RE: Gee...STRS was closed today!

From Dennis Leone, July 3, 2009

Subject: RE: Gee...STRS was closed today!

While I realize that Wall Street was closed today, my bank was open………so was McDonald’s, Lowes, Barnes and Noble, and Kroger’s…….and even the local movie theatre. The STRS staff wants to have all the perks and benefits of active teachers – like generous sick leave, personal leave, 11 holidays, snow days, college course reimbursements, and, of course, a terrific pension system – but they also want the base salaries and bonuses of the Wall Street gang.

D. Leone

From John Curry, July 3, 2009
Subject: Gee...STRS was closed today!

Just talked to CORE member Duke Snider who advised that today he called STRS and the answering machine advised that STRS was closed due to a holiday.

John

Have a great holiday tomorrow!

STRS FLASHBACK - 6 Years Ago As the 4th of July holiday , the Legislature offered lip service to to a Taft veto override but.... they were just words

From John Curry, July 3, 2009

....even State Auditor (at that time) Betty Montgomery (who had a designee on the STRS board) gave lip service for additional audits. Truth be known, Betty's designee on the board never cast a "no" vote at an STRS board meeting.....never! Of course, Betty never mentioned that, did she? So, the bottom line...no special performance audit, no forensic audit, no inspector general investigation, no summer break return for the Legislature to address this issue, nada! Talk by politicians was cheap, but action was harder to come by:

“Members of our public pension funds deserve to know that their dollars are being invested and managed properly,” Montgomery said.

"Rep. Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, sent a letter last week to House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and Senate President Doug White, R-Manchester, asking that both chambers reconvene to deal with the issue. Nearly 50 members of the General Assembly signed the letter, though Grendell said he would have had more if not for the July 4 holiday."

Minority leaders in the Senate and the House backed the veto override. Sen. Gregory DiDonato, D-New Philadelphia, joined by eight other Senators asked White to “join our colleagues in the House in a push to provide Ohio’s pensioners greater safeguards.”

Rep. Chris Redfern, D-Catawba Island, said, “We need to give taxpayers confidence that this sort of mismanagement can never happen again.”

"On another front, Schuring is backing legislation by Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, to give Inspector General Thomas P. Charles the power to investigate the pension funds."

Montgomery seeks law to review STRS practices

Canton Repository, July 8, 2003

By PAUL E. KOSTYU

Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS — State Auditor Betty Montgomery now wants regular and independent performance reviews of the State Teachers Retirement System.

Montgomery is working with Ohio Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, and Rep. Michelle Schneider, R-Cincinnati, to craft a law that would require reviews of the pension fund’s investments and management practices.

Montgomery said her office is equipped to handle the audit, but an outside firm should be hired so it is independent of the fund. A representative of Montgomery’s office as well as the offices of the attorney general and state superintendent of schools are voting members of the STRS board. The pension fund would be required to pay for the audit.

“Members of our public pension funds deserve to know that their dollars are being invested and managed properly,” Montgomery said.

Meanwhile, legislators from both parties want the House and Senate to return from their summer break to override a line-item veto by Gov. Bob Taft that prevents the state’s inspector general from investigating STRS and the other four state pension funds.

Rep. Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, sent a letter last week to House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and Senate President Doug White, R-Manchester, asking that both chambers reconvene to deal with the issue. Nearly 50 members of the General Assembly signed the letter, though Grendell said he would have had more if not for the July 4 holiday.

“The independent power of the inspector general’s office would only strengthen oversight capabilities,” he said.

Minority leaders in the Senate and the House backed the veto override. Sen. Gregory DiDonato, D-New Philadelphia, joined by eight other Senators asked White to “join our colleagues in the House in a push to provide Ohio’s pensioners greater safeguards.”

DiDonato said, “Taft has made a terrible error in vetoing this provision.”

Rep. Chris Redfern, D-Catawba Island, said, “We need to give taxpayers confidence that this sort of mismanagement can never happen again.”

Maggie Mitchell, a spokeswoman for White, said reconvening the Senate is not something that he has talked about with staff or other senators.

Dwight Crum, a spokesman for Householder, said Grendell’s request has not been reviewed, and members have not been contacted.

Because the line-item veto occurred on a House bill, overriding it would have to originate in the House.

On another front, Schuring is backing legislation by Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, to give Inspector General Thomas P. Charles the power to investigate the pension funds.

Schuring also has introduced Senate Bill 105 with bipartisan support that would require officials and employees of the five pension funds to file financial disclosures statements with the Ohio Ethics Commission.

The flurry of legislative activity comes in the wake of a revelations that STRS spent $16.1 million in staff bonuses since August 2000, according to newly computed figures, as well as millions more on board travel and artwork at its headquarters, while the fund’s portfolio lost $12.3 billion.

Members of STRS are discussing how to prepare a class-action lawsuit. There also are plans to organize a protest march from the Statehouse to STRS headquarters at the fund’s next board meeting Aug. 15. Schuring said he will participate in the march.

Click image to enlarge.

Happy Birthday, Medicare!

From John Curry, July 2, 2009

Rep. Steny Hoyer and Rep. John D. Dingell

Posted: July 1, 2009

Preserving Medicare's Success, 43 Years Later As popular as Medicare is now, it is hard to believe that it was once bitterly opposed. Medicare came into existence 43 years ago today, in the face of many who doubted that it could cover millions of people, provide them with excellent care, and keep costs low. By now, though, Medicare has proven to be one of the most efficient ways of collecting and dispensing health care payments. It has meant peace of mind for generations of senior citizens and a boost to American industry, especially in the form of the wrap-around plans that have reduced health care costs for companies while actually increasing quality of care.

Today, Congress is debating the most significant reform to our health care system since Medicare. In fact, parts of Medicare itself may change -- which will give friends of the current broken status quo an array of scare tactics they can use to oppose health care reform as a whole.

The truth, though, is that doing nothing is no longer an option. Spiraling health care costs threaten to bankrupt our country and damage the well being of all Americans. Since 2000, family premiums have more than doubled, while wages have remained stagnant; just last year, employees' out-of-pocket health care costs were up more than 10%. Medicare shares the burden of those fast-rising costs; in fact, its current course is unsustainable, with its trust fund set to be exhausted in as little as eight years. For that reason alone, Medicare reform should go hand-in-hand with reform to bring affordable care to all Americans.

To save Medicare, we must make it more efficient -- but we also have to preserve what has made it so valuable for millions. Democrats are dedicated to protecting and improving Medicare, ensuring that all seniors have access to low-cost prescription drugs, improving low-income subsidy programs to make sure that Medicare is affordable to all, ending wasteful overpayments, and adding new consumer protections to private Medicare Advantage plans.

For years, physicians have treated aging patients as they've transitioned from private insurance to Medicare -- one of the services that make so many doctors pillars of their communities. But doctors also need new incentives to continue treating Medicare patients, which is why we're committed to improving payment rates for family doctors and other primary care physicians. We also want to eliminate the 21 percent cut in doctors' fees that is scheduled for 2011.

As we improve Medicare, we can also recognize that it has a lot to teach us about bringing quality care to millions of Americans. Those lessons will be vital to the health care reform debate. They include the importance of rewarding coordinated care, the harms of inaccurate payments and overpayments to private plans, and the need to make critical delivery system reforms to the way doctors are reimbursed. We have also learned that the fee-for-service system -- in which doctors are paid for procedures instead of health outcomes -- creates greater potential for fraud and abuse. Health care reform should tackle all of those challenges, while rewarding providers who give coordinated, quality care to patients at reasonable costs, with lower readmission rates.

This anniversary is a time to celebrate Medicare's many successes -- successes so many Americans have seen firsthand, in the lives of seniors who have received guaranteed, dignified health treatment. As far as we're concerned, that is something every American deserves. But preserving Medicare's success, and fixing our health care system as a whole, means that we need to face up to some urgent changes. With the largest generation of Americans set to retire, health care costs are set to skyrocket even further; without change, those costs are on pace to exceed the GDP of our entire country.

But now, while we can see that calamity coming, we have a chance to avert it. This summer, we have an opportunity to build a health care system worthy of all Americans. Doubters will tell us that it can't be done. But that's the same thing they said 44 years ago.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-steny-hoyer/preserving-medicares-succ_b_223374.html?view=print

Tom Curtis to Duke Snider re: Letters from Brown County RTA

From Tom Curtis, July 2, 2009
Subject: Re: letters from Retirees from Brown County RTA to pols - A new Rep. added to the "write to" list....

Hello Ken,

I have emailed my Rep. Scott Oleslager about HB 177 a couple of times. Yesterday he called me. He said that he was waiting to see where that bill went before he would consider adding his name to it. He said that all kinds of amendments would likely be added before a final version would be presented, if it made it that far, thus it might be entirely different by then. He also indicated that because a couple of Republicans introduced it, he doubted it would go anywhere. I asked him if he supported the idea. He said he would have to wait and see before he would comment on that. In other words, he made absolutely no commitment on the issue.

In my opinion from talking with him numerous times about pension system spending issues and board make-up issues, he has not been an advocate of getting involved. He has consistently indicated that the board has to make the decisions and/or a call from the entire educational community, which he has not seen.

Tom Curtis

From Ken ("Duke") Snider, July 1, 2009
Subject: Fw: letters from Retirees from Brown County RTA to pols - A new Rep. added to the "write to" list....

The Veterans Home address is 2003 Veterans Blvd. Georgetown, Ohio 45121. Please bring letters to your state rep., senator, governor, and Debbie Newcomb so they all can be mailed the same day.

From Mario Iacone, July 1, 2009 Click images to enlarge...........................................................

Shirlee Zerkel: Response from Sandy Knoesel

From Shirlee Zerkel, June 30, 2009
Subject: Thank you

This is the answer I received from Sandy Knoesel.

Shirlee Zerkel

From Sandy Knoesel, June 30, 2009
Subj: RE: Thank you

The Board has not voted on this issue.

From Shirlee Zerkel, June 27, 2009
Subject: Thank you

Dear Ms. Knoesel:

Thank you for sending me the health care report from the last Board meeting.

I have another question. I remember there was information in one health care report to the Board a few months ago that if a retiree left the health care program of STRS, they would no longer receive their reimbursement for Medicare B. Has that been voted on by the Board and if so, what was the decision?

Thank you,

Shirlee

STRS Flashback - 6 Years Ago - A big "Thank You, Dr. Leone," for putting an axe to extravagance...will it come back once you're gone?

From John Curry, June 30, 2009

STRS is tops in employee perks
Canton Repository, July 31, 2003
By PAUL E. KOSTYU
Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS — Ohio has five public retirement funds. The State Teachers Retirement System is not the largest in investment portfolio, nor in members.

But it outstrips all others in the number of employees and the credit cards and cars they get.

The teachers system owns 16 vehicles, including two Dodge Durango SUVs costing about $34,000 each. Eight of the vehicles are assigned to executives. Five of those executives can drive them on personal trips. In fact, so can their families.

The system also pays the insurance on the fleet, which is valued at $428,101 and includes 10 vans, a truck, two sedans, a wagon and the Durangos.

Another expense for the state system is 50 American Express credit cards distributed to employees and board members, and 20 BP gas cards.

“They don’t need to exist in that magnitude,” said Rep. Michelle G. Schneider, R-Cincinnati, a critic of the system’s spending.

The teachers fund guidelines say that the vehicles assigned to Executive Director Herbert Dyer and his four deputies can be used “for both business and personal use,” though the latter is “considered as taxable income” to the employee and must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service and Ohio Department of Taxation.

Any family member with a driver’s license can use the vehicles as long as the employee is in it or, “is about to be picked up or has just been dropped off.”

In other words, an employee’s son can take the vehicle and his friends on a trip as long as he drops off dad or mom at work on the way.

No other pension fund has that policy. In fact, none of the directors of the state’s four other funds use a company car.

But the Ohio Police and Fireman’s Pension Fund, which employs 180 people, allows some personal spending on American Express cards it distributes.

Thirty-two employees and board members have the cards, at a cost of $50 each. The police fund also maintains three cards for its purchasing department, five corporate AT&T calling cards (though four are locked in a safe), and three corporate Sam’s Club cards. The fund has one vehicle, a 1999 Ford Windstar van, used to carry supplies and mail.

Laurie Hacking, executive director of the Public Employees Retirement System, the state’s largest in terms of members and portfolio, has no vehicle assigned to her. And none of that fund’s fleet of seven vans and five cars can be used for personal use.

Hacking said vehicles must be reserved in advance for pension fund-related trips. Gas credit cards are checked out with a vehicle and mileage must be recorded. Hacking uses her own car and submits mileage for reimbursement for fund-related trips. The fund, however, has 60 cards from three gas companies, a number Hacking said is high and “being looked at.”

As for credit cards, the Public Employees Retirement System issues MasterCards to 21 people. There is no annual fee. Hacking said the number of cards will be reduced because Bank One now will allow cards to be issued to departments instead of individuals.

“It will make cleaner record keeping,” said Hacking, who has no corporate card. “We don’t want as many cards out there.”

Richard Curtis, executive director of the Highway Patrol Retirement System, the state’s smallest, also uses his personal car for fund business. There are no gas credit cards.

“There is no practical value in having a (corporate) car,” said Curtis, who drives about 10 miles one way to work each day. “There is less expense and less overhead for maintenance and insurance.”

His pension fund distributes eight Visa credit cards obtained through the Highway Patrol Credit Union, which has no annual fee. One card is assigned to Curtis and each of the seven board members in their name with a tracking number.

Curtis said the card holders are billed individually for their purchases and are reimbursed if proper receipts are submitted.

The same policy is used at the teacher’s retirement system, according to Robert A. Slater, deputy executive director of finance.

But the teachers system has an exception: board members. The only board members without fund credit cards are the representatives of Attorney General Jim Petro and Auditor Betty Montgomery.

But Steven Puckett, who joined the board in January to represent Ohio Department of Education Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman, has one. He’s used it twice for a trip to Milwaukee to attend training seminars.

“So often using a personal card, the reimbursement lag time is extensive,” said J.C. Benton, a spokesman for Zelman. “He doesn’t travel anywhere else with it or take people out to lunch or dinner.”

The American Express cards are given to teachers fund employees “who travel frequently as part of their responsibilities or who make local purchases,” Slater said. The cards cannot be used for personal purchases. The monthly statements go to the employees’ home addresses.

Cards go to a range of employees including administrative assistants, portfolio managers, counselors and real estate buyers. Executive Director Herbert L. Dyer turned down an American Express card, though he has a BP card, said spokeswoman Laura Ecklar. Dyer’s executive assistant Eileen Boles has an American Express card.

Dyer uses his personal credit card and submits receipts for reimbursement.

Schneider said she was aghast at the number of STRS vehicles and credit cards.

“Every week there’s a new abuse,” she said. Letting “a whole family drive” an STRS car “is ludicrous. All of this going to have to change.”

Schneider owns and operates a skilled nursing facility and a home health-care agency with 350 employees. She said they use their own cars and credit cards for business trips.

“There is very little abuse, if any, if you do it that way,” she said.

Another critic, Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, said it is not uncommon for business executives to have corporate cars and credit cards.

But “given the extravagant past behavior of (STRS), it’s important ... there’s not abuse of the perks,” he said.

Dyer OK’d board’s own $1,037 restaurant tab

One example of State Teachers Retirement system spending.

An expense report Executive Director Herbert L. Dyer submitted on March 18, 2002, for a 15-person meal at a Columbus restaurant showed a $1,037 bill for a “board dinner with deputies after committee meeting.”

Dyer signed the report twice — once as the person submitting the expense and a second time approving its payment.

Approving one’s own expenditures and its circumstances are items that probably would be reviewed in the course of an audit, said Eric Hardgrove, a spokesman for State Auditor Betty Montgomery.

The Dyer bill, minus a $165 tip, meant that each person spent an average of $58 for their meal. The receipt did not indicate whether alcohol was part of the tab.

Even though every agency is set up differently, Hardgrove said, there must be a system of checks and balances in handling expenses.

“All significant transactions need to be scrutinized,” he said.

— Paul E. Kostyu

Pension funds

Ohio has five public retirement pension funds. In terms of porfolios and membership, the Public Employees Retirement System is biggest. In terms of employees, staff credit cards and staff vehicles, the State Teachers Retirement System is the largest.

State Teachers Retirement System

Portfolio $47.2 billion

Employees 659 full time,

30 part time or interns

Membership 413,219

Vehicles 16

Corporate Card American Express

Number 50

Total Annual Fee $1,750

Gas Card BP

Number 20

Public Employees

Retirement System

Portfolio $52 billion

Employees 545

Membership 797,232

Vehicles 12

Corporate Card MasterCard

Number 21

Total Annual Fee None

Gas Card Shell, BP, Sunoco

Number 60

Highway Patrol Retirement System

Portfolio $554 million

Employees 9

Membership 2,800

Vehicles None

Corporate Card Visa

Number 8

Total Annual Fee None

Gas Card None

Number None

School Employees

Retirement System

Portfolio $7.2 billion

Employees 164

Membership 180,000

Vehicles 5

Corporate Card American Express

and VISA

Number 9 and 3

Total Annual Fee $900

Gas Card BP

Number 8

Police and Firemen’s

Disablity and Pension Fund

Portfolio $7.8 billion

Employees 180 full time,

4 part time

Membership 52,000

Vehicles 1

Corporate Card American Express

Number 35

Total Annual Fee $1,750

Gas Card BP

Number 2

Sources: Ohio’s five public pension funds

— Paul E. Kostyu

STRS credit cards

The State Teachers Retirement System has issued 50 credit cards and 20 gasoline cards to staff and board members. The rules for the cards are:

Corporate Credit Card Eligibility

1. Take at least three trips per year, spend $500 yearly on local meals and-or make purchases to meet departmental business needs.

2. Satisfactory credit history

3. Annual review to determine continued necessity.

Use and Responsibility

1. Lodging, car rental, meals, organizations and business purchases, board uses and airline travel.

2. Personal use is prohibited and “will result in cancellation of card privileges.” Abuse will be noted in employee’s personnel file and made part of next annual review.

3. Annual fees are reimbursable.

4. Receipts required for expenditures over $15.

5. Reimbursement will occur within 48 hours of submitting approved expense report.

6. Monthly invoices are sent to employee’s home address.

7. Invoiced amount must be paid within 10 days.

8. Overdue accounts not paid within five days of notification could result in cancellation of credit card, payroll deduction for personal expenses and disciplinary action.

Source: State Teachers Retirement System

— Paul E. Kostyu

State Teachers Retirement System staff vehicles

The State Teachers Retirement System has 16 vehicles assigned to staff. Here are the vehicles, purchase prices and staffers they’re assigned to.

2002 Chrysler LHX Van: $24,833 Sandy Knoesel, deputy executive director, member benefits

2003 Chrysler LX Van: $34,277 member benefits counseling staff

2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser: $24,443 Herbert Dyer, executive director

2004 Chrysler 300M sedan: $30,132 Damon Asbury, deputy executive director, administration

2003 Dodge Caravan: $24,225 member benefits counseling staff

2003 Dodge Caravan: $23,950 member benefits counseling staff

2003 Dodge Caravan: $23,950 member benefits counseling staff

2001 Dodge Durango SLT: $33,650 Greg Taylor, director, information technology service

2002 Dodge Durango SLT: $34,535 Steve Mitchell, deputy executive director, investments

2001 Ford F-150 XLT Truck: $27,550 Greg Ruess, director, building services

1998 Plymouth Voyager van: $23,250 mail center staff

1999 Plymouth Voyager van: $23,825 Fred Williams, director of administrative services

2000 Plymouth Voyager van: $23,250 information technology service staff

2000 Plymouth Voyager van: $24,472 member benefits counseling staff

2000 Plymouth Voyager van: $23,862 member benefits counseling staff

2004 Pontiac Grand Prix: $27,897 Robert Slater, deputy executive director for finance

Source: State Teachers Retirement System

— Paul E. Kostyu

What Wendell Potter said that you haven't heard...as of yet!

From John Curry, June 30, 2009

Potter, for instance, recalled a trip on a corporate jet from Philadelphia, where CIGNA is headquartered, to Connecticut, where the company's health insurance business is based in Bloomfield. During the flight, he was served lunch on gold-rimmed china with a gold-plated knife and fork.

"I realized for the first time that someone's insurance premiums were paying for me to travel in such luxury," he said on his blog.

However, Potter warned senators that the industry's "charm offensive — which is the most visible part of duplicitous and well-financed PR and lobbying campaigns — may well shape reform in a way that benefits Wall Street far more than average Americans."

One wonders if some of that "charm offensive" didn't affect those at STRS who bought into a Medicare advange program for STRS stakeholders....we'll know better one year down the road when it's time for renewal, won't we? John

Courant.com
SENATE HEARING

Former CIGNA Exec Has Stinging Words For Health Insurers

By DIANE LEVICK
The Hartford Courant
June 25, 2009

A former media relations executive from CIGNA turned dramatically against health insurers at a Senate committee hearing Wednesday, calling the industry an "untrustworthy" partner for its customers and "duplicitous" in blocking meaningful health care reform.

"They confuse their customers and dump the sick — all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors," said Wendell Potter, who retired as CIGNA's vice president of corporate communications last year. He spent nearly 15 years at the company and four years at Humana.

He spoke at a Washington hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation along with others who lambasted health insurers for making their policies and claim-paying methods hard to understand.

Potter urged health care reform that includes a public health plan to compete with private insurers, and told senators the industry is using the kind of fear tactics that they employed to sink reform during the Clinton administration.

He said he was not speaking out because of any grudge against CIGNA. The company treated him well with "lots of bonuses" over the years and persuaded him to stay longer than he'd planned, he said.

But he said he has had a growing feeling in recent years "that the health insurance industry was taking the country in the wrong direction and was directly contributing to the problem of the uninsured and under-insured in the country." The industry, he said, "is not part of the solution as they want us to believe; they are part of the problem."

Potter, for instance, recalled a trip on a corporate jet from Philadelphia, where CIGNA is headquartered, to Connecticut, where the company's health insurance business is based in Bloomfield. During the flight, he was served lunch on gold-rimmed china with a gold-plated knife and fork.

"I realized for the first time that someone's insurance premiums were paying for me to travel in such luxury," he said on his blog.

Potter, 57, is now a senior fellow — a paid consultant — at the Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit organization describing its mission as "exposing corporate spin and government propaganda."

Although Potter revealed no new "smoking guns" Wednesday, he lashed out at insurance practices that have surfaced over the years but may not be well-known to the public.

He condemned insurers' efforts to get rid of unprofitable customers, sell policies that can mislead consumers and offer very limited coverage, and pay out as small a portion of premiums as possible for claims in order to boost profits and please Wall Street.

"Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand — or even to obtain — information we need," Potter's written testimony said.

Also testifying at the hearing was Nancy Metcalf of West Hartford, senior program editor for Consumer Reports magazine and a former Hartford Courant reporter and editor. She spoke about the dangers of limited health insurance plans.

Potter described in written testimony how insurers use "purging" — unrealistic rate increases — to drive off less profitable employers. Citing a USA Today report, he recalled how CIGNA boosted rates in 2006 for the Entertainment Industry Group Insurance Trust so much that for some family plans, premiums would have topped $44,000 a year.

He also recalled how Aetna in the 1990s spent more than $20 million to overhaul computer systems to help the company better identify unprofitable accounts and drop them.

CIGNA, responding to Potter's testimony, said Wednesday, "Although we respect that there are different opinions on the solutions, we strongly disagree with the suggestion that, motivated by profits, the insurance industry has deliberately attempted to confuse or unfairly treat covered individuals."

CIGNA said it advocates for "the importance of information transparency and simplicity" and that it is "working actively and constructively with the administration, Congress and key stakeholders to develop solutions that will increase the access to and quality of health care — and at the same time reduce costs for all."

The trade group America's Health Insurance Plans responded, "We continue to be focused on advancing comprehensive health care reform that addresses the health-care concerns we heard from the American people." Insurers, the group said, have proposed "overhauling the market rules and enacting new consumer protections so nobody is left out, simplifying health care choices for individuals and small businesses, and reforming the delivery system to improve the quality and affordability of health care coverage."

However, Potter warned senators that the industry's "charm offensive — which is the most visible part of duplicitous and well-financed PR and lobbying campaigns — may well shape reform in a way that benefits Wall Street far more than average Americans."

Potter's testimony to the U.S. Senate can be accessed by clicking on this link:
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/PotterTestimonyConsumerHealthInsurance.pdf

www.courant.com/business/hc-cigna-potter.artjun25,0,4107201.story

Molly Janczyk: Time to write to STRS re: COLA

From Molly Janczyk, June 29, 2009
Subject: Retirees: Write STRS re: COLA

PLEASE WRITE STRS: Use my letter below or write your own or edit. But write!

Subject: COLA
Date: Mon, 29 June 2009

STRS Board: Minimize COLA reductions. STRS and OEA need to be empathetic to retirees and not make a run to have our COLA reduced to protect the 35 yr/88% rule.

Retirees have been hit hard enough with untenable increases in HC and cannot afford more loss of any kind of help in offsetting such huge costs out of our pockets.

Eliminate the 88% rule and add a straight 2-2.5% each year which alone will be larger than anything we can ever realize due to higher salaries with raises and steps.

Molly Janczyk
STRS Retiree

Shirlee Zerkel explains the 2010 health program for retirees

From Shirlee Zerkel, June 28, 2009
Subject: Health Program for STRS retirees for 2010 as I see it!

Dear all,

I have taken this information from the June Health Care Report to the Board and from the STRS Website.

If you are under 65, these are your choices for 2010:
...1. Medical Mutual Plus or
...2. Medical Mutual Basic or
...3. If you live in (or near, in some cases) Cleveland, Canton or Toledo, you have Kaiser, Paramount, AultCare.

All of you will have Express Scripts with a yearly deductible for medications of $150.

If you are 65 and have only Medicare Part A or Medicare Part B or live outside the United States, or have a family member that is not 65 yet:
...1. Medical Mutual Plus or
...2. Medical Mutual Basic or
...3. The regional plans if you live in (or near) Cleveland, Canton or Toledo

All of you will have Express Scripts with a yearly deductible for medications of $150.

Now for those of us who are 65 or over and have both Medicare A and B
...1. Will automatically be put into Aetna Medicare Advantage Program (with an out of pocket cost of $1500, which includes the deductible).
...2. Unless we tell STRS we want to be put in the Medical Mutual Basic Plan (with a $1500 deductible).
...3. Or the regional providers like AultCare, Kaiser, and Paramount.

We will have Express Scripts with a yearly deductible for medication of $150.

Charts for all levels of service years are available on the website www.strsoh.org. Look in the center for the June Board meeting report and click on the word 'more' the charts should come up. If you have trouble, email me and can send you the premium for whatever year you want.

I believe that NO Retiree should have to endure what is happening to us, and now they want our COLA too! It is just too much! The only cuts I see for staff is a wage freeze and head count freeze for the majority of the staff. I personally feel that the staff of STRS should experience the same cuts as we do in health care! No raises or bonuses either for ANY of the staff until total funds are at least 80 billion!

My view on the above information is that they have thrown away the retirees who cost them the least in medical costs. I have the Plus Plan this year with only a $500 deductible and I still have not met that amount so STRS has paid no medical expenses for me. Medicare and I have paid to this point and we are in the 7th month of the year. I also use the $4 generic from the local pharm. The Advantage plan sounds great and will be for the first year. This Medicare Advantage Plan is purchased by STRS for us. It is not a self insured plan. So in the light of that fact, the private company (Aetna) can do what they want about our coverage and we have nowhere to go to complain because we no longer have the traditional Medicare for appeals and we can not get help from STRS because we have been sold out!

I see some interesting things here. STRS is retaining the Express Scripts Medicare Plan so they can retain the around 33 million subsidy from the government. These companies that handle Medicare Advantage Programs get subsidies from the government, so is it possible that STRS is getting a subsidy in some way for selling our health care to Aetna.

Shirlee Zerkel
Retiree since 2002

STRS FLASHBACK -- 6 Years Ago -- A Double Header!

From John Curry, June 28, 2009

Part 1 - The public gets a glimpse of the Palace Part 2 - Joe (Endry) attempts to explain away a few entitlements

Part 1- The Palace:

(Click image to enlarge)

STRS headquarters is state of the art
Canton Repository, June 29, 2003
By PAUL E. KOSTYU

Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS — Though it was completed in 1999, the headquarters for the State Teachers Retirement System is back in the news.

Its $94.2 million price tag has become an issue in the controversy swirling around the pension fund’s executive director, Herbert L. Dyer, and its board regarding excessive spending on staff salaries, performance bonuses and travel.

The cavernous structure fills two city blocks east of the Statehouse. It houses 707 employees on seven floors and includes a free parking garage for staff and members.

Within its glass-and-stone walls are six major works of art that cost $869,235. That does not include paintings and other pieces throughout the building, several floors of which bridge a public street. The STRS board room on the sixth floor is over that street.

The facility includes a $426,000 fitness center that employees must pay to use. A cafeteria provides hot meals and other food for a price. Neither the fitness center nor the cafeteria are open to the public. Carol A. Hamilton, the supervisor of food services, makes $39,300 a year.

A $818,000 child-care center has an outdoor playground. The center is filled to capacity with employees’ children and has a waiting list.

A sliding scale of charges is assessed families for use of the center. Families with incomes of up to $66,000 are eligible for subsidies. In 2002, the STRS board paid $487,746 to subsidize the child-care center.

In the past when there have been openings at the center, employees of neighboring offices could apply to have their children attend. The 2003 salary of the center’s director, Jodi L. Wells, is $61,400.
http://www.cantonrep.com/

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Part 2 - Say it ain't so, Joe (Endry)!

Endry said, “It’s not that easy to break contracts. If Mr. Dyer is guilty of anything, it’s doing what the board wants him to do. He didn’t build this building.”

DYER

STRS bound by costly contract

Canton Repository, June 29, 2003
By PAUL E. KOSTYU Copley Columbus Bureau chief

COLUMBUS -- Demanding that Herbert L. Dyer resign as executive director of the State Teachers Retirement System is one thing. Paying for it is another.

If the STRS board fired Dyer tomorrow, he would walk away with a $533,620 check. Unless the board can prove “malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance,” Dyer gets paid for the rest of his 6-1/2 year contract, which ends June 30, 2005.

If he resigns, he gets at least $133,405 because he must give STRS a six-month notice. That does not include pay for any unused sick or vacation time.

His contract gives him an incentive for awarding the STRS investment staff high bonuses regardless of how its investment portfolio does — the more bonuses they get, the more he gets.

Dyer has been under fire for three weeks for directing a pension fund that paid $15 million in performance bonuses and for artwork purchases and travel over three years. That was paid while the system’s investments plummeted by $12.3 billion and healthcare contributions by retirees jumped significantly.

Privately, people in and out of the retirement fund are predicting Dyer will go, either on his own or because he will be forced out. One person said Dyer seems “more dejected” with “a different demeanor” than he normally projects.

But those who work with him say he remains in charge, goes about the business of the fund and has not talked about stepping down.

The chairwoman of the board, Deborah Scott of Cincinnati, has repeatedly and succinctly said, “Mr. Dyer is still the executive director.”

Marilyn Gibbs, a retired Plain Local Schools teacher, sent an e-mail June 12 to several people, including four members of the retirement system’s board. She asked, “I wonder if it’s time for someone to ask Mr. Dyer to resign.”

One board member responded.

Joseph Endry, the only member of the board who is elected to represent retirees, wrote back, “Well-written personal contracts are very expensive to break. Be patient.”

Asked to explain his message, Endry said, “It’s not that easy to break contracts. If Mr. Dyer is guilty of anything, it’s doing what the board wants him to do. He didn’t build this building.”

Among the criticisms of the retirement system is the spending on its posh, nearly $95 million headquarters in Columbus.

Dyer joined the teachers retirement system Jan. 1, 1993. He got a new contract in February 1997, and his current contract began Jan. 1, 1999. It was amended in April 2002.

Dyer’s contract calls for his pay to be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index of the previous year or 3.5 percent, whichever is higher. The index has not been above 3.5 percent since 1991. Computations of Dyer’s base salary, however, show that his raises were actually above the 3.5 percent limit set by the contract.

In 2001, his base salary was $236,000 and rose to $256,260 in 2002, a $20,260 or 8.6 percent increase, according to STRS documents. It went up again this year to $266,810, which is a $10,550 or 4.1 percent increase.

Dyer also has received annual bonuses for meeting performance goals. His bonus is based on the weighted average of bonuses given to the STRS investment department multiplied by a percentage obtained from his annual evaluation.

In other words, the higher the bonuses paid to the STRS investment staff — whether the portfolio did well or not — the higher Dyer’s bonus.

For example, in 2002 the 110-member investment staff received $3.75 million in incentive bonuses for its work in 2001. The average bonus was $34,100. Dyer got a $41,052 bonus or 120.39 percent times the investment staff average.

STRSers....Have you taken advantage of this?

From John Curry, June 28, 2009

I have found that many retirees are not familiar with the Golden Buckeye card. The card is free and can be used at many businesses. Want to know your discounts in your area when you use this card? Here is a link that will tell you exactly what discount you can get in your county or city when you use the GBC. I use mine at least once a week. This is one of the few times that "whipping out some plastic" won't cost you a dime...in fact, you'll get money back! John

http://aging.ohio.gov/goldenbuckeye/locator1.asp

Can't find your Golden Buckeye Card that you were mailed on your 60th birthday? No problem, here's how to get a replacement card without any charge:

How to Get a Replacement Card - If your Golden Buckeye Card has been lost, stolen or damaged, call 1-866-301-6446 to request a replacement.

STRS PLEASE CONSIDER!

From Mario Iacone, June 28, 2009

Cuts to Retirees have much more impact than Cuts to Active Workers!

Retiree Employment Options are limited!

Retiree Health Care costs increase at a far greater percentage!

Cuts in Cost Of Living Adjustments will impact retirees for the rest of their lives.

I would ask all retirees to contact the STRS Board Members and ask them to consider the huge negative impact on retirees of reducing COLA.

I would not even attempt to say it any better than Bob Stein did in a previous discussion.

One of the few things that I don't think has been considered enough is that $1000 does not have the same value to a retiree as it does to an active. A retiree has made all of their retirement decisions and is bound by them. They can't continue to work at an equivalent job or take extra contracts to boost their current income and future retirement as an active can. Money lost to a retiree directly affects their standard of living for the rest of their life. An active still has a few choices and some planning can be done. Retirees are also on their own for healthcare while an active has an employer to negotiate with. With any luck we may have a decent national plan in time to help us with that part of our problems.