New York State AFL-CIO

Retiree Health Insurance
(S. 6457A Farley/A. 9393A Abbate)

This bill establishes a 12 member 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. In the interim public employers would be prohibited from reducing the health insurance benefits or increasing the costs for retired employees unless a corresponding change is negotiated for current employees.

Various employers and business groups have engaged in an active campaign of deception, mischaracterizing the bill and misleading the press, the public and our elected officials about this issue.

Contrary to what is being stated in editorial pages around the state and in several memoranda in opposition, the only mandate in this legislation is that public employers keep the health insurance promises they made to their former employees. This legislation would not be necessary if all public employers upheld the commitments that they made.

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 under funded 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.
NYS Association of Counties position that this bill limits an employer’s 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.

Denis M. Hughes, President

Call to Action
LABOR LOBBYISTS MEETING
Monday, May 20, 2008
1:00 p.m., State Fed Headquarters, Albany

Guest Speakers have been invited.

Lunch will be served.

S. 6457A Farley/A 9393A Abbate

This bill creates a task force to study and report on the provision of health insurance for retired public employees. During the study phase public employers would be prohibited from reducing the health insurance of their retirees unless a similar change is negotiated for current employees.

This bill is a common sense, reasonable approach to ensure that our state’s dedicated public servants live with dignity and financial security in their retirement. The bill does not force a higher level of benefits or increase costs but simply holds public employers to their obligations. The bill allows enough flexibility to make appropriate health care changes if necessary.

It is an outrage that private and public sector employers criticize the intent of this bill and then blame high property taxes on public employee retiree benefits. Our public employees and retirees pay property taxes like everyone else and it is shameful for these employer groups to attack retirees’ hard earned benefits. The NYS AFL-CIO is proud of our efforts to protect retiree benefits and we will not allow policies and politics that attack those benefits.

Year after year, we hear about private employers underfunding and misreporting their pension, health insurance and other employee benefits, leaving retirees, who live on fixed incomes with no other means of financial support, high and dry. Private sector employers should take the lead of the state and local governments in providing decent benefits for their workforce and retirees.

The race to the bottom mentality of attacking employee health care, pension and other rights has got to stop and this bill is an important step in that direction.

Keep An Eye OnTuesday, May 20, 2008
Farmworker & Domestic Worker Rally. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney invited guest. Rally and March to take place at 2:00 P.M. at the West Capitol Park Steps. For more information contact Jordan Wells at 845-891-7046.