Submitted by Paul Wolfe, WSURA Representative to OCHER
The Ohio Council of Higher Education Retirees (OCHER) met on Sept. 15, 2015, in the STRS building in Columbus.
Dues for member retiree associations are $100 per year. Bills have been sent by email to any association that has not already paid, The dues cover the operating expenses for a typical year with a small buffer.
OPERS Report
Medical insurance is a large expense. It is 60.8 percent funded by OPERS; the remainder is paid for by the retiree. The OPERS newsletter provides details.
Legislative Update
Some politicians want to have retirement funds divested from companies that do business with Iran. The boards oppose having politics controlling how the funds are invested. The Columbus Dispatch had an editorial saying don’t mess with retirement fund investments. They are the retirees’ money, not the states’.
California STRS is getting conservative and significantly reducing stocks in favor of treasury bonds and hedge funds. STRS-Ohio is not doing that. OCHER representatives think STRS-Ohio has a good investment staff.
There is a potentially informative web site that gives information on physicians licensing, credentials, and discipline called DocInfo. The Merck Manual is now online. This can give useful drug information.
Advocacy Report
There is a threat to the defined benefit plans posed by Senator Orin Hatch’s proposed “SAFE” act. He may stick it as an amendment to another bill. The effect would be to eliminate public employees DB retirement systems.
Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman have introduced a bill to eliminate the Windfall Elimination Provision of the Social Security code.
STRS Health Care by Greg Nickell
STRS is expecting a large escalation of health care costs. Non-Medicare premiums will go up significantly. Retirees in this category might consider a state insurance exchange. OPERS may give people money to buy their own plans on a state exchange, probably Medicare Plan F. STRS doesn’t want to do this.
Legislative Update by Marla Bump, STRS
Forced inclusion of teacher retirement systems in Social Security is still alive but not hot.
OPERS retirees should be careful of companies selling plans. Don’t confuse mailings from the companies talking about OPERS with actual mailings from OPERS. The mailings may be useful but they aren’t official.
Mitigation rates for Defined Contribution Plans (the percentage of the university contribution to retirement that goes to STRS or OPER) may increase to make up for past underfunding of the retirement systems. The remainder goes into the employees account. All of the employee’s contributions go in to their retirement account. The mitigation rate is currently 4.5 percent.
