GCCCD Grapevine

Volume 1, Number 2                                                                                         August 9, 1990

Retirees Invited to "Gold Card" Lunch

Professional Development Weak begins Monday, August 20, which, for those of us on the retiree list, means very little. However, on Wednesday, August 22, at noon, retirees are invited to a luncheon hosted by the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Retirement Committee. The luncheon will begin at noon in the Grossmont College Board Room. It will conclude at 1:30 p.m. Besides a "free lunch" (who would skip such a thing?), Dr. Walker will welcome retirees back on campus, Fred Stollenwerk will explain the Emeritus Program, Don Scouller will discuss special travel opportunities, Tom Scanlan will tell us about ongoing retirement planning and Leon Hoffman will review our "Gold Card" benefits.

So that we may order the proper amount of food, please call either Anna Quinzii at 465-1700, ext. 100, or Jan Herrera at ext. 159, within the next week.

The Retirement Committee hopes to see as many of you as possible at what has become an annual retiree event.

Release of Information

The Retirement Committee has numerous activities planned for the coming year, one of which would include putting together a flyer to distribute to you, listing all the Grossmont-Cuyamaca retirees with their addresses and telephone numbers.

Some individuals would prefer that such information not be given. Therefore, at the end of this newsletter is a short form for those of you willing to give permission for your name, address and telephone number to be listed and sent to all other retirees. Your approval is necessary in order for your address and phone number to be included on this listing. Please take a minute to fill out the form and send it back, attention Anna Quinzii, President’s Office, Grossmont College, 8800 Grossmont College Drive, El Cajon, CA, 92020. This listing will provide a way for us to keep in touch with each other as the years go by. (By the way, Mickey Bushong retired effective July 30 and Anna Quinzii—with the happy laugh—was chosen to replace her. She will begin her work prior to the arrival of the new President, Dr. Richard Sanchez (formerly of College of the Sequoias, Visalia, California).

Gold Card Benefits

By now you have all received your Grossmont-Cuyamaca retiree "Gold Cards". If by any chance you have been neglected and have yet to receive your card please contact Dr. Stan Flandi at the District Personnel Office and you will receive yours quickly.

The Board has approved for all retirees some special benefits that can be utilized with "Gold Card". This card will make it possible for retirees to obtain the following privileges if they so desire:

Free staff parking privileges, library card, athletic pass.
Tuition refund for retirees and their spouses.
Paid membership in the Grossmont and Cuyamaca Retirees Association.
Discounted travel service (as part of the "Retiree Club" membership).
Discounted non9litigious attorney service (wills, trusts, powers of attorney, legal documents).
Membership in the District Health Club (includes use of athletic facilities on either campus).
Discounts for on-campus and ECPAC Theater, concerts, lectures, seminars and similar events.
Bookstore discounts on both campuses.
Invitations to retirement-oriented activities.
Ongoing district communication (College newspapers, notices of plays, luncheons and special events).
Inclusion in the Speakers Bureau, if desired.
Eligibility for committee membership, if desired.
Professor Emeritus status for Certificated retirees who qualify at the Academic Senate and Governing Board.
The Emeritus Program, including conditions required for appointment, will be reviewed at the August 22 luncheon.

Continuing Health Care Coverage

The attached article appeared in the August, 1990, Consumer Report. It might be of interest to retiree in terms of health care coverage policies.

Continuing Coverage
WHEN YOU LEAVE A GROUP PLAN

If you leave a job, you may have two options for continuing your health insurance short of shopping for an individual policy on your own. Depending on the size of the firm you worked for and on your state’s insurance regulations, you may be able to continue your group coverage for a short time as provided under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA). Or you may be able to obtain an individual policy through a process known as conversion. Both options, though, will usually cost a lot more than you would spend for group coverage.

Because it is less expensive and generally offers better coverage than a conversion policy, your first line of defense should be COBRA.

COBRA: How it works

If you worked for a business with 20 or more employees, COBRA entitles you and your dependents to continued coverage for at least 18 months under your former employer’s plan. If you are disabled and eligible for Social Security disability benefits when your employment ends, you can obtain an additional 11 months of coverage, for a total of 29 months.

If you are insured through your spouse’s plan at work and your spouse dies, you become divorced or separated, or your spouse becomes eligible for Medicare, COBRA provides for coverage of up to 36 months.

COBRA requires that you pay 102 percent of your group insurance premium. If your employer has been paying a portion, you will have to assume that cost in addition to what you were already paying, plus an extra 2 percent for administrative costs. Disabled people who take COBRA coverage must pay as much as 150 percent of the premium for the extra 11 months.

You can lose coverage if you don’t pay the premiums, if you become eligible for Medicare, if your employer discontinues health insurance for employees still working there, or if you join another plan.

However, if you join another plan and have an existing medical condition for which that plan imposes a waiting period, you can still keep your COBRA benefits until they would normally run out. By that time, your preexisting condition may be covered under the new plan. But you could be without coverage for that condition if your COBRA benefits stop before the waiting period on the new policy is over.

If you work for a company that has self-insured its workers’ health coverage, you are entitled to COBRA benefits, even though such plans are normally exempt from other insurance regulations.

If you are not eligible for COBRA because your former firm employs fewer than 20 workers (or is a church organization), you may still have some protection under state laws. If your state provides for "continuation" of benefits, you may be able to stay on your employer’s group policy for as little as three months in some states or as long as 18 months in others. (Those benefits are usually not available to workers in self-insured plans.)

The following states do not have comprehensive continuation laws: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Some employers consider COBRA an administrative headache and may offer employees who leave a simpler alternative—insurance that covers them only for injuries caused in an accident. Accident-only policies may be tempting because they’re cheap—a few hundred dollars a year, compared to a few thousand for COBRA coverage—but we don’t recommend them. Unless you are very young, you’re much more likely to need coverage for illnesses than for accidents.

Beyond COBRA

After COBRA coverage runs out, or if you’re not eligible for it, your next options are to take a conversion policy or shop for individual coverage. (Unless, of course, you’re covered under a new employer’s health plan or become eligible for Medicare.)

The law requires that every employer who normally offers conversion policies to workers who leave also offer them to former employees once their COBRA benefits run out. Fifteen states, as well as the District of Columbia, don’t require employers to offer conversion policies to employees who leave. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

If an insurance company terminates a group plan, employees may also be out of luck. Two-thirds of the states require insurers that cancel group policies to offer conversion options to people losing their coverage.

Even when it is offered, conversion coverage is almost always inferior to what you received from your group plan. (Twenty-four states require companies to offer conversion policies with major-medical or comprehensive benefits.) If you currently have major-medical coverage, a conversion policy may provide only hospital-surgical benefits and only pay up to a fixed amount each day for hospital room and board and surgical procedures (see page 538).

For example, CIGNA, an insurer that offers several conversion options to employees converting from the group policies it underwrites, pays only $250 for hospital room and board if an employee chooses its top-of-the-line conversion coverage. For employees in a top-of-the-line group policy, CIGNA would pay most of the hospital charge, which runs considerably more than $250. (The average cost of a day in the hospital is about $800.)

While benefits are low, the prices of conversion policies are high, reflecting the fact that it is mostly people in poor health who buy this coverage. CIGNA, for example, charges a 45-year-old man or woman living in Chicago an annual premium of $4736 for its most generous conversion policy with a $500 deductible. By comparison, American Republic, the top-ranked commercial company in our study, would charge a 45-year-old man in Chicago $1904; a 45-year-old woman, $2240.

Despite those drawbacks, a conversion policy may be your only option if you have health problems. (Insurers must make these policies available to anyone regardless of their health.)

If only one member of your family suffers from some medical condition, you may want to take the conversion policy for him or her and try to find cheaper, individual coverage for the rest of the family. In some states, a person with health problems may be eligible for coverage from the high-risk pool, although in certain states, if you’re eligible for a conversion policy, you can’t have pool coverage.

If you’re considering buying an individual policy instead of taking your conversion option when COBRA coverage ends, do your shopping well in advance. The slightest health problem can disqualify you, and it may take time for an insurer to collect your medical records and decide if it’s willing to issue coverage. Once your COBRA benefits run out, you have only 31 days in most states to sign up for a conversion policy.

Twelve Staff Receive Emeritus Status

Twelve Grossmont College and Cuyamaca College staff members were named to emeritus status by the Board Tuesday evening, August 7, in a special Board meeting held at ECPAC.

These retired members of the staff include the following:
Donald E. Anderson
Leeland T. Engelhorn
J. William Hansen
Leon C. Hoffman
John M. Holleran
Evanne D. Lill
Z. Dean Parks
Robert E. Rump
John D. Scouller
Fred J. Stollenwerk
William T. Tester
Ivan L. Jones

 Special VISA Services for Retirees

Cottonwood Travel, 2451 Jamacha Road, Suite 108, El Cajon, 92019, telephone #444-2060, has offered retirees a special service, which includes VISA service, passport applications and special bed and breakfast accommodation recommendations. Their fee for the VISA service and the bed and breakfast recommendation is normally $10 per VISA and per bed and breakfast, however, Cottonwood is offering all Grossmont-Cuyamaca retirees a 50% discount. In addition, they are offering no additional charge for passport photos if they handle retirees’ travel plans.

Please note that this was an unsolicited discount offer that has not to date been used by any of our retirees, so we cannot either guarantee or vouch for this service.

Report on Retirement Legislation

For your edification, the Retirement Committee is passing on the attached article regarding "Retirement Legislation in the 1990 Legislative Session", as written by the Retirement Consultant for the Association of California Community College Administrators.

 Grossmont-Cuyamaca Retirement Committee

The following individuals are presently members of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Retirement Committee and are available to answer your questions or to bring to the table any concerns or ideas you may have regarding improving the benefits of our retirees. The Committee is as follows:

Tom Scanlan (Chairman Pro Tem)
Z. Dean Parks
Charlie Hyde
Fred Stollenwerk
Leon Hoffman
Don Scouller
Stan Flandi

 Report on Retirement Legislation—1990 Session
by John McKinley, ACCCA Retirement Consultant

Highlights in the current bills are as follows:

Efforts are being made to give a larger share of the retirement pie to classroom teachers, counselors, and librarians. (AB 123 already enacted/AB 2746 in the pipeline) the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) have led in the move to establish limits on retirement allowances of administrators or to increase the benefits to teachers. SB 2469 would authorize a study regarding the equity of the benefits structure.

Positive moves are being made to provide health benefits for retirees. (AB 265, already enacted/SB 1890 and others being considered.

Improvements in post-retirement benefits are being proposed in AB 2552 and 4048 (large increases in earnings limits); AB 2911 and AB 3673 would provide larger hedges against inflation.

Collective bargaining is increasingly being used to decide costly improvements in STRS allowances for employees. This takes the legislature off the hot seat and will be used more. (Note: AB 123 and 265, already enacted/SB 1890, proposed) Administrators must be alert that they receive equivalent benefits to those in the bargaining units.

Federal legislation is increasingly moving into the benefits provided by state retirement systems. IRC 415 may well place limits on the amount of retirement allowances and, possibly, on other matters such as TSA contributions. The President’s proposed budget for fiscal 1991 proposes to extend mandatory Social Security to all State and local government employees not participating in public employee retirement programs.

Bills enacted into law in the 1989 session which are awaiting implementation (or may not be implemented by districts):

AB 123: One year final compensation for defined classroom teachers, et. al. who retire after June 30, 1990. Requires collective bargaining which really cannot begin until numerous matters are cleared, e.g., cost and effect on numerous other programs. STRS introduced AB 54 on March 12 as the cleanup bill, looking to final passage in May. The bill clarifies coverage, substitutes a less costly method of financing ("present value"), and includes other mainly desirable amendments.

AB 265: Optional and elective Medicare for certificated (STRS) staff employed before April, 1986. Implementation will be by PERS and will require collective bargaining. See PERS memorandum dated February 5, 1990 re: needed procedures and elections. Note that the legislation covers all STRS members, not just faculty.

Bills "In the Works"

STRS:
AB 54 Elder: See above under AB 123; should be read.

AB 944 Elder: Two-year bill re: setting up a "defined contribution" option. Introduced by VALIC (insurance company) and opposed by all member organizations, mainly because of effect of weakening present retirement guarantees in our "defined benefit" system. Needs watching for amendments.

AB 2552 Quakenbush: Provides for reemployment of any retirant as a classroom teacher by any public school employer that adopts a resolution that a teacher shortage exists in specified subject areas; and the retirant may earn not more the $21,500 in any one school year without if affecting the STRS retirement allowance; with annual adjustment based on the CCPI. Here’s a chance for retired administrators to return to the classroom!

AB 2609 Hughes: Extends repeal date of "Golden Handshake" to January 1, 1994. Provisions would be effective from January 1, 1991 to December 31, 1993, and inoperative from July 19 – Dec. 31, 1990.

AB 2642 Elder: Regarding membership on the STRS Retirement Board, would require election (rather than appointment by the Governor) of two members who are classroom teachers and one member who is a community college instructor with expertise in the areas of business or economics; all active STRS members in the particular category (K-12 or community college) may vote.

AB 2746 Elder: Provides for age factor to increase to 2.5% at age 65 for "denied classroom teachers" who have 20 years service, etc.

AB 2911 Epple: Would provide for the annual 2% Improvement Factor to be compounded annually, and provide for an increase in employer contributions.

AB 3673 Elder: Establishes in the Teachers’ Retirement Fund an investment Dividend Disbursement Account, (similar to PERS) to provide a purchasing power guarantee to retirants of 75%.

AB 3718 Elder: Provides a new State appropriation to the STRS Retirement Fund in lieu of the present system. Would provide for a transfer from the General Fund of an amount equal to 4.2% of the total salaries of the immediately preceding fiscal year upon which members’ contributions are based, etc.

AB 3934 Cannella: Provides for the exclusion of person who perform less than 45 hours or less that 7 days of service in a pay period from STRS membership.

AB 4048 Elder: Increases earnings limit of STRS retirants to $18,000 annually, with annual adjustments based on CCPI, etc.

SB 682 Green: Provides Options 6 and 7 for member whose designated option beneficiary predeceases retirant (provides for retirant increased benefit).

SB 1890 Dills: provides for PERS medical benefits to be collectively bargained and establishes employer rates for employees and annuitants.

SB 2469 Green: Provides an appropriation to study the equity of the present benefits available under STRS.

PERS:

AB 143 Moore: Expands surviving spouse entitlement to survivor continuance benefit.

SB 1753 Bergeson: Provides that PERS retirees may serve on community college boards without loss or reduction of retirement benefits. (Today, a PERS retiree loses benefits if compensation is taken for board membership, etc.)