Double the dough for health premiums
Federal government retirees set to pay twice as much; Northern union vice-president calls deal 'bad business'
Erin Steele
Northern News Services
Published Friday, March 28 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Federal government retirees in Yellowknife and across the country will soon have to reach deeper into their pockets to pay their premiums for health benefits, which are now set to double, an agreement announced Wednesday revealed.
This is the result of the deal reached between the federal government and the unions which represent its employees, shifting the cost-sharing of Public Service Health Care Plan premiums from its current 75 per cent government, 25 per cent employee, to 50-50.
The move is expected to save the government more than $7 billion over six years, and is in-line with comparable private sector plans.
"This ensures that the plan remains fair, competitive and sustainable," stated a Wednesday news release.
One of the unions that signed on is the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which has an office in Yellowknife.
"The implications are that thousands of our retirees across the country who have been paid a set amount for their retirement benefit now have to pay double that of which they're used to and doing that on a retirement income is very, very difficult," said Julie Docherty, regional executive vice-president with PSAC in the North.
"It's very unfair to our current retirees and our retirees to follow, once this comes into effect."
Through the deal, individual retirees will have to pay $550 in premiums annually - up from $261 - from their average federal pension of $24,000.
Though Docherty could not provide Yellowknife-specific numbers, she said there are about 1,400 federal employees in the North.
Docherty called the deal "a bad way to do business."
"It's unfortunate, the whole manner in which the Conservative government handled this deal. Pretty well the unions were forced to accept this deal ... if we did not they would legislate these changes," said Docherty.
"You're backed into a corner and told 'sign this or we're going to legislate it,' you have to make a decision that will best serve your membership at the time which is to accept this agreement than face worse through forced pieces of legislation."
Although the move was revealed through the 2014 budget in February, the unions signed on this week. The transition will take place over a four-year period.
Docherty says there were some small gains made to the health care plan through the agreement - including an increase to psychological services, a benefit for laser eye surgery and a benefit for sleep apnea machine replacement parts.
"So there are small gains in this and we have noticed them, but these small gains affect such a small portion of our retirees. This could have been done in a way to produce more gains that would be available to all of our retirees, rather than just a very small percentage," said Docherty.
Also, through the deal, the eligibility for the program moves from two years to six years. The annual deductible - $60 for an individual or $100 for a family - will be eliminated.
