<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div><br></div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></b></font>In my previous missive, I forgot another issue that the UI is dealing with: retiree health insurance. The UI is the only state agency that continued health insurance for retirees that met at least the rule of 80 (combination of age and years of service). They provide primary insurance until the retiree is 65 and qualifies for Medicare, then acts as a secondary insurance, covering costs not paid by Medicare above a $2000 deductible. This benefit has been withdrawn for all new employees, and scaled back for those
not retired yet, but carrying this is, I believe, a significant budgetary expense. The state doesn't contribute anything to this benefit. It was started thirty-some years ago as a nice thing to do without much thought as to how it would be funded. Of course, they didn't forsee the astronomical increase in the cost of health insurance.<br><br>Ron Force<br>Moscow ID USA<br>><br><br>Saundra, you paint a dismal picture of the UI health care plan. Are <br>there any positives that can be seen anywhere? Aside from the <br>apparently small demographic I fall into?<br><br>Paul<br><br><br>=======================================================<br> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br><span> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fsr.net">http://www.fsr.net</a>
</span><br> mailto:<a ymailto="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com" href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>=======================================================<br></div></div></div><br>
</body></html>