Benefits keep piling up for BJ lawsuit winners

Starting in April, the Beacon Journal payment for the AARP secondary coverage to Medicare to the 48 people who won the healthcare lawsuit against the BJ will increase to $154 a month. That's an annual savings of $1,848 for lawsuit retirees.

Medicare pays 80% of what it allows for medical costs. AARP pays most of the other 20%. The yearly savings in this category are in the thousands for many lawsuit retirees.

Retired printers pay $10 for 90-day prescriptions. Guild retirees pay $4 for 90-day prescriptions. This category is saving lawsuit retirees thousands of dollars a year in medications.

The prescriptions, premium payments and medical costs payments add up to a tidy sum for those who won the lawsuit.

Lawsuit winners also received reimbursements in the thousands of dollars for medical expenses caused by the BJ changing the coverage despite retirement letters prohibiting such changes.

The lawsuit was filed in 2009 and settled in late 2012. The changes were effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Benefitting are Gina White, of Venice, Florida, who with the late Dave White, her husband, began the lawsuit on behalf of the printers; Bob and Linda Abbott, Massillon; Ruth and Tom West, Rittman; Sid Sprague, Loveland, Colorado; Hugh and Sharon Downing, The Villages, Florida; Larnie and Stephanie Greene, Hartville; Joe Catalano, Akron; Lloyd and Claudine Bigelow, Cuyahoga Falls; John Costello, Akron; Dick Gresock, Medina; Henry and Kathleen Heinbuck, North Canton; Denzil Parker, Wadsworth; Rita Reeves, Akron; Bob Walker, Medina; Cecil and Josephine Santaferro, Akron; Isabel Watson (Blanton’s widow), Naples, Florida; Janice Hogg (Trammel’s widow), Waynesville, North Carolina; Russ and Martel Bendel, Wadsworth; Eunice and Bonnie Collins, Copley; Richard and Patricia Fair, Akron; Marjorie Hanna, Wadsworth; Bob Kendall, Berlin Center; Harriet Ledbetter, Canton; Norm and Naomi Mattern, Wellsville; Charles O’Neill, Akron; Fred Pollack, Akron; Don Reppart, North Canton; Ron Sanderlin, Canton; Charles Stadelman, Tallmadge; and Ray and Amaryllis Wolfe, Greentown.

Guild lawsuit retirees are John Olesky, of Tallmadge, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Guild retirees; retired reporter Dick McBane, Lilburn, Georgia; maintenance retiree Harold Bailey and wife Elizabeth, Kent; copy desk retiree Dick McLinden, North Canton, and retired photographer Don Roese, Cuyahoga Falls.