The Public Employee Benefits Board, within the Health Care Authority (HCA), offers eligible retired and disabled employees with optional retiree health care. The cost of retiree premiums is reduced by up to 50 percent of the total cost by the prescription drug subsidy. The amount of the subsidy is set by the Legislature and is currently set at up to $183 per member per month. This subsidy is currently applied to all the Medicare eligible plans available to retirees, including the Medicare supplements.
The prescription drug subsidy is expanded to reduce the cost of both medical and prescription drug premiums. Language authorizing HCA to establish a separate subsidy to reduce the premiums for Medicare supplements is removed.
These changes are consistent with how the retiree health care subsidy is currently administered.
PRO: This bill cleans up differences between statutory and budget language related to the retiree health care subsidy. HCA has administered this subsidy to apply to all the Medicare plans and this bill clarifies that. This bill does not change plan access for retirees.