Saturday, August 23, 2014

Thousands of Illinois public workers see rollback of health costs because of Kanerva (from Walter Esler)



“Thousands of retired Illinois teachers, civil servants, and university staff will soon be seeing their health coverage deductions cut in half.

“Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) has rescinded an emergency rule doubling retiree health coverage premiums. The rollback came after SUAA Director Linda Brooks contacted State Officials. The rule increasing premiums had gone into effect on July 1 of this year. After Brooks made contact, Aaron Maduff, attorney for SUAA followed up with a legal analysis of the recent Kanerva decision. A discussion followed. The result is today’s rollback.

“The decision is welcome news to retirees, some of whom saw their checks actually decrease when the old rule went into effect. Retirees had been promised paid health coverage with 20 years of service or better, but self-identified ‘pension reformers’ had campaigned for several years for cut backs on previously earned pension benefits. Now the courts are reversing pension reform.”

Walter Esler is a member of AFSCME Retired and an activist.

Originally posted in Fred Klonsky’s Blog.


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