Retirees storm Athens Commission meeting over changes to health benefits | Online Athens

Dozens of retirees stormed out of the Athens-Clarke County Commission meeting Tuesday night frustrated about changes to their health care benefits.

The coordinated effort to “storm the castle,” as one man put it before the meeting, ignited over Athens-Clarke County’s decision to move the retiree benefits to a health care exchange in part out of a push by the Affordable Care Act and in part over a $900,000 savings for the budget that passed in June.

Before the shift, the Medicare-covered retirees enjoyed supplemental coverage through the county program. Mayor Nancy Denson, an Athens-Clarke County retiree herself, praised how well it worked. Under the new program, retirees are given $150 a month to pay for their own supplemental insurances with as many as 15 different insurances to choose from, each with their own nuances and subtleties.

The goal with the shift was managing the moral and legal obligation to retirees while remaining good stewards of public money, she said. It’s also a shift toward exchanges she predicts everyone will be moving toward.

via Retirees storm Athens Commission meeting over changes to health benefits | Online Athens.