Healthcare world of retired public school employees turned upside down

Every day—and I do mean every day—since January 1, I have felt a heaviness in the pit of my stomach.

Every day, I know I am going to hear another story about what has befallen my fellow retired Texas public school employees courtesy of Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, and the Texas Legislature.

As many of you may have heard, during the 2017 Legislative Session, these elected officials decided to turn our healthcare world upside down, despite the fact that we retired under the promise of affordable healthcare, a promise made to us years ago when we began teaching and again when we completed all of the paperwork for retirement.

Instead, Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, and the Texas Legislature voted to appropriate DOUBLE the amount of money for retirees in the state’s other retirement system, ERS, that they did for our retirement system, TRS, despite the fact that they have HALF the number of participants. ERS handles pensions and healthcare for all other state employees. It is no coincidence that retired legislators are members of ERS when they retire at age 50 with a mere 12 years in office or at age 60 with a mere eight years.

Read more: http://riograndeguardian.com/ardis-healthcare-world-of-retired-public-school-employees-turned-upside-down/