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

My guess is somewhere in the past, some employer thought it would be a nice benefit to provide or entice potential employees and decades later, it becomes an almost universal benefit?

Not sure

In the scientific community such benefit packages were used to attract the "cream of the crop". There were a couple of jobs early on in my career where I was offered a lower starting salary but a great benny package.

You should say that. Because it's true. I've lived in 2 "socialized heathcare" countries (aka "healthcare coverage" there, nothing socialist about it in how it's perceived) and it's great - no hearsay, no "in canada, I hear..." BS.

Socialized medicine as a bad word comes from lobbyists paid for by US insurance groups to make you think it's crap. In fact they went soft, should have named it "commie medicine". Because meanwhile insurance groups are super profitable and they can cut you off at will... I listened to an interview from one such lobbyist on the radio a while back, he flat out explained that was his job (to talk $hit about socialized systems), that he was paid by insurance groups, and regretted having chosen that profession - he was quite remorseful. He explained all the tactics, take one example of a guy waiting for an MRI in Canada and make it to be 1000s of cases, insert some grain of verifiable truth in a bigger lie, he was talking specifics and it was shocking (and not surprising at the same time).

Picture a world where you can lose or quit a job and still have medical and not a care about paying for anything medical. That's pretty much every developed country except for the US. Some have extra coverage to go above and beyond, or not share a hospital room, but you get the gist - everyone gets care. You want flowers in your room you use your extra coverage. My mother lives in Europe and is sick - she has gotten 5 years of free ride thoughout all the chemo, surgeries, emergencies, the system even pays a taxicab to take her to the hospital and back home so my dad doesn't have to. And before I hear any $hit about taxes, I pay more taxes here in the USA in % than my family does there, and I get zip for medical other than through work. Does this make sense to you ?

I'm not saying everything should be socialized, but heathcare definitely so. If you disagree, you have never experienced it, and have been drinking the kool-aid and should do research. It's shameful to bankrupt people because they are sick. Only here.
To my eyes, americans refusing socialized healthcare over and over in elections is like someone in the 1930s voting against weekends off work. "No. no, it's socialist, let us work 7 days a week for the same money" ! It's a cult ;-)

Though I have no intention of PARFing this up, I am pleased to see so many people making sense.

I am not an attorney but I notice employers changing rules even after retirement. I know that a corporation can buy out another one, then sell off the retirement fund, and then sell it. It has happened many times. Like parting out a car.

Someone suggested that perhaps flatbutt could be eligible for Part B due to this change. Or something.

Glad you feel blessed, Sir. Glad you are in a position to deal with this.

I totally agree with you.

When Glaxo Wellcome took over SmithKline Beecham changes started occurring. Now that I think of it I retired under the Consumer/OTC division and GSK has been spinning that off. That makes some sense now.

I agree 100%

It’s called “the stabilization act of 1942” wherein the US government instituted a wage cap on private business, and to attract the best employees companies began to offer what became known as “fringe benefits,” outside of the legal scope of the wage cap. Health insurance being one, and “company car” one of the others. It never went away. And in the opinion of many it’s one of the reasons American healthcare costs are in the state they are in. No one can identify the true cost of anything or who is paying for it.

Yes but, it could be even more special if you were to wake up and realize that you actually live in almost any nation on the planet except the USA and that this topic is
only ever your worst nightmare.

Ok, that's an impossible hypothetical dream for almost all Americans but just saying, it seems mighty strange and depressing that anyone should have such a worry in retirement.

Best wishes to you - I hope you find a good solution.

Yes indeed...