savings” are going to come from? This is going to come out of benefits. It is easy for United Healthcare to SAY they offer great coverage. It is also easy for them to set up lots of hoops for doctors to have to jump through. Example, if a doctor wants to prescribe your medicine, it has to be what on United Healthcare’s list. One retiree with previous ulcers needed Celebrex for arthritis. Refused. The doctor had spend a half hour (for free) to fill out a multi-page appeal form. Appeal rejected. The doctor gave him what few sample packs he had. After that, the retiree had to pay for it out of pocket. Doctors also have to worry about being dropped by United Health Care if the doctor spends more on retirees then what United Healthcare likes.
Do we want a company that pulls this kind of stuff on us and our doctors? This sort of thing is a de-facto reduction in benefits! It is already too late to do anything about it, it will be a challenge just to get everyone signed up in time. In the middle of all this, we suspect the legislators to sandbag us with a pension COLA cut in early December. Many retirees won’t know anything about it until after it is passed.
It’s hard to believe that people in all 5 state retirement systems are still not aware of what’s going on since it’s been going on for a year at least. I’m in TRS, but was a state educator, so until recently I’ve had all my health insurance paid by the state, unlike retired public school teachers who have always paid a portion of their health insurance. I’ve never understood why teacher’s unions accepted that. My union was AFSCME and they’ve been sending information by mail and email regularly and providing legislator’s phone numbers to call to protest and urge their representatives to support only what the “We Are One Coalition” approves. I’ve just assumed teacher’s unions are a part of this coalition for the purpose of fighting any pension cuts and have been informing their members. You certainly can’t depend on CMS to provide information. I’m thinking it’s not going to go well in early December and our only hope may be the courts. Unfortunately, it’s my understanding that the Judges retirement system (those who would decide any court case)is the only one of the five state retirement systems that won’t be included in pension cuts.