The DC 37 Health and Security Plan will close its Florida office on June 30.

The plan’s Board of Trustees took the step to curb expenses as soaring prescription drug costs continue to eat up a greater portion of the funding for all its benefits.

In reaching its decision to shutter the North Miami office, the trustees also noted the plan’s high outlays for servicing a relatively small number of retirees.

The vast majority of the union’s 50,000 retirees live in the tri-state New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area, while 5,200 reside in Florida and another 6,000 live elsewhere in the United States and Puerto Rico.

A question of costs
“We are very unhappy about closing the Florida office, but we could not justify the cost,” said Rosaria R. Esperon, administrator of the DC 37 Health and Security Plan.

The closing will save an estimated $600,000 a year.

Legal services, which are otherwise not provided outside the tri-state area, will no longer be available to Florida retirees. To assist retirees in Florida and outside the tri-state area with questions about benefits and requests for claims forms, the plan has established a new long-distance phone number to handle inquiries.

The new toll-free telephone number, which will become operational June 1st and will not be accessible in the New York City area, is 877-323-7738.

Other retirees should continue to call the Health and Security Inquiry Unit at DC 37, 212-815-1234.

On March 10, the District Council 37 Executive Board voted unanimously to “strongly recommend” that the trustees rescind their Feb. 2 decision to close the office.

But in April, the trustees upheld their original decision.