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JAN 2007 - Duxbury Awaits Weston Decision - Earlier this year, we reported that Duxbury officials postponed a vote on mandatory Medicare (Section 18) until this fall. If Section 18 is accepted by a town, then its retirees and survivors, who are Medicare eligible, will be forced to enroll in Parts A and B and a supplement plan provided by it.
Duxbury retirees, who would be forced to transfer out of their current non-Medicare plan and into Parts A and B (plus the supplement), have been working with town officials to see if a compromise could be reached. According to Association member Dick Bayramshian, “We wanted to see if an exception could be made that allowed retirees, who would be eligible for Medicare before this coming July, to remain in their non-Medicare plan if they so wanted.
“In other words, Section 18 would only be mandatory for those retirees and survivors who became eligible for Medicare after July 1st. But, unfortunately we weren’t able to agree on the exception before Section 18 was accepted recently at the fall town meeting.”
Since a compromise could not be reached, Duxbury retirees have only one option to possibly stop  being forced out of their non-Medicare plan. That would be through the courts.
One of the issues, raised by the group was their argument that the municipal health insurance law (Chapter 32B) required that the town reimburse them for their Part B premium. At this time, retirees will not be reimbursed for any portion of the Federal premium.
“Through the Association, I understand that there may be a decision in the lawsuit by Weston retirees, challenging their town’s decision to adopt Section 18, before next July. Since they’re asking the court to decide that Weston is responsible for the Part B premium, it makes sense to wait before taking any further legal action.
“In the meantime, we haven’t closed the door entirely with town officials. We’ll continue to push for a more active role by our insurance advisory committee (IAC) in resolving this matter.”
 
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