Well it's so special when...
 

your former employer drops retiree health benefits with no warning. So special.

Time for you to begin researching medicare supplemental plans...

sorry, man.

Oh, crap.

Options? VA?

what's your age?

Most of us here would adopt you, flatbutt. You are a good guy.

At least take him out for drinks, first!

SmileWavy

^^^ I'm more picky than that.

Wait. They're not going to make you pay for that MRI, are they?

Where are we seeing MRI?

I'm 68.

No, my medicare plus supplemental picked up 80% of the MRI.

My retiree benefit was an HRA in the amount of $3K per year. GSK stopped providing health care for retirees years ago and gave us an HRA instead.

Well I'm blessed that I can make an adjustment in my budget. It shouldn't be too hard to find $3K somewhere but it sure feels like a bait and switch when they pull your retirement benefit away.

Like I said I'm blessed, I'll figure it out.

I see it now...didn't know there were two threads on this.

Sorry to hear about the scewing you are getting.

80% of the MRI should be picked up by Part A. The remaining 20% is on you or your supplement plan.

Since you are having a change in insurance you should be able to change supplemental plans even though we are not in the official time frame.

Sorry for your situation...........

Humana time?

I assume your former employer has had his lawyers check this, but it seems if this was in place while you worked there it would have been part of your terms of employment.

Complete BS...my father went through this too.

Was a firefighter for 32 years and paid retirement health benefits were a part of the deal. 6 years after retirement, city files for bankruptcy and tells all the retiree's to pound sand.

Should be illegal. I know a lot of union contracts were/are unsustainable but that is something that needs to be rectified moving forward, not screw over employees who already earned the benefit.

Isn't it cool how these contracts we buy into (of course with fine print) are 100% negotiable on their end and 0% on yours - other than quitting?

When I took the job retirees had full coverage for life. That got cut back sometime in my first ten years but you'd still have coverage similar to Medicare. After that there were many changes depending upon your hire date. I was still in the grandfathered group but was told that some coverage was being dropped for everyone such as dental. Just prior to retiring we were told that all new retirees would be moved to an HRA account instead of actual insurance regardless of hire date.

So yeah without doubt the lawyers were all over this. After going in circles on the phone for 45 minutes yesterday I couldn't get a clear answer so I gave up. Fug it I'll deal with it on my own which is what I'm sure they count on.

The US model for healthcare coverage is just weird to me... why do we have employers provide this at all? Serious question. In most other countries it’s purchased by the individual or provided through some sort of government program. I’m not saying I’m a supporter of socialized medicine or anything but it might solve a lot of these kinds of issues where people get screwed. There are far too many cases of employees getting canned ostensibly because of the pandemic, then they lose their (and possibly their families’) healthcare too since it’s linked to their job... foolish? Better model(s) / suggestions?

Sorry to hear about that FB... you don’t deserve that. Heck, nobody does but geez... kick in the almonds.

Hope all works out for the best for you Flat

Cheers
JB