Retiree Health Insurance Protection Bill

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!

TELL THE GOVERNOR,

YOUR STATE ASSEMBLYMEMBER & STATE SENATOR TO PASS

S.6457A-Farley/A.9393A-Abbate

The Retiree Health Insurance Protection Bill

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: The Retiree Health Insurance Protection Bill

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to urge your support of S.6457A Farley/A. 9393A Abbate, "the Retiree Health Insurance Protection Bill".

The bill creates a task force to study and report on ways to provide affordable and reliable health care for retired public employees. The report is due June 1, 2009. During this time public employers would be prohibited from reducing health insurance benefits or increasing costs for retired employees unless a corresponding change is negotiated for current employees.

Contrary to what is being stated in editorial pages and by big business, the only mandate in this bill is that public employers keep the promises they make to their employees. This legislation would not be necessary if all public employers upheld the commitments that they made.

I urge you support this legislation to ensure our public employee retirees can live in dignity with the necessary health insurance protections they were promised!

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 15, 2008


Background Information

  •  The bill does not prohibit employers from making appropriate changes in retiree health insurance.  Instead, it stops them from making unilateral changes. 

  •  The bill does not increase employers’ responsibilities under GASB Rule 45, an accounting requirement whose importance has been greatly overstated by employer organizations.  In fact GASB 45 is a recent accounting requirement put in place because private sector employers routinely underfunded and misstated their own pension and health insurance obligations.   

  • The bill is modeled after an existing, successful law that has applied to school districts since 1994.  Last year the Governor called for the creation of a task force and this bill simply complies with that request. 

  • Contrary to recent editorials on this matter, this bill does not affect any public pension fund in any way.  Public employee health benefits are not funded by the pension system.

  • NYSAC’s position that this bill limits an employers' ability to lower property taxes is shortsighted and inaccurate.  This bill will prevent retirees from being forced into more expensive Medicaid and/or other socially funded health care, which would only increase local property taxes. 

  • The effort on part of employers’ and big business is yet another example of the race to the bottom mentality and how to vilify public employees rather than address the real problems that our local communities face.