MORE Bad News for Retired Teachers and All Public Ed Employees in Texas

            For once, I would love to be able to write about GOOD news for Texas’ public education employees/retirees.  But today, we received this news alert from the Texas Retired Teachers Association regarding this Friday’s meeting of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas Board.  (Remember that TRS actually covers ALL Texas public education employees, although the name indicates it is only for teachers.)

            AS IF we are not facing enough financial devastation already because of the TRS healthcare decisions the Texas Legislature made during the 2017 Legislative Session, now we have this to worry about.  For those who are new to the discussion, here are the key points regarding the TRS healthcare nightmare:

¨      The deductible for TRS retirees under the age of 65 was increased from $400 to $1500 ($3000 for married, under-65 retirees covered by TRS Care) during the 2017 Legislative Session.

¨      Meanwhile, the Texas Legislature kept the deductible for ALL OTHER state employees who are retired, including retired legislators, at $0.  (They are covered by the state’s OTHER retirement system, the Employees Retirement System of Texas, known as ERS.)

¨      We used to have a choice between three different levels of coverage, with an increasing premium as we moved up the coverage ladder.  Now we have one choice---the high-deductible, poor-coverage plan.

¨      ERS retirees continue to enjoy excellent healthcare benefits.

¨      This year, our monthly premium is $200.  It will increase over the next four years until it is close to $400 a month.

¨      ERS retirees continue to get their healthcare for free.  Their monthly premium is $0.

¨      As mentioned above, TRS retirees now have a $1500 deductible.  We must now pay 100 percent out of pocket until that deductible is met.  That means no co-pay for any doctor/hospital visits. For married couples covered by TRS, they must reach the $3000 deductible (NOT $1500 per person) before one penny of their healthcare costs is paid.

¨      ERS employees, as mentioned above, have no deductible.

¨      The $1500 deductible for TRS retirees also pertains to prescription drug costs, except for a list of standard, generic drugs.  Like with our healthcare, there is no longer a prescription-drug copay for all of us who are retired teachers, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, librarians, classroom aides, maintenance workers, police officers, custodians, nurses, social workers, counselors, administrators, or sign language interpreters.

¨      ERS retirees have a $50 prescription-drug deductible.

¨      During the 2017 Legislative Session, Texas legislators appropriated double the amount of money for ERS than for TRS, although ERS has half the number of members.

¨      Throughout our careers, we were promised affordable healthcare when we retired.  That promise has been shattered.

¨      ERS retirees were promised the same thing.  Their promise continues to be fulfilled.

¨      For seven months, we have called, emailed, mailed, and tweeted messages to Governor Greg Abbott to let him know how we are suffering.  To date, he has not even acknowledged our pleas.  Not even acknowledged, which shows his complete disrespect for public education employees who dedicated our lives to the children of this state!

            In the TRTA alert this afternoon, we were reminded of more staggering statistics:

¨      The Texas Legislature “has not authorized any pension increases for retirees since 2013.”

¨      In 2013, the Legislature provided a pension increase for retirees who retired on or before August 31, 2004.  They received a three-percent increase in their annuity, though they could not receive more than an additional $100 per month.

¨      Those of us who retired on or after September 1, 2004, have never received a pension increase.

¨      “Thousands of retired school employees have seen reduced Social Security benefits (if they receive them at all), increased health care costs, and no pension increases for as long as 14 years in their retirement.”

¨      “Ninety-five percent of Texas school districts don’t contribute to Social Security.”  What this means is that those who worked their entire careers in Texas public schools will not receive any SS benefits.  Those of us who have worked outside of the public schools will receive benefits, but they are far less than we would be receiving if we were not members of TRS because of a federal loophole.

¨      “The pure state budget general revenue contribution to Texas TRS is the absolute lowest percentage of payroll contribution to a state TRS pension plan in the nation.”

            This Thursday at 11 a.m., Texas AFT and retired school employees from across the state will hold a news conference on the steps of the TRS building in Austin to emphasize what the board’s decision the next day means for all of us who are already suffering at the hands of the Texas Legislature. 

            Friday, the TRS board will make a critical decision regarding lowering the rate of return assumption.  I urge ALL active and retired public education employees to read, in its entirety, the TRTA alert at the beginning of this blog post AND to respond to the call to action at the end of the alert by marking your calendars and watching the TRS Board’s meeting this Friday online, if you can’t be there in person. 

CALL TO ACTION!  
July 25, 2018

The TRS board meeting is THIS FRIDAY!  I just heard from board secretary Katherine Farrell. We can send emails for the board to her email (click on "her email"), and the entire board will get it!
I urge your to remain respectful and professional.  In my opinion, four of the board members have sincerely been listening to our concerns and feeling our pain.  Three of them are in the boat with us as active/retired educators!
Now is our chance to send emails urging them to think about THEIR teachers, bus drivers, school secretaries, classroom aides, librarians, nurses, maintenance workers, cafeteria workers, counselors, sign language interpreters, social workers, police officers, and administrators as they make this difficult decision Friday!

ACT NOW!!!!!

Chris Ardis retired in May of 2013 following a 29-year teaching career. She now helps companies with business communications and social media and works as a sales coordinator for Tony Roma's and Macaroni Grill. Chris can be reached at cardis1022@aol.com. (Photo by Linda Blackwell, McAllen)

The Numbers According to Governor Greg Abbott’s Staff

            February 18, Senator José Menéndez wrote a commentary in the San Antonio Express-News boldly asking Gov. Greg Abbott to call a Special Session to fix the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, which is the retirement system for all Texas public school employees, including bus drivers, custodians, teachers, classroom aides, secretaries, librarians, nurses, maintenance workers, school police officers, social workers, administrators, and cafeteria workers.  This is how  Sen. Menendez’s commentary begins:

Educators in my district are honest, hardworking public servants who make financial sacrifices by choosing a career in education over high-paying private sector jobs for which they easily qualify. They make the choice to become educators because they believe in giving back, they love children, and they want to help strengthen our future.

In exchange for their efforts in preparing our children, the state of Texas told its teachers they would receive a pension upon retirement that would provide quality, affordable health care coverage during the years following a lifetime of service.

Texas has not honored that promise, and now the future for some 270,000 retired educators is in jeopardy. This past session we approved a bill providing only about 70 percent of what was needed to keep the Teacher Retirement System, or TRS, health program solvent. That pushed a shortfall projected to reach $400 million by 2021, according to the San Antonio Express-News, onto the backs of retired teachers.

            February 19, Rep. Ryan Guillen followed suit:

            March 29, Rep. Terry Canales sent Gov. Abbott a formal letter seeking this same Special Session:

            In the ensuing months, calls, emails, Facebook posts, and tweets from those of us who are living the TRS nightmare and others who support us have been made/sent to Gov. Abbott’s office.  However….

            Last week, a friend of mine who is also a retired Texas teacher living the TRS Healthcare Nightmare, wanted to know how many people have contacted Gov. Abbott’s office requesting a Special Session regarding TRS.  She filed a Public Information Request that read, “I am asking for all totals received concerning requests for a Special Session specifically to address the TRS health care problems and costs by anyone who has TRS health insurance.  The totals should include phone calls, emails, texts, faxes, and mail received by the Governor’s office from January 1, 2018, until today’s date of July 12, 2018.”

            Today, she received this reply from Gov. Abbott’s office:

            A TOTAL of 106 messages in six months?  Are we really expected to believe this?  I have seen calls to action on several Facebook pages, on Twitter, and in private messages. 

            A TOTAL of 106 despite all of the media coverage?  Here is just a sampling:

From U.S. News December 8, 2018

From the Houston Chronicle January 1, 2018

From Fox 4 February 6, 2018

From the Austin American Statesman April 9, 2018

From the Abilene Reporter News April 14, 2018
From the Texas Tribune April 20, 2018

From CBS DFW April 23, 2018

            Retired public education employees are not the only ones suffering due to the TRS healthcare nightmare.  Many active public education employees in Texas are being subjected to UNaffordable TRS healthcare    , as well, and we all have Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, and many members of the Texas Legislature to thank for it.  Take Kensley’s story, for example.  All one has to do is compare TRS to ERS, the retirement system for all OTHER state employees, including our legislators:

            To add to this insanity, July 11, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar sent out a press release titled Comptroller Raises Revenue Estimate by More than $2.8 Billion.  What excuse can Gov. Abbott make now for ignoring Sen. Menendez, ignoring Rep. Guillen, ignoring Rep. Canales, and ignoring the “106” citizens who have contacted his office?  Seriously, who is going to believe 106 people have contacted his office when the TRS website reads, “The Teacher Retirement System of Texas is the largest public retirement system in Texas, serving more than 1.5 million people”?  More than 1.5 million of us are being forced to live with broken promises from our legislators, promises made to us throughout our careers, and 106 of us have contacted his office?)

            POR FAVOR!

            Looks like we need to get LOUDER and STRONGER.  Please do not leave a message.  Please ask to speak to someone in the governor’s office and tell them you want your message RECORDED.  The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the number is 512-463-2000.  Here are more ways to contact Gov. Abbott’s office.

          TEXAS ACTIVE AND RETIRED TEACHERS, BUS DRIVERS, CAFETERIA WORKERS, NURSES, LIBRARIANS, CUSTODIANS, POLICE OFFICERS, MAINTENACE WORKERS, CLASSROOM AIDES, ADMINISTRATORS, SOCIAL WORKERS, INTERPRETERS, AND ALL WHO LOVE US….GOV. ABBOTT CAN’T HEAR US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris Ardis retired in May of 2013 following a 29-year teaching career. She now helps companies with business communications and social media and works as a sales coordinator for Tony Roma's and Macaroni Grill. Chris can be reached at cardis1022@aol.com. (Photo by Linda Blackwell, McAllen)

Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick: Nine-year-old Kensley caught in the TRS conundrum

            July 2, after midnight, I wrote a new blog post because I couldn’t sleep due to anxiety over a thyroid sonogram I had later that morning and the overwhelming out-of-pocket expenses I am now facing courtesy of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, most members of the Texas Senate, and several members of the Texas House.  You see, like my fellow Texas Retired Teachers’ Association retirees--which includes teachers, bus drivers, custodians, classroom aides, librarians, nurses, maintenance workers, police officers, secretaries, and administrators--I am living the TRS nightmare.

            At 7:16 p.m. that same day, one of my friends tagged me on a Facebook post by a woman named Megan.  I contacted Megan after reading the post to get details about HER TRS-healthcare nightmare.  (It isn’t only TRS retirees living this healthcare nightmare.  MANY active members are living it, too.) 

            This is what I learned:  Megan works for Dickinson ISD.  She first worked as a “paraprofessional” (I have always despised that word.) but has been a certified teacher in the district since March of 2000.  She is a current teacher on TRS Active Care 2 – Select.  Last school year, she was also on Active Care 2 – Select; however, she was living in Galveston County, so she had an “open network option.”  This school year, she was told she has just one option, KelseyCare Aetna.

            Her KelseyCare Aetna plan started September 1.  Megan’s nine-year-old daughter, Kensley, had been under the care of a pediatrician and a pediatric endocrinologist; however, Kensley’s doctors were not on the KelseyCare Aetna plan, so Megan had to find new doctors.  She made an appointment with a new pediatrician September 1 to establish Kensley as a patient.  Immediately, this new doctor referred Kensley to Texas Children’s Hospital for further testing.  Not so fast, according to KelseyCare Aetna.  It took Megan over a month, and countless phone calls, to get the approval to make an appointment at TCH.  It took another month for the paperwork to make its way from KelseyCare Aetna to TCH.

            So although Kensley’s doctor referred her to TCH September 1, her first appointment with an endocrinologist at TCH wasn’t until November 16.  Any parent would agree that waiting two months for an appointment a pediatrician said should be made ASAP is a nightmare.  But according to Megan, that was but a small taste of the nightmare she, Kensley, and their entire family have been living since.

            The November 16 appointment involved drawing labs.  Kensley was scheduled for a thyroid biopsy November 21.  While Megan should have been calming the nerves of her little girl the day of the biopsy, she instead had to spend over three hours on the phone, still awaiting approval.  That approval was finally granted just 30 minutes before the scheduled biopsy. 

            The results revealed that nine-year-old Kensley had thyroid cancer, which required her to have a complete thyroidectomy in December.  She also had to have one of her parathyroid glands removed, and her surgeon took 14 lymph nodes to check for metastasis.

            After the surgery, KelseyCare Aetna informed Megan that there wasn’t enough documentation to substantiate the removal of Kensley’s thyroid.  In fact, they denied coverage for the tumor removal three times, claiming it was not medically necessary, while approving chemotherapy, which was not even an option presented by the doctors at TCH.  After more hours on the phone, away from her daughter, and unimaginable stress, the surgery was covered.

            Then Megan was told the lab work done November 16, which cost over $1000, was not covered because Megan used Quest Diagnostics.  They claim the plan Megan and her family are on through Dickinson ISD only allows for LabCorp.  Megan used Quest Diagnostics because she got on the TRS website even while at TCH that day, and the website clearly displayed that the TRS Active Care 2-Select paid 100% if the member used Quest.  However, now KelseyCare Aetna is busy playing the blame game.  They blamed Megan for choosing the wrong lab.  When she told them she had screen shots to prove what she saw on the TRS website, they blamed her district for sharing the wrong information, TRS for posting incorrect information on their site, and even the state.  Megan is still fighting this.

            Just this week, Kensley had to return to TCH for a full day of tests, including five x-rays, and the addition of two prescriptions and two over-the-counter medications. 

            (TCH tried diligently to help Megan by applying for a “Medicaid buy-in,” which would allow her to keep her insurance but pay the government an additional insurance premium for secondary coverage.  The application was denied because Kensley’s cancer had not spread.  Kudos to them.)

            This week’s tests showed no new tumors in Kensley’s thoracic cavity, which is the best news her family has heard since September.  They know their little girl faces a lifetime of body scans, ultrasounds, lab work, 3-9 pills a day, radioactive iodine therapy, lymph-node mapping, and more.  She continues to endure aches and pains, weight gain, thinning hair, and bald spots.  She already has appointments at TCH scheduled for July and August, as well as an ultrasound, oncology appointments, labs, infusions, and more medications scheduled for September.

            Megan and her family need to focus on precious Kensley’s recovery.  Instead, Megan is spending hours on the phone and enduring untold anxiety over denied medical bills because she is a Texas teacher caught in the 2017 Texas Legislative Session’s TRS conundrum.

            Meanwhile, in Austin, Gov. Abbott has refused to even acknowledge the calls for a Special Session to address the TRS healthcare nightmare.  Who can possibly explain what public school employees and retirees across this state ever did to deserve his disdain?
            So I ask again, Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Patrick, and members of the Texas Legislature, while this mother, a TEXAS TEACHER, can’t sleep because of the worry over her little girl diagnosed with cancer and constant battles over insurance coverage--or lack thereof--HOW CAN YOU SLEEP?

These are screen shots Megan took from the TRS website before choosing to use Quest Diagnostics back in November

   

The message Megan received just this week from a representative at KelseyCare Aetna regarding the NOVEMBER lab work:

Chris Ardis retired in May of 2013 following a 29-year teaching career. She now helps companies with business communications and social media and works as a sales coordinator for Tony Roma's and Macaroni Grill. Chris can be reached at cardis1022@aol.com.

Dear Governor Abbott and Lt. Governor Patrick…I can’t sleep. How can you?

Dear Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick,

            I can’t sleep.  How can you?

            It is past midnight, and I have to be up by 5:30 tomorrow morning in order to be at an imaging center in the Rio Grande Valley when they open.  I have to be there for a sonogram.  I can’t sleep because of anxiety over the results.  But my anxiety is even greater as I consider the cost associated with this sonogram.  One year ago, I would not have had this level of anxiety over a necessary medical procedure.  One year ago, I had affordable insurance.

            I am a retired Texas teacher.  I taught in Texas schools for 29 years.  For 29 years, I worked with the promise of affordable healthcare during my career and in retirement.  It was understood that in exchange for a salary that did not come close to matching my education and experience, I would have the benefit of knowing I could pay for necessary medical procedures.

            I have not been to a medical doctor since January.  I have avoided going at all cost because of what the two of you, most members of the Texas Senate, and several members of the Texas House did to my insurance and to the insurance of my fellow retired public school teachers, custodians, bus drivers, librarians, nurses, secretaries, classroom aides, administrators, cafeteria workers, maintenance workers, and police officers.

            For the first four years of my retirement, you and the Texas Legislature kept the promise I lived by for 29 years.  I had a $400 deductible and a copay for my doctors’ visits, medical procedures, and prescription drugs.  But since January, all of that has changed.  Now I have a $1500 deductible and no copay.  Instead, I have to pay 100 percent of the bill for my doctors’ visits, medical procedures, and prescription drugs out of pocket until I reach that $1500.  Once I reach that, I still have to pay 20 percent.  Do you know how much $1500 is to a retired public school employee?  (And it is $3000 for anyone who has a spouse on his/her plan.)

            While I can’t sleep tonight as I worry about the cost for tomorrow’s sonogram.  I would guess you two are sleeping just fine.  After all, your insurance, provided by the state, is far greater than ours.  One only has to compare ERS healthcare (for all other retired state employees and retired Texas legislators) to TRS healthcare (provided to my colleagues and me) to see the injustice.  While ERS retirees are living with promises kept, we are all living with promises broken, and an incredible number of my colleagues are going broke and choosing to forego medical care as a result.

            Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick, I had my last sonogram in December.  The radiologist recommended that I have “tissue sampling”; however, in talking to my surgeon and knowing the healthcare nightmare I would be living starting in January, I opted to wait six months for a follow-up sonogram.  I am praying that I made the right decision, a decision I forced upon me because you and those members of the Texas Legislature who followed your lead decided we were no longer worthy of the affordable healthcare we had been promised throughout our careers.

            I can’t help but think about so many of my colleagues across the state who have endured sleepless nights since January.  I have posted many of their stories.  Scores of us have called your office and sent you messages but with no response.  Rep. Terry Canales and Rep. José Menéndez were the first to formally ask you to call a Special Session to deal with our healthcare crisis.  I recently learned that another Valley legislator. Rep. Ryan Guillen, requested in February that you call a Special Session. 

Our calls and emails and their formal pleas for a Special Session have been blatantly ignored. 

            While we lie awake, you sleep.  While you get the healthcare you need, we do not.  While all other state retirees and Texas legislators continue to enjoy affordable healthcare, we live this nightmare.

            Another day, another week, another month with no response from either of you regarding a Special Session.  Another day, another week, another month wondering how you could break a promise we believed in for so many years.

            How can you sleep?

Sincerely,

Christine Ardis

Retired Texas Teacher Living the TRS Nightmare

Chris Ardis retired in May of 2013 following a 29-year teaching career. She now helps companies with business communications and social media and works as a sales coordinator for Tony Roma's and Macaroni Grill. Chris can be reached at cardis1022@aol.com. (Photo by Linda Blackwell, McAllen)