Posted on 07/25/2013 3:21:21 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Retired city workers are asking a judge to block Mayor Emanuel from making them rely on Obamacare for their health insurance. It could cost Chicago taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
This affects most city retirees and it underscores how, after decades of grotesque financial mismanagement, the only choices left are painful ones. A spokesman for the lawsuit was a retired cop, wounded several times in the line of duty. Public employee unions hope that angry taxpayers staring at a doubling or even tripling of City Hall’s property tax will empathize with Mike Underwood. …
When Mayor Emanuel sent letters announcing the change last month to about 24,000 retired city workers, the watchdog Civic Federation praised the move, saying it could eventually save taxpayers $70 million or more each year.
But Underwood and other retirees won’t know until September at the earliest what Obamacare's cost to them may be. A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Insurance told Fox 32 News that six insurance companies have so far submitted 165 different plans, all now under review. …
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxchicago.com ...
Well that’s one way to bring that debt down. Dump it on the American people.
I feel not one shred of sympathy for these people. They were stupid enough to believe the promises of politicians. They deserve to get screwed.
What the hell did these people think was going to happen. Some of them walked away expecting a pension for longer than their entire careers.
Seems that I remember a teacher’s union official in Chicago working for less than a month and walking away with a 6 figure yearly pension.
As do I. They're from the shithole that cursed us with the Marxist tyrant in the WH, so eff em.
And let Underwood pick their pocket again.
Now shut up and take it. Your unions were essential in bringing this about.
My mom had a part time job with the city running a Senior Citizens meal location. When she retired her take home pension check was BIGGER then her pay check, by a sizable amount. Did not have to pay one dime for her insurance or prescriptions. It was ridiculous.
Hey Chicago! Take a long hard look at Detroit. The future is not hard to see.
“The union rank and file should feel honored - honored! - to be allowed to partake in Obama’s manna from his eminence.”
I must be missing something; as I understand it “ObamaCare” isn’t a health care plan, but rather a program designed to force people and employers to purchase insurance. I’m not sure how this impacts these retirees unless they’re booted from their insurance plans. It isn’t like they’re going to be issued “ObamaCare” cards for a new plan; there is no such thing (again, unless I’m missing something).
booted they are ... the powers that be probably figured the pittance the retirees received would qualify them for a nice subsidy from the exchange.
“the powers that be probably figured the pittance the retirees received would qualify them for a nice subsidy from the exchange.”
Here in NJ our public employees (active or retired) are our upper middle class; there is no “pittance” involved. A friend retired as a local cop at 46 (he was hired at 21 before any college requirement); he will be costing taxpayers a hefty fee for decades to come. Who else retires at 46? The taxpayers have had enough; companies and taxpayers are fleeing the state, leaving it in the hands of the permanent urban underclass and illegals (neither of whom pay taxes). What happened in the city of Detroit is happening statewide in NJ; we lost an electoral vote recently to bear that out.
My neighbor retired from Chrysler at 45 and he owns two houses. He lives in Florida and his brother lives in the one next door to me.
If its good enough for us, its good enough for them
public unions finding out they might be part of the “more equal than others” equation
might NOT
I don’t begrudge the private sector whatever arrangements they had with their employers; the public employees are a cancer because while I don’t have to buy a Chrysler I have to pay property taxes. Chrysler has received no contribution from me towards your neighbor.
Much of the housing crisis is tied to this problem; if I gave you my house outright (an old one, with no updates) you would pay over $600 per month to live here. Most of that is school tax; the balance pays for cops to retire at 46. Who would ever buy into that scam? The tax benefits have disappeared with real wages; less people even need the deduction. On top of that, if you aren’t having a family anyway, why not rent and keep your freedom/mobility?
Live question and answer session with the national right to work foundation going on now.
http://www.righttoworkfoundation.org/michigan.aspx
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