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PERA compromise wins panel support
Written by Todd Engdahl on Jan 26th, 2010. | Copyright © EdNewsColorado.org
I understand the need for PERA to become solvent and I am trying to be supportive and patient, but consider this… my health insurance premium (PERA Care by the way) went up in October, just enough to eat up 2009′s COLA. No COLA in 2010, means my benefit is now what I was making in 2008. If my health insurance premium goes up the same amount or more in 2010, I will then be making what I made in 2007 or slightly less. COLA in 2011, 2% will take me back to slightly less than I made in 2008, then comes the 2011 increase in health insurance and I’m into the 2006 range of benefit. I retired in 2006, so I can’t make any more comparisons, but I think you get the point… We were holding steady. Difficult in this economy, we will drown with this proposal.
To quote from the Colorado Statesman:
“Myron Hulen, an emeritus professor of business from Colorado State University, discussed how changes in the COLA would affect retirees. The average PERA pension is $2,772 per month he said. A family of two with an income of about $2,246 per month qualifies for public assistance programs. By reducing the COLA to 2 percent, with an inflation rate of 4 percent per year, the PERA retiree would qualify for public assistance in seven years. At 5 percent, it’s less than five years, he said.”
http://coloradostatesman.com/content/991568-pera-reform-bill-passes-first-test-capitol
That article and more relevant articles are at http://saveperacola.com/.