Most state governments report the amount paid each year for the annual health insurance premiums of retired workers, but not the cost of their commitment to provide benefits in future years to both current retirees and the active work force upon their retirement.
As a result, many states can be expected to take action this year to protect this group of consumers from unreasonably high insurance premiums, said Timothy Jost, a retired law professor at Washington and Lee University in Virginia and an ACA expert.
Do retired novelists exist, like retired accountants?
Perhaps we can at least ensure that the more affluent retired state workers contribute something toward health premiums, since about 90 percent of retirees now pay zilch.
The union members are upset about a provision in a new collective bargaining agreement that for the first time would require retired teachers to contribute to their health insurance premiums.
In less than 25 years, that more than one retired person in four would be paying an increased Medicare premium.
The City Council has voted to override Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's veto of a law that guarantees about 152,000 retired city employees full reimbursement of their Medicare Part B premiums, a benefit already enjoyed by state retirees.
In most cases, the cost-of-living adjustment in Social Security, averaging $43 a month for retired workers in 2012, will more than offset the increase in premiums, officials said.
The 'hassle factor' of practice, rising malpractice premiums, insufficient reimbursement, and professional dissatisfaction were frequently cited by retired and inactive physicians as reasons they left medicine; many of them are now working in areas that, presumably, do not have these negative characteristics.
Premiums were paid by employers, or in the case of the unemployed, retired and other vulnerable groups, by municipalities or regional authorities.
