RRM,
I have to tell you that you and I are on the same page when it comes to getting things from IBM in writing. ?I was one of those who retired from IBM in June of 1991 on the VTPP. In fact I was the Branch Manager of IBM's Salem, OR branch and I ran the information program for the potential retirees. ?Two things I was told when I went to HQ to get information on the VTPP, was that we would get cost of living increases on our pension and that we were "grandfathered in" on our medical plan for us and our spouse. ?IBM has not followed through on either of tose promises. ?No COLA's since retiring in 1991 and continual increases in the cost of our medical plan. ?Now we are being thrown under the bus on our medical plan.. ?
Today I spent an hour on the phone with Fidelity, Extend Health, Budco and then back to Fidelity to try to get ONE question answered. ?A Customer Resolution Manager with Fidelity promised to get me an answer to my question..What I was asking, was this. ?If we choose the survivor option on the HRA of $2,600 in my case, what happens if my wife dies before I do? ?Does my HRA revert back to the $3,500 option I would get if I choose not to take the survivor option? ?Or does it revert back to the $2,600 for choosing the survivor option. ?Or does it stay at the $1,300 that my wife and I choose if we decide to take this option? ?When I retired in 1991, I choose a 50% joint and survivor restore option. ?That option moves my pension plan back to the original amount if my wife pre-deceases me. ?But in the letter I got from IBM, ONLY speaks of the case of my dying before my wife. ?It says nothing about what happens if she dies before me. ?. ? ? ? . ?.?
---In ibmpensionissues@..., <ibmpensionissues@...> wrote:
(Also posted on IBMretiree)
I just got off the phone with E-Health and was told that buying a drug
plan through E-Health qualifies same as medical plan as basis for HRA. I
was told that this is a change from IBM last week. This is good news for
many of us because the only medical plans they offered in my state were
Humana and AARP and AARP is not on Advantage plans. I consider AARP a
political organization, I do not belong to it, and would not join as a
prerequisite to coverage. My doctor group that I have used for the last
30 years is not in the Humana network and will not accept them as
insurer. On the Humana website they do not come up in the doctor search
and my wife's doctors group is not taking new Medicare patients and is
not on the Humana site either. This frees me up to probably get our
policies from BCBS.
I asked the E-Health rep to get an email and/or a web-site posting to
verify this information stressing to her that we normally believe only
that which we get in writing.
RRM
