I contacted several class action lawyers over the last two months and described the IBM Medicare eligible retiree healthcare changes for 2023 demanding we use Medicare Advantage plans. There doesn't appear to be class action ability to stop IBM from doing it. We don't have a contract with IBM. What we have is a verbal agreement, promises to provide retiree benefits made long ago without any legal, binding commitment.
The reason the NYC retired workers were able to stop their former employer was because they have a union contract and a clause specifically guaranteeing free lifetime health insurance. NYC government tried to transition retirees to Medicare Advantage for free, but if retirees wanted to continue with Original Medicare and a Medicare Supplement it would be $193/mo. My bet is NYC government will now remove the Medicare Supplement option in their next salvo and force all retirees onto MA plans. Reminder, many corporations have done this for years.
Actions don't have to be illegal to be WRONG. In fact, consider how often wrong actions become illegal. A quick one that comes to mind is the use of seat belts or baby seats. In the best interest of saving lives, not using them was made illegal. In IBM's case, in the best interest of saving lives, elders shouldn't be forced to use Medicare Advantage plans to get their retiree medical benefits. It should be illegal!
What's left to do? I urge you to write to your U.S. Senators and ask for help. Tell them how you feel about this situation. Ask them to investigate how companies are treating retirees and taking away promised benefits retirees depended on to get high quality healthcare, which is particularly important for the aging.
Here's how I view what is happening. IBM made a long ago promise to provide retirees with high quality medical insurance when we retired as an incentive to convince us to stay employed at IBM. They described it as being part of our compensation. To pay that delayed compensation, they set aside funding comparable to what they did for our pensions.
Now, they are taking compensation money away and shifting retirees to Medicare Advantage plans while claiming it is a "better deal". It is truly "liar, liar, pants on fire"! Seriously, this is elder abuse, and/or a violation of laws that protect workers' compensation. It is corporate malfeasance and the antithesis of Corporate Social Responsibility which major USA corporations claim to support.
US Senators gauge whether something is a worthy investigation based on complaints. They investigated Medicare Advantage devious marketing practices because 40,000 people complained about it. They investigated Medicare Advantage overbilling the federal government for billions of dollars because of whistle blower complains.
Complain! Complain! Complain! Maybe we can embarrass IBM into backing off!
Plato, I am new to your blog, very well done Thank you. Sorry you ran into a dead end on a class action lawsuit on the new IBM Advantage plan. There may be another way to look at this. One of the main reasons this not good for IBMers is the loss of HRA if they don't go with an IBM plan. and even if you go the new plan, you still loss some of the HRA benefit. As you may remember there was an IBM class action lawsuit on pensions that we won in the supreme court. In 1999 we had to choose between our annuity or lump sum, IBM made this a final decision. SCOTUS rule against IBM and said once you offer a benefit you cannot take it away. I benefited since I retired in 2008 and was able to choose any combination of annuity and lump sum. Seems to me this could apply to HRA benefits as well. What are your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteThank you for your perspective. The fundamental problem with medical benefits is they are not protected by the ERISA laws that protect pensions. Nor do we have a union type contract with IBM. It is why I focused on the benefit being described as delayed compensation which is protected by labor laws. I couldn't find a lawyer who agreed. Plato
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