CalSTRS Retired Educator - Summer 2007 eNewsletter - CalSTRS Joins the Health Care Debate

From Massachusetts to California, state governments are debating health care reform. Joining the debate are presidential candidates, unions and business groups.

Retired educators have a vital interest in the outcome. It is clear that as retirees stretch their pensions to meet the increasing cost of living, rapidly expanding health care costs consume more and more of their pension benefits.

This is a deepening crisis for California’s retired educators. Since retiree health care is negotiated locally in more than 1,400 school and community college districts, many retirees have no paid post-retirement health insurance.

They’re not alone — escalating costs and declining access are making our current health care system economically unsustainable for all Americans.

Survey Results Mirror National Trends

Last fall CalSTRS conducted its second triennial school and community college employer health benefit survey to collect data on health benefit costs and coverage.

The 2006 Health Benefits Survey results mirror the national trends, showing increases in health benefit costs and decreases in retiree access to paid coverage. The survey was returned by approximately one-third of districts.

Key findings include:

86 percent of responding employers do not contribute toward paid health benefits for retired employees after age 65.
62 percent of the state’s retired educators age 65 and older must pay all or part of their health insurance costs.

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