Mass Retirees Urges Quick Action
March 16, 2018: Prompted by Mass Retirees’ calls for reform of the Group Insurance Commission’s Retired Municipal Teacher (RMT) Program, legislation has been filed today by Governor Baker that places RMT enrollees in the same insurance pool (Pool 1) as other state and local retirees. Association officials are now calling upon Legislative Leadership to act quickly on this before the GIC’s Open Enrollment begins on April 4.
Mass Retirees Urges Quick Action
March 16, 2018: Prompted by Mass Retirees’ calls for reform of the Group Insurance Commission’s Retired Municipal Teacher (RMT) Program, legislation has been filed today by Governor Baker that places RMT enrollees in the same insurance pool (Pool 1) as other state and local retirees. Association officials are now calling upon Legislative Leadership to act quickly on this before the GIC’s Open Enrollment begins on April 4.
Mass Retirees has proposed, as an integral part of the Reform package, that RMTs be placed in Pool 1. By essentially treating RMTs the same as other GIC enrollees, two significant positive outcomes would be achieved.
First, as Pool 1 enrollees, RMTs could chose among all the insurance plans being offered by the GIC, and not be limited to Unicare plan only. And once in the much larger Pool 1, many RMTs would see their premiums reduced and stabilized – a desirable result.
According to Legislative Director Shawn Duhamel, “It must be emphasized that we see this as an important first step in retiree healthcare reform and not the final, complete solution. As our letter to you points out, there’s more that needs to be done. So while the immediate focus in on the pending legislation, we’ll continue our ongoing work to reform the GIC for RMTs and all enrollees.”
The Joint Committee on Public Service has scheduled a hearing on the proposal for Tuesday, March 20th, after which the bill is expected to advance to the House of Representatives.