Note, as part of our membership renewal cycle, this issue of the SFCRTA Newsletter is being sent to all educators who retired from Southern Fairfield County public school districts. In the new year, issues will only be sent to current members. Please refer to membership renewal information at the end of this issue.
Happy New (Retired) School Year!
How are you spending this time? There are learning opportunities.
Learning in Retirement in Stamford. www.lirstamford.org
Lifetime Learners at Norwalk Community College. www.lifetimelearners.org
There are volunteer opportunities. Retired educators are very desirable volunteers. Some groups who
have contacted us in the past to encourage volunteers can be found on our website under volunteers.
www.sfcrta.com
Of course, it is always nice to simply enjoy having time to do things you didn’t have time to do while working. Here is another suggestion- join the SFCRTA Board of Directors! Surely, you have heard it is
important to pass the torch and encourage younger members to step up. No one on the Board is looking to retire and do less, but we would like to invite SFCRTA members to step up and join us. What can you offer? New ideas for keeping our organization vital, ways to help our members, suggestions for programs of interest, reviews of legislative proposals.… Think about it. The Board meets approximately 5-6 times each year, typically in Norwalk. If interested, please contact Frank Cooper at fcooper2@optonline.net.
At this time, we would like to celebrate and introduce the new Secretary of SFCRTA Mary Jo Pecora-Runkle. She volunteered and stepped into the role immediately. SFCRTA is fortunate to have her talents and contributions!
The usual subjects
Health Insurance – There are changes to our health insurance for 2025, particularly in cost. Information will be detailed here, but please be aware of the Open Enrollment period Oct. 7-Nov. 22, 2024. There will be a meeting on Oct. 17 at the Norwalk Inn to discuss the information. See the TRB website for more information. Here is a summary of the costs for 2025. Read on for an explanation.
| UHC Med Adv | UHC Med Supp | |
| Medical/Rx/VH | $94 (+$58) | $269 (-$9) |
| Dental | $54 | $54 |
| Total (difference from 2024) | $148 (+$58) | $323 (-$9) |
The dental plan and its monthly cost will remain the same for next year, $54 per month, but the TRB Health Insurance Committee was stunned by the cost increases proposed for new three-year health,
prescription, vision, and hearing plans. They knew that 2025 will see the start of some changes to Medicare that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act such as lowering the cap on prescription costs from $3500 to $2000 per year. It seems that the health insurance companies are still “doing the math” to understand how these changes will impact them, and the committee felt the insurance companies had over-compensated in the extent to which they raised their rates. Hence, the committee was reluctant to lock us into a three-year contract at rates they felt were unrealistically high, so they chose the optional fourth year extension of our present UHC contract. Of course, the costs are going up, but they have only agreed to this one-year extension.
During the recent TRB meeting, it was said that the policy coverage remains the same as what we have had with one exception. The reimbursement for glasses will be $500 rather than $200 once every two years. The costs are greater, but that is not the whole story. In order to understand, you need to remember how our health insurance is funded. Retired educators pay 1/ 3 of the cost of the TRB health insurance. The State contributes 1/3 of the cost and the final 1/3 comes from the Health Insurance Fund to which we contributed during our working years. Several years ago, coinciding with the offering of a less costly Medicare Advantage plan, the TRB determined that the subsidy amounts would be based on 1/3 of the cost of the “base plan”, which was determined to be the cheaper Advantage plan.
Recognizing how the subsidy works will help you understand the curious cost changes for our one-year UHC plan. The monthly Advantage plan will increase $58. While the cost of the Medicare Supplement plan also increases, that increase is offset by the greater subsidy amount from the State and the Health Insurance Fund, resulting in a $9 per month decrease in cost.
Retired Connecticut Educator Health Insurance 101 – How do our TRB members get health insurance? After attending our recent meeting, where our speaker Kathleen Holt provided excellent information about Medicare and private insurance plans like Advantage plans, it was clear that there is still confusion about how health insurance for seniors actually works. So, stepping back a bit, here is a health insurance primer. If you feel you have a clear understanding, please feel free to skip ahead to the section on helpful information.
Some members get their health insurance privately. People living in other parts of the country may find a plan on their own through an HMO or through AARP, or other source, that best fits their needs. Some members may receive health insurance through a spouse via their present or previous employment (fortunate!). And, many TRB members who were not eligible for Medicare, get their health insurance through the board of education from which they retired.
When we talk about the TRB health insurance, it applies to members who qualify for Medicare. They may have qualified through their employment in other work where they made enough contributions to
Social Security to be eligible for benefits and Medicare coverage. Or, they may qualify through a spouse. Anyone whose spouse is eligible qualifies, or anyone who was married for ten or more years to a person who qualifies for Social Security is eligible, even if divorced. Once a member is eligible for Medicare, they are eligible to participate in the TRB health insurance.
Important point- Medicare is NOT free! The monthly premiums for Medicare (not including vision or hearing) are deducted from a person’s Social Security payments. For those of us impacted by the WEP,
our benefit may have been slashed so much that it does not cover the monthly premium cost and we have to make additional payments to Medicare. There are also upcharges assessed to individuals with higher income. For 2024, the monthly Medicare Premium deduction for medical services has been $174.70 for individuals with up to $103,000 or couples filing jointly less than $206,000 of income, and can go up as high as $594.00 a month for couples with income over $750,000. Part D of Medicare covers prescription medications. For individuals with income less than $103,000 or couples less than $206,000, there is no additional charge, but people with higher incomes also pay a monthly upcharge for Part D, which went as high as $81 per month. Medicare is not free, but participation is required to use the TRB health insurance.
Now, to the TRB plans. Medicare pays approximately 80% of a covered medical expense. The TRB Supplement plan pays the remaining cost. It supplements Medicare coverage. People with this plan use their Medicare card and Supplement card. Our speaker explained that there are fewer “roadblocks” when using Medicare and the Supplement. There are procedures and medications that Medicare does not cover, but no prior authorization is needed. Participants may see any medical practitioner who accepts Medicare. The Medicare Advantage plan can be confusing as it is not really Medicare. It is a private insurance plan, in our case, sponsored by UHC. Participants use only the Advantage plan card and have put away their Medicare card. Medicare gives UHC the money that represents what Medicare would have spent for each participant and the Advantage Plan “manages” a person’s care. On the TRB Advantage plan, participants may see any medical provider who accepts Medicare and our plan. There are procedures which require prior authorization, something that the medical providers are responsible for getting. Why do many people choose to leave Medicare for an Advantage plan? The cost is lower and there are some additional services covered that are not part of Medicare coverage. The details are in the plans, of course. Our prescription plan coverage, is identical for both the Supplement and Advantage plans as is our dental coverage.
Important Information
Can our insurance plans be improved? Our speaker Kathleen Holt, explained a step that the Legislature would have to take to address how the request for proposal and bid-seeking would take place. Seeking bids in a certain way would reduce the impact of the fact that our group is made up entirely of senior citizens, who tend to be frequent consumers of medical services. We can suggest that ARTC investigate this issue and seek the necessary legislative change.
Our speaker also informed us of a very important standard about receiving skilled nursing care or skilled therapy care. It is NOT required for the person to be able to recover full functioning. Instead, the services are to be maintained as long as they are necessary to maintain the patient’s current condition or slow further deterioration! This standard was established in 2013 in the Jimmo settlement. More information can be found at https://www.cms.gov/medicare/settlements/jimmo
Did you know that Advanced Medical directives are state-specific? If you happen to spend part of the year in another state, you might consider executing a state-specific form and keeping it there. Forms can be found at https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/financial-legal/free-printable-advance-directives/
Social Security Fairness The next step is to collect enough signatures for a discharge petition to move the process along. When you are given direction about whom to contact, please do so we can get these unfair provisions overturned. Representatives Garret Graves and Abigail Spanberger have directed the process very effectively and this is the furthest we have gotten in correcting these unfair penalties.
CORE Connecticut is coming! It is a new computer system that is going to make information about our accounts, etc. much more accessible. It will operate throughout Connecticut government, and the TRB has been lauded for their efforts in implementing the system. It is expected soon. However, a speaker at one of the TRB meetings informed everyone that Social Security Numbers will be the user name, which is a privacy concern! Stay tuned.
Book Awards for Future Educators
We continue to support future educators. The SFCRTA wishes to congratulate the recipients of the 2024 Book Award Scholarship. Six awards of $2,000 were awarded to the following students who will pursue a career in education:
- Ashlyn Flood (Westhill High School) will attend Western Connecticut State University and study Health and Physical Education. Ashlyn was also the recipient of a $2,000 scholarship awarded by the ARTC.
- John McHugh (Greenwich High School) will attend State University of New York at New Paltz and wishes to teach Secondary Math.
- Claire McLoughlin (Norwalk High School) will study Elementary Education at Marist College.
- Megan Pollard (Norwalk High School) will study Elementary Education and Middle School Math while attending Quinnipiac University.
- Alessandra Somma (Norwalk High School) will attend Quinnipiac University to study Elementary Education.
- Eleni Tsilfides (Norwalk High School) has been accepted at Marist College where she will study Elementary Education
Southern Fairfield Retired Teachers Association is proud to support these talented students as future educators.
SFCRTA topics
You already heard that we are encouraging members to join the Board and bring new ideas. Our role is to monitor topics that impact our members and inform them through our newsletter and meetings. We also support future educators through our book awards.
We are an affiliate of the Association of Retired Teachers of Connecticut, ARTC, a group that does much more. They hire a lobbyist who monitors the CT Legislature and they have promoted legislation for our benefit, such as increasing retired teacher representatives to the TRB. We encourage you to belong to ARTC and support the work they do on our behalf.
Please continue to support us through your membership. Note- there is still no price increase for membership.
SFCRTA Membership Renewal Information
Our membership goes from – January to December. If you have not yet joined, click here for our membership renewal information for 2025. Remember: Numbers matter and we still face many important issues regarding our pension and health insurance.