Investigators: Employee Benefits, early retireee medical.

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/investigative/investigators-employee-benefits-may-23-2011?CMP=201105_emailshare

MY POSTED COMMENT BELOW:
The video starts with "families" but the under $35 quoted for Hennepin County is for INDIVIDUAL coverage. (this is the same amount active employees with INDIVIDUAL coverage pay). At Hennepin County the early retirement insurance is close to $500 with a spouse and substantially more when dependent children are also included. .........

Hennepin County requires 20 years of service and, as the video stated, it no longer applies to new hires. Beyond the fact that this was part of the employment contract, it is a big part of the reason that a lot of people take early retirement. In my case, I had 33 years with Hennepin County when I took early retirement under "Rule of 90". In my final job at central printing the work was decreasing rapidly. In the last three years I heard that including me, four have retired and there is only one new low pay new hire.

I heard that my previous work related to an onsite mainframe computer is going away. I have many office skills and with my seniority I could have "bumped" a lot of people. When I took retirement three and a half years ago State of Minnesota early retirees choosing INDIVIDUAL coverage had to pay $400 per month. If I had that extra cost I could not have affored to retire. In relative terms it would have cost Hennepin County more to keep me on the active payroll. Concievably the courts could order Hennepin County to rehireearly retirees if they ammended the early retiree health care benifits. That would not be "pretty". It's hard to tell how many people who chose early retirement facedd some infirmaty and would possibly face disability if they stayed on until age 65. I forfieted more
than 400 hours of sick leave when I left but my knees were getting pretty bad. I believe that disability costs are covered by the employer while my reduced pension is covered by PERA. Also, for every year worked beyond "Rule of 90" my pension amount would increase5%.

As the old saying goes: "Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it".

Irish-bombshell-government-raids-private-pensions-to-pay-for-jobs-program.

http://www.businessinsider.com/irish-bombshell-government-raids-private-pensions-to-pay-for-jobs-program-2011-5

The Irish government plans to institute a tax on private pensions to drive jobs growth, according to its jobs program strategy, delivered today.

Without the ability sell debt due to soaring interest rates, and with severe spending rules in place due to its EU-IMF bailout, Ireland has few ways of spending to stimulate the economy. Today's jobs program includes specific tax increases, including the tax on pensions, aimed at keeping government jobs spending from adding to the national debt.

The tax on private pensions will be 0.6%, and last for four years, according to the report.

From the jobs initiative release:

The various tax reduction and additional expenditure measures which I am announcing today will be funded by way of a temporary levy on funded pension schemes and personal pension plans. I propose that the levy will apply at a rate of 0.6% to the capital value of assets under management in pension funds established in the State.

It will apply for a period of 4 years commencing this year and is intended to raise about €470 million in each of those years. The levy will not apply to pension funds established here and providing services and benefits solely to non-resident employers and members. Further details regarding the proposed application of the levy are set out in the Summary of Initiative Measures.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/irish-bombshell-government-raids-private-pensions-to-pay-for-jobs-program-2011-5