Articles about Health Insurance that may be useful to Massachusetts retirees
By Shawn Duhamel, Chief Executive Officer
MARCH 4, 2021: Group Insurance Commission Announces Fiscal Year 2022 Plan Rates: The Group Insurance Commission held their monthly meeting to set the premium rates for FY22 ahead of the open enrollment process. As we were anticipating from previous meetings the Commission voted on a 5.2% average increase across all plans, non-Medicare and Medicare plans. Overall, the average increase for the six Medicare plans is 2.3%. The most popular plan, the UniCare OME plan, has an increase, 2.2%, which equates to a total $8.94 increase for FY22.
Baker: High-Volume Sites Will Speed Process
Katie Lannan - State House News Service
February 17, 2021:
Massachusetts will roughly double the population eligible for COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, when people over age 65, the residents and staff of affordable and low-income housing for seniors, and people with two or more health conditions that put them at higher risk will be newly able to make appointments.
Includes State/Teachers’ 3% COLA & Extends Retiree Work Waiver
December 4, 2020: House and Senate leaders completed work on the $46 billion-dollar FY21 budget with both branches voting on a conference committee report in a rare Friday session. The final version now goes to Governor Baker for approval. The vote today takes us one step closer to ending the 6-month delay of a final FY21 budget.
November 6, 2020: Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the 2021 monthly Medicare Parts A and B premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts in which the Medicare Part B monthly premium remains steady.
Congress Caps 2021 Medicare Part B Premium
October 15, 2020: As just announced by the Social Security Administration (SSA) this week, the benefits, payable to more than 64 million Social Security beneficiaries, will be increased by a 1.3% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). This COLA increase will begin on December 31, 2020.
Retiree Enrollment Underway
September 2020: In the July edition of the Voice, we announced a new initiative to bring telehealth services to Mass Retirees members.
Known as Ibis (pronounced eye- biss), the program uses advanced computer technology and a robust service support team to help retirees to self-manage and monitor their chronic conditions at home. The pro- gram has been expanded to provide for COVID-19 monitoring.
A tablet made by a Massachusetts company is using artificial intelligence to help seniors with chronic health conditions as well as to identify symptoms of the novel coronavirus. The technology is empowering seniors to have more control of their health and avoid trips to the doctor and hospital.
Since 1968 the Retired State, County and Municipal Employees Association has been the leading voice for Massachusetts public retirees and their families. Join with our 52,000 members as we continue the fight.
