Shirlee Zerkel re: STRS Board to vote on plan it knows nothing about

Shirlee Zerkel to Nancy Hamant, May 24, 2007
Subject: In agreement!

Nancy,

Thanks for sending out your opinion on the Advantage Plan. I thought I was the only one with that opinion. So they are going to vote on it in June, yet no details of how it will function are known! How can the board make an intelligent decision on the issue when details are not available? I think that maybe back in 1986 or 87, STRS may have made the same quick decision about paying Part A expenses for all teachers who were already employed in a school district when it became law that Medicare taxes were taken from teachers' wages. Now STRS is stuck paying the hospital benefits (Medicare A) for retired teachers who are 65 and over. There are still 42 teachers employed in the district I retired from who have never paid Medicare taxes and STRS will be paying their Part A hospital bills if the teacher does not have a spouse who paid into Medicare.

Shirlee