Instead of receiving a full refund of $624 state retirees received $532.15, while retired municipal teachers under the state plan (RMT) received $432.68. This represents a refund of 85.28% and 69.34% respectively.

The reason behind the two varying amounts is that the monies used to fund the refund come from two separate accounts that cannot be combined. One account is for state retirees; the other is for teachers in the RMT program.

GIC officials made the decision to send out the partial refund after efforts to obtain supplemental funding to cover the full cost became delayed. Throughout August, Association President Ralph White was in frequent communication with GIC Director Dolores Mitchell.

"Our lobbyists tried to obtain the additional $5 million needed to fully fund the reimbursement. Given the recession and financial demand public safety has had on the budget, the money was not forthcoming by early September," said White. "We encouraged the GIC to pay retirees from the money they had on hand at that time. It was better to get our members their money while it was available.

"The funds that had been earmarked for the GIC in late August were diverted over to the State Police for a new recruit class. Hopefully we can find the money to refund 100%."

While Association lobbyists remain optimistic that the legislature will appropriate the additional $5 million in a final deficiency budget during the current informal session, the threat of a near certain veto from Acting Governor Jane Swift remains probable. Since the legislature is no longer meeting in full-formal sessions for the remainder of the year, there would be no opportunity to override the veto.

Members will recall that the Association beat back Swift's veto of $42 million in funding for the FY'03 GIC budget this past July. This followed a misleading assault on the validity of the Medicare refund, in which Swift proposed eliminating the reimbursement.

Since 1991, the GIC has reimbursed state and local retirees, insured through the GIC, for the Medicare premium that is deducted from their monthly Social Security benefit.

As members are well aware, retirees insured through the GIC are forced to join Medicare Part B. This saves the state tens of millions of dollars each year, even after paying the refund for the Part B premium.

"Part of the agreement put in place in 1991 when the state began requiring Medicare enrollment, was that the Part B premium would be reimbursed. This is only fair given what the state is saving by having the federal government cover the lion's share of the cost," explains Association Insurance Coordinator Cheryl Stillman.