Notes from the Ohio Council of Higher Education Retirees (OCHER) meeting of November 17, 2015
CAMPUS REPORTS:
- Toledo – 1.5% enrollment decrease; consolidating 16 colleges into about 8 to save money. Retirees association awards five $1000 scholarships.
- OSU – They had a fall conference with a keynote speaker and breakout sessions; it was oversubscribed.
- Youngstown State -- President Tressel is widely popular.
- Cincinnati – The retirees association is studying developing a retirement community near campus.
- Akron – Big dissatisfaction with the president.
OPERS report by representative Michele Hobbs: OPERS is pushing to repeal the “Cadillac Tax” on higher health benefits.
OPERS report by Gordon Gatien: The new health care plan is called Connector and it gets members into insurance exchanges and provides money to cover part of the costs. OPERS contracted One Exchange to provide assistance in selecting and signing up for the best plan for the individual. It takes about a 3-hour phone call with 3 counselors to complete. Several OCHER reps had been through the process with varying degrees of satisfaction. It was recommended to have a helper listen in.
STRS HEALTH REPORT by Greg Nickell: Past projections of benefits have been based on an assumed investment return of 7.6%, which worked then. Now the return is around 5% and not expected to grow back to 7.6%. They are looking at many options to deal with the lower income.
LEGISLATIVE REPORT by Dick Hill: All five 5 Ohio public retirement systems have met the 30 year goal for having funding to cover retirement obligations. In the Center for Public Integrity study, Ohio was rated D+; the good news is we were 6th best in the country.
