Okay, I'm really damn mad right now

[theHandpuppet]

My sister and her husband are retirees living modestly on pension incomes. This past week they received a letter from Martin Marietta, informing them that their health insurance would be cut, forcing them to pay for their own medications, which are considerable. Supposedly the company blames the cost of Obamacare for this move, all the while recording record profits!!!!!!! This is bullshit.
BTW, this article was published in a Florida paper but the cuts are nationwide (my sis lives in Ohio).

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1988-10-25/business/0080010254_1_martin-marietta-health-insurance-central-florida-health
October 25, 1988|By Catherine Hinman of The Sentinel Staff

Martin Marietta Corp. will reduce health benefits on Jan. 1 for all salaried employees, including 10,500 in Orlando, in an effort to contain skyrocketing insurance costs .
The corporation paid $150 million last year to cover health insurance premiums, 25 percent more than the year before, officials said. This year, Martin expects another double-digit increase, they said, and some action was necessary if only to hold the line
In a separate announcement Monday, the corporation reported a hefty profit increase in its most recent fiscal quarter.
''For Martin Marietta to remain competitive in its markets and to continue to win the new programs necessary to retain our current levels of employment, we must contain the rate of growth of health-care costs,'' Bobby P. Leonard, vice president, wrote in a letter to employees dated Friday…. MORE

[PoliticAverse]

1. Yet another example of why health insurance should be separate from employment. n/t

[Enthusiast]

34. You are correct......nt

[chervilant]

2. They can't even lie with any finesse!

And, throwing in the partisan "Obamacare" red herring -- just to delude the already delusional!

Every Dem in the nation should call the ACA by its proper designation, and remind the hate-mongering, fear-mongering racists that Romney's hired legal lackeys authored the original version of this Act.

[Adsos Letter]

3. October25, 1988?

[DURHAM D]

4. lol I guess Martin M saw Obamacare coming.

[PotatoChip]

5. !

[babylonsister]

6. Time really does

just get away from us!

[Adsos Letter]

9. !

[theHandpuppet]

7. A mistake by the paper?

The article appeared in today's paper and my sister and her husband just received their letter a few days ago. Cuts are to take effect on Jan. 1

[doublethink]

11. Article also mentions survey taken in 1987, strange.

Martin's expenditures are already higher than the national average. According to A. Foster Higgins & Co. Inc. in Princeton, N.J., the average health-care bill among 2,000 employers surveyed in 1987 was $1,985, up

7.9 percent from the year before.

-snip-

????

[Adsos Letter]

12. ...curious...

Indeed.

[theHandpuppet]

14. The only thing I can think of....

When my sis told me about the letter I did a search for any news about the company cutting the health care benefits for their retirees. The article I mentioned in the OP came up as published in today's paper but with that old date.

The only thing I can figure is that the article I found pertains to a previous cut and the one which just happened hasn't hit the mainstream media yet? Anyway, yes, there are cuts coming to the health care benefits for their retirees and its going to hit some people really hard, including my family. The costs of prescription medicines alone is going to be a burden.

[babylonsister]

8. So did they receive a letter? nt

[theHandpuppet]

10. Yes, just this past week

It said the cuts were to take effect Jan 1.

[theHandpuppet]

15. This might explain it somewhat

http://comara.org/benefits/Cash-Instead-of-Healthcare-Benefits.htm

Martin Marietta is, I believe, part of Lockheed Martin.

I would welcome any other news/explanation for what is happening to these retirees!

[dixiegrrrrl]

30. Lockheed...massive Federal war machine conrtractor..

In the process of partnering with Boeing to bid for 500 BILLION Pentagon offer to build long range bombers.
I posted about that a day or 2 ago.

amount of profit for a company is what CEO bonuses are based on.
So cutting costs ( but not profit) is what they do now.

[shraby]

16. 1. How old are they? 2. If of retirement age, they should have Part D. which pays for a

goodly share of their prescription drugs.

[theHandpuppet]

17. Over 70

I'm going to see what other avenues they've explored with regard to their prescription costs. What a mess.

[DURHAM D]

21. My guess is that like most corporate legacy folks

their old employer enrolled them in a Medicare Advantage program that included help on Meds and probably eye and some dental. However, their annual deductible has probably gone up every year. My brother is in this category.

Every year when he got the letter from his former employer telling him his deductible had gone up another $1000 he bitched and moaned while I begged him to look at the numbers if he told his former employer to go blow and he switched to regular Medicare and bought Part D. He didn't need the dental or eye (lousy coverage) anyway.

The truth is that he did not understand the difference between Medicare Advantage and regular Medicare with a supplemental plus Part D and he trusted that the employer benefits were better than nothing. In 2012 I convinced him to give me enough information so I could check it out for him and he realized he was getting screwed by his old company.

[theHandpuppet]

23. Who can walk them through this process?

That is, what's the best number to call? I've visited the website for Medicare Part D but am not sure they could navigate it. They have a computer but are not particularly computer savvy.

[DURHAM D]

27. What state are they in?

ETA: I see they are in Ohio.

here is the link - http://www.insurance.ohio.gov/Consumer/OSHIIP/Documents/MedPartD.pdf

There is a 1-800 number in the blue box at the bottom re: Part D. Before they call they should have a list of the meds they take (if any). These offices are usually very good at helping out.

[Curmudgeoness]

18. Since this same thing has been happening for years,

it is only an idiot who will believe that Obamacare is the culprit. Insurance premiums have risen well above the cost of living for decades. Health care costs have gone up at the same rates, as have drug costs. Companies have been screwing retirees by dropping insurance on them for years and years.

But all of a sudden, it is all Obamacare's fault. That is a convenient scapegoat, but it is a lie.

[theHandpuppet]

22. Of course it's a lie

But you wouldn't believe how many people are falling for that crap. In the meanwhile, folks find company promises mean diddly squat and pensioners are often the first ones to pay the price.

[Curmudgeoness]

26. You have that right.

Pensioners are easily thrown in the gutter. They are no longer needed by the companies and are seen as just a drag on profits. Easier to piss them off than to anger the employees you are still depending on. Not that a lot of companies have not been going after cuts in benefits for current employees as well. Fuck the promises you made to these people years ago.....it is a new age.

As to the people who are falling for it, that is why I made the statement that I did. We have to make that statement every single time we hear this bullshit. Repetition, just as much as the repetition from the anti-Obama crowd. And the different is that we have facts to back us up....and any rational person would remember the erosion of health insurance coverage and the cost increases back for years.

[theHandpuppet]

32. The RW mouthpieces do everything they can to scare the crap out of people

And they usually prey on the most vulnerable in our society for whom the loss of any income, pension or benefits could be the difference between life or death. I hope there's a special place in hell for hateful people such as Coulter, Limbaugh and their ilk.

[awoke_in_2003]

19. I foresee a lot of companies doing this...

and scapegoating ACA

[theHandpuppet]

25. For them it was just an opportunity to pass the buck

Even if it's a lie.

[silverweb]

20. New headline coming soon:

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]"Employers Across the Country Clamor for Single Payer Healthcare"

It's coming.

[B Calm]

24. Makes us more competitive bullshit, lol

Heard the same thing back in the 1980's

[pinto]

28. Contacts for Ohio -

Medicare Helpful Contacts

The organizations below were found in the state of Ohio.

http://www.medicare.gov/contacts/topic-search-results.aspx

[theHandpuppet]

31. Thanks very much!

I will pass along this info tomorrow.

[doc03]

29. The ceo of Lockeed Martin makes $23.8 million n/t

[theHandpuppet]

33. Guess he'll never have to worry whether he can afford medicine

There's really got to be a sea change in this society. Seriously.