A pointed response to Lima News article

From John Curry, February 21, 2008
Subject: Lima News blog re Lima News article

My, my! Look what I found in the Lima News blog. Some concerned person wrote a rather agreeable post in the Lima News blog. It looks like the blog master censored out a few words but, by reading between the lines, I believe the well-intended blogger meant "bitches" instead of *****. Any way, I tend to agree with the author 100%! John

[From] concerned45895 New member

E-mail Re: Teachers retirement system looking for health care funding - [49431] The original article was poorly titled. There are no "bonus" checks for STRS retirees and there never were. Since 2001, the issuance of what was called the "13th" check was terminated. This "13th" check was only a small fraction of a regular monthly retirement check.

The good Dr. Clemens, who apparently disdains any of his tax dollars going for healthcare for retired educators, might want to think about a few other public servants who also contribute to the quality of life that he is provided by public servants. I wonder if he ***** about paying taxes for the law enforcement agencies that protect him and his dental office from thefts and burglaries? I wonder if he ***** about the county snowplow driver who clears the path so that he can drive to work? They both are members of a public retirement system that is partially funded through tax dollars. I also wonder how many of his fellow dentists were educated in public schools so that they could go on and ply their trade, thanks to public educators? I also wonder how many educators at Rhodes State College he cares about as they are contributors to STRS and he is on their Board of Trustees....what will he tell them? I have a hunch he won't tell them anything. It is also obvious that Dr. Clemens can read....I wonder if he will thank a public educator for that? Then again, maybe he attended an "upper-crust" private school.

The policeman and the snow plow driver retire in OPERS (Ohio Public Employees Retirement System). They are offered a 80/20 PPO healthcare insurance package for the retiree and his/her spouse for a total of $80 per month premium. The same healthcare insurance package premium for an STRS (non-Medicare age) retiree and spouse is now at $850 PER MONTH or EIGHT AND ONE HALF TIMES the cost of an OPERS coverage! Of course, Dr. Clemens didn't mention that, did he? In fact, a one-hour crown installation in his dentist's office is of greater expense than many STRS retirees see in in two weeks worth of their pension checks.

Yes, there were some "bad apples" on the former STRS board in the early 2000's. Five of them AND the former STRS Executive Director were each convicted of one or more violations of the Ohio Revised Code for violations of Ohio ethics laws. They all accepted gratuities from STRS vendors. They all received criminal sanctions which included fines, probation, and public service. They all resigned in disgrace from the STRS board and the position of Executive Director. In short, the bad apples were purged and reform has been an ongoing process at STRS ever since thanks to Dr. Dennis Leone,John Lazares (now are both on the Board), and a very vigilant STRS retiree who filed an official complaint with the Ohio Ethics Commission.

All of this exposure, conviction, purging, and reform still hasn't affected the affordability of healthcare insurance for STRS retirees, many of whom are facing the decision of whether to eat or to buy medicine due to their high healthcare premiums...and, no....not all of them are on the 88% retirement formula. They retired at the old 66% of their final average salary formula after 30 years in the profession.

Yes, there will be those who will equate public educator retirees' benefits with Social Security benefits... and yes, the STRS retirement checks are larger than Social Security provides...so are the policemen's and the snow plow drivers' retirement checks. They, however, weren't required to spend tens of thousands of dollars to get their Masters degree just to be eligible to apply for their jobs, did they? In short, Dr. Clemens got his and the hell with the rest.