Chicago retirees could lose affordable health insurance

If the Emanuel Administration follows through on its planned phase out of all City of Chicago health care plans for retired city employees, many retirees could find themselves without any health insurance coverage at all after January 1.

The city claims that retirees will be able to get coverage under the Affordable Care Act, but there is a very real danger that President-Elect Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans will move quickly to repeal the ACA.

Retirees who aren’t eligible for Medicare do have a coverage option outside the ACA, but this new, city-initiated Blue Cross Blue Shield plan would cost around $1,400 a month ($16,800 a year). That’s nearly half of the average pension of a City of Chicago retiree in the municipal fund.

“It’s like the city of Chicago tied cement blocks to our feet and dropped us in Lake Michigan to drown,” said Dorothy Harding, an AFSCME Retirees sub-chapter 60 member.

AFSCME has enlisted the aid of concerned aldermen to press the Emanuel Administration to extend city health insurance subsidies for retirees with modest incomes who are not eligible for Medicare.

“It would be unconscionable for the city to ignore its responsibility to retirees,” AFSCME Council 31 Director of Research and Benefits Martha Merrill said. “We continue to press for a solution that ensures Chicago retirees have affordable health care in their retirement.”