Your 2025 Mass Retirees membership renewal is now due. The fastest and most secure way to renew is by using the form contained on this page. Your annual membership dues are $46.
If you would prefer to renew by check, please make it payable to RSCMEA, 11 Beacon Street, Suite 309, Boston, MA 02108. Please include your membership ID on the check. Your membership ID can be found on your Mass Retirees membership card, within the dues renewal email, or on the remittance slip contained with your renewal notice.
Many members generously choose to include an additional donation along with their membership renewal. These additional funds help keep our Annual dues as low as possible, so that membership remains affordable for all retirees. To include a donation, please use the “Custom Amount” feature within the online form.
The mission behind the founding of Mass Retirees some 57-years ago was to ensure that public retirees would not be forgotten in retirement. Last year was a productive year for our Association with the passage of major legislation that will benefit our members. Year 2025 just may be a banner year for retired Massachusetts public employees.
Of course, I’m referencing the repeal of the Social Security Windfall
Elimination Provision (WEP), and Government Pension Offset (GPO) laws. No recent law is more beneficial to Massachusetts retired public employees than the Social Security Fairness Act. If you or your spouse recently received a lumpsum payment and increased monthly Social Security benefits, it is because of the passage of the Social Security Fairness Act.
Now that these laws have been repealed, many public retirees are now eligible to collect the full Social Security benefit to which you or your spouse may have been denied from collecting in the past.
Building on the success of the Fairness Act, our immediate focus is improving your cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). While improving COLA benefits is important to all retirees, it is especially vital for those members who do not qualify for Social Security benefits. And even for those who do receive Social Security, your public pension is generally your most important source of retirement income. Continually improving these benefits is a top priority!
That is why we initiated the creation of the Special COLA Commission, on which our President Frank Valeri serves as an appointee of the governor. We anticipate the Commission completing its work and filing recommendations this fall. Once the recommendations have been filed, our focus will be on passing the proposal through the legislature. But legislative approval is not guaranteed. We must have a strong and engaged membership to join us in this fight.
As we are working to improve your pension benefits, we know that we’re about to have a serious fight on our hands when it comes to retiree health insurance. Make no mistake, our excellent health insurance benefits are under serious threat!
We cannot allow monthly premiums, copayments, and deductibles to continue to rise unchecked.There is a healthcare affordability crisis underway, which will only get worse, unless we come together and figure out a better way.
Our leadership on these issues has not gone unnoticed. As you will soon read in the October edition of The Voice, collaboration with other healthcare stakeholder groups is well underway.
Make no mistake, we cannot work on your behalf and protect your retirement without a strong membership. Knowing that people are dedicated to improving and defending your retirement should also provide you with peace-of-mind in retirement.
I cannot thank you enough for your support and being a member of Mass Retirees.
Please renew your membership today, either online or by check.
With gratitude,
Frank Valeri
President
Mass Retirees Association