Slap to teachers

Texas lawmakers need to fix the failing health care plan for retired educators.

Imagine a life of service with barely adequate pay and thin retirement benefits — it’s not one many of us would embrace. But lucky for most across our state who have been educated in a public school classroom, thousands upon thousands chose such a life when they made the decision to teach.

With the state’s health care plan for retired teachers in precarious financial condition, and a Legislature that has yet to fully address the problem, that decision now likely seems like so much folly. The failure also is a disgraceful statement about lawmakers’ priorities.

Since 1986, teachers have been making monthly payments into a health care plan set up by the Legislature to be available upon their retirement. That plan, TRS-Care, is going to fail without legislative action.

The impact on retired educators will be severe.

“When I decided to retire I knew financially it was going to be tight but doable,” one retired teacher told us. The 20-year Houston ISD veteran noted that if the Legislature doesn’t step up and keep her health insurance affordable, she will need to go back to work full time or to materially reduce her standard of living.

Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, has shown leadership in acknowledging the problem. But the bill proposed by Huffman in the Senate, S.B. 788, is a disingenuous half measure that will barely keep the plan alive while devastating the financial condition of some retired teachers, or worse, leaving many without any health care at all.

The House budget is better for teachers but doesn’t fix the underlying shortfall. In other words, regardless of which budget version ultimately passes, Texas’ 262,000 retired teachers who have dedicated themselves to educating our students will likely pay higher deductibles and potentially have to accrue new medical debt year after year. In addition, they’ll have to live with uncertainty as to whether the Legislature will step up again in two years to make sure they have affordable health care in retirement.

TRS-Care is facing a $1 billion shortfall. Huffman’s bill will increase state funding by approximately $311 million, including an increase in state base funding of .25 percent. The remainder of the shortfall, though, falls onto retirees. This amount of state funding is inadequate to keep the plan affordable.

Here’s why lawmakers’ math doesn’t add up: Approximately 56,000 teachers with roughly 22,000 dependents have retired after decades of service, are under age 65 and have not yet qualified for Medicare. The average annuity payment for a retired teacher is $2,035 month, before federal income tax. Under the Senate plan, the proposed deductible for the TRS-Care plan would rise from around $400 to $4,000 for an individual. Prescription medication is also subject to the deductible, as there is no prescription drug coverage with this proposal.

It’s hard to see how retired teachers living on a pension will be able to afford health care under a system where their deductible is the equivalent of two full months of their benefits, not to mention their premiums.

The budget plan the House passed Friday has clearly made TRS Care a funding priority by making $500 million available for the program. Lawmakers in that chamber are willing to use the state’s savings account — the so-called Rainy Day Fund — to live up to their promise to retirees. While premiums are sure to rise and benefits certain to decrease under the House plan, it’s not clear how much.

Some Texas lawmakers may view the state’s large uninsured population as more a matter of individual hardship than public responsibility. That is not the case for individuals who have served as public employees based on state commitments for some level of retirement security.

Lawmakers are fond of talking about their favorite teachers and how they made a difference in their lives. Talk is cheap. We all know that medical care is not. The Legislature should live up to its promise and provide affordable care for some of our state’s most honored citizens, its teachers.