Case retirees review options

July 11--Talk of medications and Medicare filled the lobby of the Comfort Inn & Suites Tuesday as Case New Holland retirees and family members trickled out of a private informational meeting where they reviewed their insurance options.

"I don't know what to do," one man said as he walked the length of the hallway between the hotel's banquet room and the door.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in February that reversed an appeals court decision honoring lifetime health and life insurance benefits for CNH (formerly J.I. Case) retirees, employees who retired between July 1, 1994, and March 31, 2005, their surviving spouses and continual dependents have been at a loss as to what to do at the end of August when their insurance coverage expires.

"I started there in 1963, and including the 16 years of retirement, I've got 56 years that I've had insurance with them, and it's been nothing but good benefits," said Tom Jacobson, who retired from CNH in 2002. "With the stroke of a pen, somebody in Washington, D.C., took that all away from us."

Jacobson is an eligible Medicare recipient, but his wife won't be for another several years. She had been putting off having knee surgery until winter, but faced with losing her longtime coverage at the end of next month, she was able to schedule the surgery for Aug. 6.

Case has made available another insurance plan to those people, but the July 20 deadline to submit the necessary paperwork is fast approaching, and some people still have yet to receive the necessary information.

"That's not giving them much room," said Yvonne Blaine, president of United Auto Workers Local 807.

The chairs in the hotel banquet room filled quickly, and many people were left standing along the wall in the back as the meeting started.

The meeting, put on by the local UAW chapter with help from a Royal Oak, Michigan-based attorney and volunteers from the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP), aimed to arm people with as much information as possible ahead of the deadline.

"I'm just doing the best that I can at giving them as much information ... to help make the right decision," Blaine said. "My heart hurts for them."

Many retirees are eligible for Medicare, and SHIIP volunteers were on hand to offer consulting services on Medicare plans based on their health care needs. Others are not yet eligible for Medicare. The insurance plan offered through Case costs $380 per month for a single plan and $729 per month for two people.

"They didn't pay anything before, and now all of a sudden some of them are going to pay over $300 a month," Blaine said. "Well you can't do that when you're on a fixed income."

One man, who declined to give his name, told The Hawk Eye he gets $1,200 per month, meaning signing up both himself and his wife for the plan the two have been on for a number of years would take up more than half his monthly pension. He will get the insurance for himself, but plans to look elsewhere for insurance for his wife, who works part-time and takes what she said are four "lifesaving" medications daily.

The cost isn't the only change people who enroll in the new CNH plan must contend with.

"They have deductibles now. They have premiums. They've never had that before," Blaine said. "They have to re-enroll every year. They've never had that before. They've never had to fill this paperwork out, so that's why they don't understand what's going on."

Jacobson said the plan itself isn't as good as the plan he's had for years.

"There are so many restrictions, co-pays, they did away with our death benefits, so now we have no funeral expenses. It's just crazy," he said.

CNH retirees have the option to convert a maximum of $10,000 from their CNH Industrial life insurance plan to an individual policy with Sun Life Financial. Blaine said her father, after learning this, decided to forego the alternate insurance policy and pre-paid for his funeral expenses at the funeral home.

Jacobson is concerned the Supreme Court's decision has set a precedent for similar decisions in the future.

"I can guarantee, when other company's take a look at this Supreme Court decision, they're going to do the same damn thing as they did to us," he said. "I always thought the United States Supreme Court was for the people, the majority of the people in this nation, but they proved otherwise with this decision. They are for big business and money."

He pointed to General Electric, which was purchased by ABB, a Swiss robotics and industrial machinery maker, in September and said he fears the same will happen to GE retirees.

The Supreme Court's ruling is a far cry from what happened when CNH tried to appeal a 1991 union contract.

Elliott "Andy" Anderson, a past president of UAW Local 807, was part of the union's bargaining committee during those contract negotiations with CNH that included lifelong health insurance. CNH eventually brought to the Supreme Court, which denied the request for appeal, and a negotiated court-ordered settlement was reached. The result was that all employees who retired before 1994, including Anderson, retained their health insurance benefits. Anderson said the language in that contract was not all that different from what was in the other contract, so he was surprised the Supreme Court accepted the 2018 appeal.

"I still don't understand that Supreme Court decision," Anderson said.

Those with questions about their CNH benefits should call (800) 561-0877. To schedule an appointment with SHIIP, call the Great River Medical Center SHIIP office at (319) 768-3342. To learn more about other free consultation services, visit seniorresourceguide.com.

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