Medical Insurance Highlights

Medical Insurance Highlights—Effective January 1, 2022 

• The TRB Insurance plans will be administered by UnitedHealthcare. (Yes, all one word—no spaces!) 
• Both Medicare Supplement and Medical Advantage plans will be offered. 
• A summary of the costs and benefits is posted at https://portal.ct.gov/trb Click on Health Insurance and then click on Open Enrollment for 2022 Health Insurance Coverage. 
• In-person or dial-in information sessions have been scheduled at various sites between October 18 and November 4. They are listed with the Open Enrollment Information. 
• There will be one premium for medical services, prescriptions, and vision and hearing coverage. Dental cover-age is separate and still covered by Cigna. 
• Renew Active replaces Silver Sneakers. 
• UnitedHealthcare Plan Guide will be posted online at www.UHCRetiree.com/TRB and www.ct.gov/trb in Mid-October. 
• Costs for the two plans are listed in the table below. The 2022 plans will be administered by UnitedHealthcare and will be effective on January 1, 2022. The 2021 plans were administered by Anthem. 
• The decision to select either the Medicare Advantage plan (Base Plan) or the Medicare Supplement plan (Senior Supplement) should be made after careful consideration of your health history and your possible future needs. 

Check out the rate comparisons....

ARTC Lobbying Efforts

GBRTA is an affiliate of the Association of Retired Teachers of Connecticut (ARTC) and cooperated with that organiza-tion to support the following legislative goals in the past legislative session: 

• increasing the exemption of teacher pensions from the State Income Tax from 25% to 50%. ARTC was the only organization to encourage the passage of this legislation. 
• providing the full State contributions to the retired teachers’ pension and heath insurance funds. 
• reducing the assumed rate of return of the Teachers’ Pension Fund from 8% to 6.9% to match the rate of the Con-necticut State Employees fund. 
• adding an additional retired teacher to the Teachers’ Retirement Board. Currently there are four active teachers on the Board and two retired teachers. The sharp increase in the number of retired teachers has resulted in a ratio that underrepresents retired teachers. 

ARTC’s lobbying efforts resulted in the achievement of three of the four legislative goals. The addition of a retired teacher to the TRB was not approved but will become a goal for the next legislative session. 

President's Letter

Dear Colleagues,

As I write this, summer is coming to a close and the cool,crisp days of autumn will be arriving soon. According to reports, the hot, wet weather we experienced here in Connecticut will lend itself to a spectacular, if short, foliage display. I hope you will be able to enjoy this lovely time of year with a New England vacation of just a short walk around the neighborhood. 

Zoom meetings, with distant members in attendance, have kept you current with what is happening in GBRTA. However, I am looking forward to our first general meeting for the 2021-2022 year on October 7th. We have not had a luncheon meeting since December of 2019 and I miss the chatter and laughter of the in- person gatherings. Details of the upcoming meetings along with dates and menus will be found elsewhere in this newsletter. 

As you should be aware, through emails sent by our communications chair, Barbara Kmetz, the legislature passed a 50% exemption on state income tax on our pensions. We have the Association of Retired Teacher (ARTC) to thank for their lobbying efforts. Please consider joining that organization. Retired teachers do not have union representation and ARTC strives to protect the rights of retirees. 

On January 1, 2022, we will have our health insurance provided by United Health Care. More information should be forthcoming. 

At this time, our educators have now returned to the classroom full time, where they are finally able to interact with their students. Distance learning attempted to fill the learning gap but nothing takes the place of “hands on” instruction. I’m sure that you are in agreement that if an individual wanted to sit in front of a computer throughout the day they would have chosen another career. If you remain in contact with colleagues that are still teaching please wish them well. 

Stay healthy, stay safe, 

Rose Marie D’Aquila

President GBRTA