Medical Benefits Info for Retirees: Answers to Your Questions

What happens when you retire before age 65?
If you are between the ages of 55 and 65, you continue with the same health care as if you were still working. No change. The same high-level of coverage continues. This is a major contractual benefit Local 100 secured years ago.

What happens when you are 65 and Medicare-eligible?
In this contract, we secured millions of additional funding to dramatically improve coverage and benefits for Medicare Eligible retirees.

We have two Medicare PPO options provided by Aetna and regulated and subsidized by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

• Option 1 is the Zero co-pay option: with no co-pays for doctors’ visits, preventative care, hospitalization, testing, imaging and more.

• Option 2 has a few co-pays but larger Medicare B premium reimbursements. Your choice.

Why is the current CPPO plan being discontinued?
The CPPO plan is not eligible for federal subsidies. Option 1 is eligible, allowing the union to secure funding for better coverage, including:
• The $100 co-payment to go to the emergency room is being eliminated. There will be no cost to the retirees.
• The Medicare B premium reimbursement in the CPPO is $297 per retiree. Under the enhanced coverage, the retiree will get $500 – and so will his or her spouse! That’s more money in retirees’ pockets. Retirees under the enhanced coverage can get money for over-the-counter purchases, like cough medicine, free meals and transportation after hospitalization, gym memberships, and other benefits not available in the CPPO.

Can our retirees keep using their doctors?
Absolutely. Nearly 100% (99.997%) of Medicare-Eligible Retirees in the CPPO plan are already using doctors accepting Aetna payments. That won’t change.

Can a retiree live anywhere in the US and maintain insurance coverage?
Yes. Coverage extends across the country to all 50 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.

Why make these adjustments?
To improve healthcare for retirees - and future retirees: the rank-and-file and elected officers who negotiated the contract. We are one. Is this the city plan? Absolutely not. There is no comparison. The coverage for our retirees is far superior. Part of the reason is that we have had Options 1 and 2 for more than a decade with locked-in standards and requirements that the coverage and service cannot be diminished. Aetna can’t now put in hoops to jump when those hoops have not been in there all these years.