Under state law (Section 18 of Chapter 32B), a town can elect to transfer its Medicare eligible retirees into the federal program and provide them with a supplement plan - a local option which many communities have adopted. Last year, Weston's town meeting voted to adopt Section 18, beginning July 1.

According to AWARE officials, they are not challenging the law itself or the town's authority to adopt it. What they are questioning is whether Weston is satisfying all of its legal obligations under the law before it can transfer eligible retirees out of their non-Medicare insurance plans.

"Among its conditions, Section 18 requires that a town's Medicare supplement plans, plus Parts A and B, are of 'comparable actuarial value' to the non-Medicare plans from which the retirees are being transferred," states Bill Rehrey, counsel for our Association. "If these three magic words are not satisfied, then retirees can't be forced to make the transfer."

In their lawsuit, AWARE contends that the town's Medicare supplement plans, with Parts A and B, are not of comparable actuarial value. Therefore, Weston is not complying with what could be termed the law's "equal test", and its retirees should be allowed to remain in non-Medicare insurance plans if they so choose.

By way of background, most of our members, who retired from Weston, do not actually live in the town, which is considered to be one of the state's wealthiest communities. To better promote their interests at the town level, members and their families joined together and created AWARE.