New retiree insurance plan spells no insurance for some

On July 31, Flint Journal employees received a 5-page memo from the publisher outlining a new retiree health care plan. I have read the document and part of it is brutally simple.

Anyone hired after Jan. 1, 2010 will not have company paid (or assisted) retiree health care plans. So if you don't get hired by the Flint Journal by Dec. 31, 2009 that great benefit goes bye-bye.

For those with 15 years of service who wait to retire after 2010, will become eligible for the new Retiree Healthcare Insurance Premium Accounts (RHIPA) which in the confusing literature that accompany the letter indicates that the retired employee will be responsible for purchasing their insurance, but with help from the RHIPA and the current HRA program.

Anyone with 15 years service, who wants the current program of company provided health care coverage will have to retire before Dec. 31, 2009, which may be precisely the point. Certainly, the paper has done a lot to encourage the higher paid employees, who are also covered by the better benefits to leave, but this may provide an incentive for some who did not take the buyout.
The company hosted a Q&A session on Aug. 6 (to which I of course was not privy at least not yet) so maybe some of the issues were clarified for employees. But suffice it to say, the health care provisions are less than what current retirees enjoy.

For one thing, the RHIPA will not cover the total cost of health care insurance premiums, but employees will be able to use their HRA (Health Reimbursement Accounts) to pay out-of-pocket expenses such as co-pays, etc. until, of course, those balances are exhausted as they are now.

Bottom line is there simply won't be company provided retiree health care, as there is now, for current and future employees. The Flint Journal is certainly not alone in cutting health benefits, but clearly the future is not bright for new employees and grim for those hired after 2010.

Employees get "credits" for the years they have worked at the Journal, but the literature does not further define "credits." I'm assuming credits translate into dollars, but how much I don't know.

Under the RHIPA the company will pay "up to a certain percentage (later it says 75 percent)" the cost of the health care coverage, until your credits run out. By the way, part-time employees are not eligible for any retiree health coverage. Additonal credits can be earned for taking part in company wellness programs (smoking cessation, for example). That's not a bad idea.

Like many current retirees, the retiree health plan ends at 65 and the onset of Medicare/Medicaid.

"What if the company changes its mind?" was question no. 27. The short answer is that it reserves the right to do just that. If that happens, the information says, you have no vested interest in the RHIPA. Ouch!

I would be curious to know if the reduced benefits are being applied across the board (publishers, editors, etc.) or if it is just reserved to non-management types.