Sent by email from PACT: The Arkansas Legislature’s Health Insurance Task Force is at it again, and this time they’re not just looking into your health insurance; they’re looking to take away your retirement benefits! At their meeting next Tuesday, Aug. 26th at 10:00 (Committee Room A of MAC Bldg, behind the State Capitol) the Task Force will hear testimony on combining the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System (ATRS) with the state employees’ retirement system (APERS). As you no doubt already know, this is a terrible idea! CONTACT THE MEMBERS OF THE HEALTH INSURANCE TASK FORCE TODAY AND TELL THEM “HANDS OFF MY RETIREMENT!” Sen. Jim Hendren, Chair (Gravette) Rep. Harold Copenhaver, Vice Chair (Jonesboro) (479) 298-3533; jimhendren@hendrenplastics (870) 931-5744; harolduiagency@yahoo Sen. Cecile Bledsoe (Rogers) Rep. James McLean (Batesville) (479) 636-2115; [email protected] (870) 698-1399; vote.james.mclean@gmail Sen. Linda Chesterfield (Little Rock) Rep. Allen Kerr (Little Rock) (501) 888-1859; [email protected] (501) 821-4477; [email protected] Sen. Jason Rapert (Conway) Rep. Tommy Wren (Melbourne) (501) 336-0918; [email protected] (870) 613-7585; [email protected] Sen. David Sanders (Little Rock) Rep. George McGill (Fort Smith) (501) 682-6107; davidjamessanders@gmail (479) 782-1288; [email protected] Sen. Eddie Cheatham (Crossett) Rep. Bill Gossage (Ozark) (870) 364-5659; [email protected] (479) 667-2122; bill@billgossage ATRS is one of the most solvent retirement systems in the country—with $14.5 billion in assets—and thanks to its Board full of retired educators it is running very well on its own. Combining it with APERS would almost certainly mean that educators would have to work more years before being able to retire and would see fewer benefits upon retirement. This would also be bad for educator recruitment and retention, which would, in turn, drive health care premiums higher and higher. In short, this idea is entirely counterproductive to the original purpose of this legislative Task Force. While the chairman of the Task Force, Senator Jim Hendren, says that merging ATRS with APERS is only being discussed as a matter of due diligence, this sure seems like a scare tactic aimed at Arkansas educators. Many of you have closely followed talks of combining the public school employee health insurance program with the state employee health insurance program. There may be merit to that idea, though no one has yet seen any figures showing projected savings for educators or the state if those health insurance programs were to be joined together. Combining retirement systems, however, has not been seriously considered until now, and with good reason—it’s a terrible idea. We have heard this threat before that if the state were to combine the two health insurance programs in a way that might benefit educators, it might also have to combine the two retirement systems to the detriment of educators, but we don’t buy it. We believe our elected officials should find ways to bring people together to find solutions to problems. Our legislators shouldn’t be trying to fix something that isn’t broken. PLEASE CONTACT THE MEMBERS OF THE HEALTH INSURANCE TASK FORCE TODAY TO TELL THEM TO LEAVE YOUR RETIREMENT BENEFITS ALONE! CONTACT YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATORS, TOO!
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 03:58:46 +0000