John Curry to Damon Asbury: A whole new can of worms

From John Curry, September 25, 2006

Subject: Curry to Asbury

Damon,

So now, some at STRS are considering the possibility of not letting retirees who (due to $700 a month hc insurance premiums left the system to go back to work to afford "affordable" hc insurance) left STRS healthcare programs NOT COME BACK IN??? What next?

To those at STRS (Not Dennis Leone or John Lazares) who would ever coalesce with this gutless concept I say to you, " Your predecessors on the Board and in management were playing golf, racking up bar bills, eating at expensive restaurants, watching Broadway musicals and globetrotting (all on our dime) while they should have been minding the store and now you are giving lip service to this concept while we were and are still subsidizing your child care center and furnishing your associates with an excellent (and inexpensive) healthcare package far superior to retirees' (with free dental coverage included), and paying for Associates' private attorney fees? You have no conscience." Of course, most of those who will aid in this decision, if it is ever made, will retire with OPERS benefits and healthcare insurance, won't they? Will today's lip service be tomorrow's reality?

Damon, this has opened up a whole new can of worms.

John