State Retiree Dependent Coverage Change

is Anti-Family

November 17, 2009

Phil Stoddard, Director 

Office of Retirement Services

P.O. Box 30171

Lansing, Michigan 48909-7671

Dear Mr. Stoddard:

On behalf of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Locals 517M and 526M and the 13,000 state employees we represent, we would like to voice our opposition to the recent changes implemented by your Department, the Office of Retirement Services (ORS), on the dependent eligibility standards.  These changes will negatively impact state employees wishing to retire and their families by pushing many of their children into the ranks of our state’s uninsured, without healthcare.  Furthermore, it is our understanding that these changes were implemented without any official action by the retirement board or notice and opportunity to be heard by state employees and retirees.

The current dependent eligibility standards for state employees allow them to cover dependents whom they have legal guardianship of, as well as certain step children, biological and adopted children.  It also allows state employees to cover their dependent children between the ages of 19-25.  The changes recently implemented by (ORS) will allow state retirees to only cover biological or legally adopted children and reduces the age limits of dependants to 18-23.  Because of these changes, thousands of children across the state, who are dependents of state employees, will lose their health care coverage because their parents, grandparents, foster parents or stepparents retire.  This is anti-family and is wrong.  Furthermore, it will force hundreds of employees to put off and/or forego retirement from the state in order to keep health insurance for their children.  The dependent coverage for state retirees should mirror the dependent coverage of active state employees.

Our staff has reviewed the last two years of the Retirement Board’s minutes and cannot locate where this issue was brought up and/or voted on by the Board.  Nor did we find that this issue was noticed in any of the Board Agendas to allow state employees and retirees to comment upon them.  It appears to us that these changes, that gravely impacts state employees and their children, was a capricious and arbitrary decision by the ORS and done in secrecy.  A decision of this magnitude should have been made in an open public forum to allow for adequate discussion and comments from the employees and retirees who will be impacted by these changes.

Based upon the above, we want to know under what authority and on what basis did your office effectuate these changes. We will also explore all legislative and administrative avenues to reverse this dreadful decision.  We look forward to your response.

Respectfully Submitted,

Phil Thompson, SEIU Local 517M Executive Vice President

1026 East Michigan Avenue

Lansing, Michigan  48912

(517) 482-1737

Mel Grieshaber, SEIU Local 526M Executive Vice President

421 W. Kalamazoo

Lansing, Michigan  48933

(517) 485-3310