Teachers' Retirement
Insurance Program (TRIP) is composed of two insurance programs: Standard TRIP
and TRAIL. Standard TRIP is the health insurance for those retirees under
65 years old and those retirees who are not Medicare eligible.
The
February breakdown from Central Management Systems (CMS) of funding sources for
TRIP are as follows:
Active
Teachers 24.5%
Retirees
31.6%
School
Districts 18.4%
State
of Illinois 22.9%
Medicare
0.4%
Other
2.2%
IF
the governor's budget were to be adopted with the TRIP line zeroed out, then
retiree-participants would have to bear the increased cost or drop out of TRIP
and go to the public marketplace for insurance coverage.
The
General Assembly began their two-week spring recess this week. This would
be a good time for you to visit in-district with your state senator and
representative to explain to them what your health insurance means to you…
A
couple of questions arose from the original email that may be of common
interest:
Is it true that any increase in the premium can be no greater
than
5% in a year?
Yes.
Current statute limits annual premium increases to 5% for TRIP
participants. The state currently pays about $111M for their share
of TRIP. This is funded through a continuing resolution because there is
no state budget. Insurance premium costs to the state rose about 8%
last year. That means the state has to cover more of the premium
cost. There is talk around the capitol to increase the 5% participant cap
to have participants absorb more (or all) of the insurance premium
increases. Currently, no senate or house bills have been introduced to
increase the cap.
Does the Governor’s recommendation include
defunding of both standard TRIP and Trail or just standard TRIP?
Yes.
The budget line item that is zeroed out is found on page 101 of the governor's
latest budget proposal. If adopted by the General Assembly, there would be
no funding for either standard TRIP (non-Medicare eligible) and TRAIL
(Medicare eligible).
The link to the proposed state budget is FY2018OperatingBudgetBook.pdf
Near the top of page 101 is "Teachers' Retirement System."
Under that title is "Retiree Healthcare Contributions" and
"General Funds." The governor's proposed state appropriation
for FY2018 is on the far right hand side and shows zero appropriation for TRS
retiree health insurance.
—Ed
Wollet, IRTA Legislative Committee
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