Retirees seek lifetime spousal health coverage

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The Retirees Association of DC 37 has launched a long-term campaign to get the city to provide lifetime health coverage at no cost to the spouses and domestic partners of municipal employees and retirees who pass away.

"Nowadays we tell people 'Don't die!' " said Stuart Leibowitz, president of the Retirees Association of DC 37. "If you pass away, your spouse or partner is no longer eligible for city-provided health insurance, and I'd be willing to bet that the majority of our members and retirees don't know it," Mr. Leibowitz said.

"This lack of protection is a tremendous gap in our health-care coverage. Thousands of survivors have lost tremendously important benefits, which is a tragedy that the municipal labor unions must address."

Concerned about the coverage gap, the association's executive board voted Feb. 26 to take up the issue. Hundreds of retirees voted unanimously for the campaign to secure spousal coverage after Mr. Leibowitz discussed the matter at the association's March 12 general membership meeting. At the meeting, retirees also voted to fight for a long-term care benefit.

Last month, Mr. Leibowitz, 1st Vice President Audrey Iszard, Treasurer Shaurain Farber and Corresponding Secretary Norman O. Davis also presented the association's legislative priorities - including spousal coverage - to the DC 37 Political Action Committee.

Mr. Leibowitz informed the DC 37 Executive Board about the campaign and visited City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, the Council of Municipal Retiree Organizations and the Council of Jewish Organizations in Civil Service to drum up support.

Under a 1985 federal law known as COBRA, the spouse or domestic partner of a deceased city employee or non-Medicare eligible retiree is entitled to extend their health coverage for up to three years after the death of their loved one. But the survivor must pay 102 percent of what the city pays for coverage.

The COBRA payment is a major financial burden, especially if the deceased employee or retiree was the sole family breadwinner. The least expensive COBRA plan costs over $90 a month for basic coverage and the most expensive plan costs more than $300 a month.

The city provides full medical coverage for retirees under 65 , which is when Medicare kicks in. Medicare typically covers 80 percent of the cost of health care, and the city pays the remaining 20 percent.

"Many of us dedicated our working lives to the city assuming that we wouldn't get rich but that we would make a livable wage, which would be complemented by a good benefits package," Mr. Davis said.

"In deciding to work in the public sector, we really believed we were entering into a moral covenant with the city," Mr. Davis said. "The city would be doing the right thing by guaranteeing lifelong health coverage to the spouses and domestic partners of its employees and retirees."