What the Guild contract states
Guild contract covering July 23, 1993 to July 22, 1996.
Article 25 Insurance and Pension Provisions:
Section 3. Retired employees of the Beacon Journal newsroom will be
provided with group hospitalization-medical and life insurance to the
extent in existence on December 31, 1989. This provision shall apply to
any employees who retired during the life of this contract.
Article 25 Insurance and Pension Provisions:
Section 3. Retired employees of the Beacon Journal newsroom will be
provided with group hospitalization-medical and life insurance to the
extent in existence on December 31, 1989. This provision shall apply to
any employees who retired during the life of this contract.
So how is it that the Beacon Journal can change our insurance coverage, including drastically changing prescription coverage which will cost me hundreds of dollars more a year? Isn't this a violation of the Guild contract? For the moment the BJ, and its Canadian owner, will pay the retirees' Medicare Part D premium, but we all know that will change down the road. We had no premium payments and $2 co-pay for prescriptions when I retired and, indeed, till the Beacon was sold to Black Press. And the medical deductibles have been changed, even under United Health Care, from $300 to $2,000 a year out-of-pocket, for one thing. I certainly don't have the same hospitalization-medical coverage that I did the day I retired, which was pegged to "usual and customary care."
John Olesky
One reason, actually the main reason I decided in 1992 to retire at age 60, two years before I was eligible for Social Security and 5 years before Medicare was that I could retire WITHOUT any co-pay. I believe the following contract had 5% co-pay.
ReplyDeleteThe life insurance was halved to $15,000 which is OK with me. I thought I read somewhere that there will be a difference in the new Aetna plan depending on when you retired, I may be wrong and all of us get the same deal.
....Ott