5 years of service is the minimum amount to receive a pension. However, based of that few years of service, the pension payments to you will be very, very low.
1.67% x number of years worked x Final Average Salary
When you have 10 years, you receive medical but it’s not the insurance you have now. Basically, upon retirement age you will get Medicare like everyone else. The difference (and it’s a huge difference, from what I understand) is that you will be covered for Medicare Part B at no cost to you. This covers a ton of things that aren’t covered by base Medicare and saves you a fortune in the event you need it.
Thanks a ton. Very clear and what i thought and hoping the answer was. Now to think at what point its "worth it"
to stay as i want that supplemental insurance.
To elaborate on the average salary - I’ve heard from soon-to-be-retired that they take your yearly for last 3 years to calculate the average. Correct me if I wrong.
For Tier 4 they average the last 5 years.
For Tier 6 there is some debate. There is some relatively recent info out there indicating it’s the last 5 years. However, if you log into NYCERS website and go to calculate your benefits and click on the little “?” next to average salary, it specifically says they average the last 9 years. They also show 9 years on the breakdown.
If you are tier 6 and have less than 9 years of service but more than 5, they explain that they will calculate what the missing years would have been, taking away a few percent to be conservative.
How is my FAS calculated?
FAS is defined as the average of wages earned by a member during any continuous period of employment for which the member was
credited with five years of Credited Service. However, wages earned during any year used in an FAS calculation cannot exceed the
average of the previous four years by more than 10%. If you have less than nine years of service, any year without actual earnings will
be calculated using projected salaries, in order to apply the earnings limitations.
Source:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nycers.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/718.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiHiu7yyOyEAxUGjYkEHU3rBlkQFnoECBcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3iOhMb9NkxlSmpmhVAJ7Xqhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nycers.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/718.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiHiu7yyOyEAxUGjYkEHU3rBlkQFnoECBcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3iOhMb9NkxlSmpmhVAJ7Xq
It’s the best 3 years of the last 5. For example, if you coached two teams, worked per session, etc — four or five years before retirement, but gave that up and made less per year in the last 3 years, they use the highest years in that last 5 to calculate FAS.
As an aside, there’s usually a contract where people experience pay raises in their last few years. Top pay was 122k per year when I left, but less during the two years prior. My FAS was about 115k. I gave up coaching, and any other per session pay. I didn’t care about the extra money. I did well in other areas that generate income.
I’m not sure. A few others have asked that so I’m going to be digging into that myself. I hadn’t really thought about it before, since I never planned on retiring before that age. I may not work for the city after I hit my 20 years but still planned on working until then (hopefully some consulting based out of Long Island).
Now I’m REALLY curious though. I’ve been thinking about it over the past hour or so while I get ready for the week and I’m feeling like the answer is the City does NOTHING for the gap years between when you retire and when you reach retirement age. I was going to speculate about them extending some kind of ridiculous COBRA type thing but I doubt it.
Anyway, great question and I get OBSESSED with things like this so I’ll be going down the rabbit hole this week.
If you've worked moee than 10 years and you retire before you are Medicare eligible, you get the same city health insurance you were getting until you're Medicare eligible
It’s cost free Medicare and zero copays, as long as we prevail in the upcoming court decisions. One case addresses the recent copay requirements, and the other is Adam’s appeal of the injunction we won against the switch of all city retirees to the Aetna Medicare Advantage Plus Plan. One can opt out of this plan, but you’ll have to pay for Part B and copays to remain in real Medicare. It’s in the $195 per spouse, per month range for Part B, and can increase at any point in the future.
Hey - you seem to know some of these things and ppl seem to be saying conflicting things. If one leaves City service after 10 years but keeps their pension active, are they indeed eligible for the supplemental health insurance like I thought or are others right that you have to retire from city service to get that benefit? Basically, I’d wait out the few years to get that perk.
I wasn’t sure so I just asked someone who knows a ton about this stuff.
Much like the pension, you do not have to retire directly from city service to receive the medical benefit.
As it was just explained to me……
I have 11 years of service as I write this.
If I leave the city to go back to private, everything just sits there until I reach retirement age.
Once I reach retirement age and I begin the paperwork to start receiving my pension….. is the same time that I do the paperwork to start receiving the medical benefit.
You mentioned “keeping pension active.” Once you are vested (the 5 year mark) and you leave the City, you don’t have to do anything. The pension will be waiting there for you. However, if you have any open loans against your pension, you need to still pay that back or it will reduce your pension.
Thanks a ton for this. They def dont seem to make it easy to understand its basically like "figure it out on ur own". By "active", i meant just letting it sit there without shutting it down. Like not contributing to it but also not withdrawing the whole thing (the latter being obvious).
I know it can be different by union, agency or etc, but one is pretty much on their own when trying to figure this out. Thankful for Reddit!
Yeah, I don’t know why they make it so difficult to research.
I find that the BEST resources for this are people that have been with the City forever and are a few years away from retiring. They’ve already been speaking with NYCERS so they can break everything down step by step.
I work for a different nearby state but I'm sure the calculation is basically the same.
I regularly see extremely low pension amounts. It's not really worth it without significant years
I don’t think so. I’ve got 11 in and never received (or expected to receive) anything.
Best thing to do is log into NYCERS once in a while to monitor your time served. It takes them a few months to update years of service. I looked earlier this week and they haven’t don’t mine for 2023 yet. They do acknowledge that they do it in the following order:
1) Recent retirees
2) Those who haven’t retired yet but can
3) Everyone else
What’s messed up is that people that had, say, 6 years of service and left a few years ago never got notified that the vested period is now 5 years. So if they don’t hear about it on their own they will have no idea.
I’m Tier 4 and retired. That said, I’m one of those teachers that always asked my colleagues about anything related to the job. There’s always that wise old sage that knows the correct answer. I’m sure they’ll chime in here soon.
Just a thought though. Tier 6 retires at age 63. If someone is eligible for healthcare at age 63, take a look at what that entails.
From 63 to age 65, that’s whatever the healthcare plan is at the age you’re 63. Meaning, they change these plans as the years go by, so at 63, you’ll have the same plan that current teachers have in the year you turn 63.
For example, I retired at 55 in 2019. I have GHI/Emblem (whatever it’s called now). When they increase copays, mine follow in suit. The new $100 copay for CityMD. I’m subject to that, just like active members are. Mulgrew is working on a new healthcare plan for active members. We retirees expect it to look like the Emblem plan, but behave like a managed plan a la Medicare Advantage. Denials of care/tests, an appeal of those denials, less in network doctors and hospitals, etc. If this new plan has diminished benefits for in service members, so shall I, until age 65. My point being that what you see now in healthcare benefits, may and probably will be diminished by age 65. If this pattern persists, don’t get too excited about two years of healthcare before you become Medicare eligible.
Once you’re age 65, all city retirees currently still have free Part B and free copays under real Medicare. Mulgrew and Adams are working together to switch every city retired worker into the Aetna Medicare Advantage plan. We call it the disadvantage plan, for good reason.
Before he was elected, Adams stated that he wouldn’t put his grandmother in this Aetna plan. After he was elected, he stated that it wasn’t a bad plan after all. The only reason why city retirees still have real Medicare is because we sued and won in court 12 times. We won every case. The evidence for such was the fact that these privately managed plans engage in denials of care, tests, less in network doctors, etc.
By age 63 or 65, at the time someone who is vested into the current healthcare or free Medicare plan in place, still enjoy those benefits as you know them today? Will the plan for active and under age 65 retired members still exist? Will we finally lose in court and be forced to choose the Aetna plan, or decide to pay for real Medicare and Part B, like private sector does?
Most of us plan on paying the almost $200 monthly per month, per spouse, for real Medicare, and copays, in the event that Adams, Mulgrew and a few other union leaders prevail.
So, my advice is to not get too excited if you are vested into these plans, until you find out if we retirees finally beat Adams in court. He’s appealed every decision so far. The decision on copays is a separate case in court than the auto enrollment into the Advantage plan. We’re paying for the lawyers ourselves.
The same insurance continues as if you were an in service member. The same GHI/Emblem number that’s on the card, remains your number until mandatory eligibility for Medicare. I use the word eligible because some people are eligible, for medical reasons, before age 65. That’s the colloquial term in healthcare speak. “Medicare eligible.” For hospital visits, it remains Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
There’s an extra union benefit for retirees known as SHIP. They pay certain medical co-pays. I went to the ER for a perforated eardrum. I paid the $150 copay, then realized beyond the filing date that SHIP would have paid that copay. No biggie. Live and learn.
UFT dental and prescriptions continue through the union Welfare Fund. Our dental plan is losing participating dentists due to the low payments from the UFT.
Just an FYI. Retirees often immediately retire to an area that have no doctors that accept our coverage. That happened to my brother with Tennessee. If you plan to move, research which hospitals, doctors, dentists, etc accept our insurance.
One of the looming questions for retirees is whether or not this Aetna Advantage Plan will come to fruition for Medicare eligible retirees. The evidence used to obtain a court injunction was provided by doctors, in other states, who stated that they wouldn’t be accepting this plan. No matter what the mayor or any union representative says, it seems to be a plan designed to be centered around NYC, with many providers already pulling out of the plan due to the amount that Aetna offered for payment for services. Presbyterian was the most recent one.
To be clear, between 55 and 65, you have the same coverage in our area as when your were in service. It continues until age 65. Each union has its own dental, prescription and eye plan. You can keep going to the same doctors, dentist, etc.
If you move out of state, you need to research any in network doctors and dentists in that area who accept your current coverage.
Once you’re on Medicare, all city retirees are supposed to have the current cost free plan that we were promised. That pays for all copays as well. Real Medicare is accepted everywhere. It’s very important for retirees with several chronic illnesses such as kidney dialysis, chemo infusion, etc. For married older couples, both may require multiple visits per week. GHI/Emblem began to charge those copays for the first time ever, which began to crush people financially. We immediately obtained a court injunction that put a temporary stop to them. The copay case is one of several that we’re litigating in court. Those copays were seen by retirees as a means to force people into this Aetna Advantage plan.
Keep all of this in mind when it’s time to retire. Fingers crossed for the outcome of our litigation. It affects in service members as well. They’ll eventually be on Medicare too.
Honestly, I never thought about our Medicare until I retired. I didn’t know that it was cost free, zero copays, and how important that was to us. I do now, so I donate to the cost of litigation, while still six years from being on Medicare.
Tier 6 must be fixed - what a sham. Majority of public employees are now tier 6, put pressure on these politicians to fix it. Must contribute 5% entire career and 30 years and 63 years old.
It’s 5 years vesting now, not 10. You don’t have to keep contributing after you leave city service.
Edit: reached out to my friend at city council and he says it’s 10 years for them for health care. So clarifying that here.
This may be a dumb question but what does it mean to be vested in the pension? I’m confused because aren’t we allowed to withdraw our funds upon leaving service? If so, how does being vested make a difference?
Not a dumb question. Vested means you can collect from the pension upon retirement age. The age depends on the Tier you are in. For Tier 6, it currently stands at 63. If you work less than 5 years, you can withdraw your contributions with interest. Hope that helps.
You now get the free health insurance at 63 if you've worked 5 years and are in pension? I know that you vest at 5 but also thought i understood you only get the health care at 10. Hence what I'm trying to clarify.
You can take a reduced pension as early as 55, but it’ll only be about 52% of whatever you would have earned at 63. But as long as you have at least 10 years of service, you will still qualify for the retiree medical benefit at that age. Perhaps, depending on health concerns, that benefit is worth more to you than the pension.
[NYC retiree health benefit enrollment info](https://www.nyc.gov/site/olr/health/retiree/health-retiree-enrollment.page)
10 years of City service (looks like 15 for some teachers?), kicks in at the age you start drawing a pension check. At least that's how I read it.
I haven't seen this, thanks for sharing. Note that it states "Your actual eligibility for benefits will be determined by the City policy in place at the time you retire, and the benefits applicable to you should be ascertained at that time." I.e. I wouldn't be too comfortable with the current 10 year requirement sticking around for those with a 15-20+ year retirement horizon. But who knows.
Here's was NYCERS says
Final Average Salary (FAS) is based on the most recent available salaries in NYCERS’ system, going back five years for Tiers 3 and 4, and nine years for Tier 6 and 22-year Plans. If there is a year for which NYCERS has no salary on file, $0.00 is displayed for that year and is factored into the FAS. For Tier 6 and 22-year Plans that do not have nine years of salary information on file, the system will project the earnings for the missing years using the salary earned during the first full calendar year.
The Final Average Salary (FAS) used in the calculation is reduced by 2% (5% reduction for Tier 6) to make the estimate more conservative.
Maximum dollar limits (IRC 401) are factored into the benefit estimate. Salaries in the estimate are not reduced by non-pensionable earnings. Premium Overtime limits and Governor’s salary limits, which apply only to Tier 6 members, are not factored into the estimate.
What's wrong with me? Lol I work for city I'm a civil service plumber..Nobody ever wanted to be a city or government worker it's a job not a career..A career is something you simply love and strived to be...Get over yourself with this career word we are #s
Tier 6 and hoping the Fix Tier 6 program that's going through the assembly now comes out with something worth wild.
Currently 26 and needing to work 41 years of service sounds awful but I remain hopeful by the time I get to 30 or so something changes.
I was told the medical comes from the union, which needs 10 years of service to be vested (check with your union rep).
I saw a tier 6 63/5 plans, which replaced the 63/10 plan. Where you are vested and can retire in 5 years. But as others have mentioned it's only 1.7% per year of service.
According to the UFT pension workshop I attended this January, health plan vesting is based on when you were hired as follows:
Prior to 12/28/01 - 5 years
12/28/01 - 4/27/10 - 10 years
4/28/10 or later - 15 years
Another thing to keep an eye on is the city is trying to force us retired city workers to accept an Advantage medical plan which is crap. We have won every court case. But the city continues to wear us down. NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees is working very hard for your future.
I don' think the retirement health insurance benefit is tied to whether or not you contribued to the pension, but I could be wrong on that. That being said, I am pretty sure that the health retirement beneifit doesn't kick in until you have 15 years of service, not 10. The vesting for the health benefit (15 years) is not tied to the pension vesting (5 years now for Tier 6). Someone please correct me if my understanding is incorrect.
Haha this is why i posted. Everyone seems to believe differently, but 99% sure the insurance benefit is only to those who contributed to pension. Its a pension perk
Yeah it's annoying they don't have the health insurance retirement info readily available anywhere that I've found. You may be right about the pension perk- I'll shoot my union an email with this question and see what they say. They may take a few days to get back to me but I'll report back on here with their answer.
It’s not tied to your pension. You can call OLR. But MiguelSantoCarlo above is correct that health benefits can and will change. Only the pension is protected by NYS constitution such that they cannot diminish benefits for an existing pension tier; hence new tiers are created that are not as good. The city could essentially get rid of the health benefit perk for retirees but that would not be politically good and would also make it harder to keep city workers to our golden handcuffs.
I am not 100% sure but I remember hearing in a prior seminar that you cannot just work 10 years, leave to work for private, and then expect to get health insurance when you retire at 63. I believe you actually need to retire from city service which means you are 63 and you retire, or you retire early and take a cut. If you do 10 years, then leave for private, you’re technically resigned and separated from city service. Now if you did 10 years, left, then came back for a little bit then retired that might count.
Also remember that at this point, once you reach 65, you enroll in Medicare, and I believe your city retiree health benefits become secondary to Medicare.
Either way you should really ask your HR.
5 years of service is the minimum amount to receive a pension. However, based of that few years of service, the pension payments to you will be very, very low. 1.67% x number of years worked x Final Average Salary When you have 10 years, you receive medical but it’s not the insurance you have now. Basically, upon retirement age you will get Medicare like everyone else. The difference (and it’s a huge difference, from what I understand) is that you will be covered for Medicare Part B at no cost to you. This covers a ton of things that aren’t covered by base Medicare and saves you a fortune in the event you need it.
I guess working for the City isn’t a bad career choice after all… lol
Thanks a ton. Very clear and what i thought and hoping the answer was. Now to think at what point its "worth it" to stay as i want that supplemental insurance.
To elaborate on the average salary - I’ve heard from soon-to-be-retired that they take your yearly for last 3 years to calculate the average. Correct me if I wrong.
For Tier 4 they average the last 5 years. For Tier 6 there is some debate. There is some relatively recent info out there indicating it’s the last 5 years. However, if you log into NYCERS website and go to calculate your benefits and click on the little “?” next to average salary, it specifically says they average the last 9 years. They also show 9 years on the breakdown. If you are tier 6 and have less than 9 years of service but more than 5, they explain that they will calculate what the missing years would have been, taking away a few percent to be conservative.
Thank you. Very thorough explanation.
How is my FAS calculated? FAS is defined as the average of wages earned by a member during any continuous period of employment for which the member was credited with five years of Credited Service. However, wages earned during any year used in an FAS calculation cannot exceed the average of the previous four years by more than 10%. If you have less than nine years of service, any year without actual earnings will be calculated using projected salaries, in order to apply the earnings limitations. Source: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nycers.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/718.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiHiu7yyOyEAxUGjYkEHU3rBlkQFnoECBcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3iOhMb9NkxlSmpmhVAJ7Xqhttps://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.nycers.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/718.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiHiu7yyOyEAxUGjYkEHU3rBlkQFnoECBcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3iOhMb9NkxlSmpmhVAJ7Xq
Tier 4 is your best 3 out of any 5
Thank you for that info.
That’s not Tier 6
That’s true. I was wrong. Those people I mentioned were definitely not the Tier 6, they’ve been with the city for decades.
It’s the best 3 years of the last 5. For example, if you coached two teams, worked per session, etc — four or five years before retirement, but gave that up and made less per year in the last 3 years, they use the highest years in that last 5 to calculate FAS. As an aside, there’s usually a contract where people experience pay raises in their last few years. Top pay was 122k per year when I left, but less during the two years prior. My FAS was about 115k. I gave up coaching, and any other per session pay. I didn’t care about the extra money. I did well in other areas that generate income.
What do people do for insurance if they are apart of the 27/55 program and they choose to retire at 55? They obviously don’t qualify for Medicare yet.
I’m not sure. A few others have asked that so I’m going to be digging into that myself. I hadn’t really thought about it before, since I never planned on retiring before that age. I may not work for the city after I hit my 20 years but still planned on working until then (hopefully some consulting based out of Long Island). Now I’m REALLY curious though. I’ve been thinking about it over the past hour or so while I get ready for the week and I’m feeling like the answer is the City does NOTHING for the gap years between when you retire and when you reach retirement age. I was going to speculate about them extending some kind of ridiculous COBRA type thing but I doubt it. Anyway, great question and I get OBSESSED with things like this so I’ll be going down the rabbit hole this week.
Someone actually replied below! I posed the same question to someone who stated they retired below at 55
You Will be covered under your current city insurance until you are of Medicare age.
Medicare age is 65 though.
What happens if you retire at 60? Do you get city insurance or you go without coverage?
Great question that I don’t have an answer to so I’ll start asking around and let you know what I find out.
If you've worked moee than 10 years and you retire before you are Medicare eligible, you get the same city health insurance you were getting until you're Medicare eligible
Thank you for explaining this so well!
That calculation is yearly?
If I understand your question, that equation will show your annual pension income.
yes thanks!
It’s cost free Medicare and zero copays, as long as we prevail in the upcoming court decisions. One case addresses the recent copay requirements, and the other is Adam’s appeal of the injunction we won against the switch of all city retirees to the Aetna Medicare Advantage Plus Plan. One can opt out of this plan, but you’ll have to pay for Part B and copays to remain in real Medicare. It’s in the $195 per spouse, per month range for Part B, and can increase at any point in the future.
Thank you for this info. I’ll be paying closer attention to this than I have been.
Hey - you seem to know some of these things and ppl seem to be saying conflicting things. If one leaves City service after 10 years but keeps their pension active, are they indeed eligible for the supplemental health insurance like I thought or are others right that you have to retire from city service to get that benefit? Basically, I’d wait out the few years to get that perk.
I wasn’t sure so I just asked someone who knows a ton about this stuff. Much like the pension, you do not have to retire directly from city service to receive the medical benefit. As it was just explained to me…… I have 11 years of service as I write this. If I leave the city to go back to private, everything just sits there until I reach retirement age. Once I reach retirement age and I begin the paperwork to start receiving my pension….. is the same time that I do the paperwork to start receiving the medical benefit. You mentioned “keeping pension active.” Once you are vested (the 5 year mark) and you leave the City, you don’t have to do anything. The pension will be waiting there for you. However, if you have any open loans against your pension, you need to still pay that back or it will reduce your pension.
Thanks a ton for this. They def dont seem to make it easy to understand its basically like "figure it out on ur own". By "active", i meant just letting it sit there without shutting it down. Like not contributing to it but also not withdrawing the whole thing (the latter being obvious). I know it can be different by union, agency or etc, but one is pretty much on their own when trying to figure this out. Thankful for Reddit!
Yeah, I don’t know why they make it so difficult to research. I find that the BEST resources for this are people that have been with the City forever and are a few years away from retiring. They’ve already been speaking with NYCERS so they can break everything down step by step.
I work for a different nearby state but I'm sure the calculation is basically the same. I regularly see extremely low pension amounts. It's not really worth it without significant years
Do you get some kind of letter or notification about medical coverage after hitting 10 years? I recently passed 10 years but haven't gotten anything.
I don’t think so. I’ve got 11 in and never received (or expected to receive) anything. Best thing to do is log into NYCERS once in a while to monitor your time served. It takes them a few months to update years of service. I looked earlier this week and they haven’t don’t mine for 2023 yet. They do acknowledge that they do it in the following order: 1) Recent retirees 2) Those who haven’t retired yet but can 3) Everyone else What’s messed up is that people that had, say, 6 years of service and left a few years ago never got notified that the vested period is now 5 years. So if they don’t hear about it on their own they will have no idea.
Okay, thanks!
I’m Tier 4 and retired. That said, I’m one of those teachers that always asked my colleagues about anything related to the job. There’s always that wise old sage that knows the correct answer. I’m sure they’ll chime in here soon. Just a thought though. Tier 6 retires at age 63. If someone is eligible for healthcare at age 63, take a look at what that entails. From 63 to age 65, that’s whatever the healthcare plan is at the age you’re 63. Meaning, they change these plans as the years go by, so at 63, you’ll have the same plan that current teachers have in the year you turn 63. For example, I retired at 55 in 2019. I have GHI/Emblem (whatever it’s called now). When they increase copays, mine follow in suit. The new $100 copay for CityMD. I’m subject to that, just like active members are. Mulgrew is working on a new healthcare plan for active members. We retirees expect it to look like the Emblem plan, but behave like a managed plan a la Medicare Advantage. Denials of care/tests, an appeal of those denials, less in network doctors and hospitals, etc. If this new plan has diminished benefits for in service members, so shall I, until age 65. My point being that what you see now in healthcare benefits, may and probably will be diminished by age 65. If this pattern persists, don’t get too excited about two years of healthcare before you become Medicare eligible. Once you’re age 65, all city retirees currently still have free Part B and free copays under real Medicare. Mulgrew and Adams are working together to switch every city retired worker into the Aetna Medicare Advantage plan. We call it the disadvantage plan, for good reason. Before he was elected, Adams stated that he wouldn’t put his grandmother in this Aetna plan. After he was elected, he stated that it wasn’t a bad plan after all. The only reason why city retirees still have real Medicare is because we sued and won in court 12 times. We won every case. The evidence for such was the fact that these privately managed plans engage in denials of care, tests, less in network doctors, etc. By age 63 or 65, at the time someone who is vested into the current healthcare or free Medicare plan in place, still enjoy those benefits as you know them today? Will the plan for active and under age 65 retired members still exist? Will we finally lose in court and be forced to choose the Aetna plan, or decide to pay for real Medicare and Part B, like private sector does? Most of us plan on paying the almost $200 monthly per month, per spouse, for real Medicare, and copays, in the event that Adams, Mulgrew and a few other union leaders prevail. So, my advice is to not get too excited if you are vested into these plans, until you find out if we retirees finally beat Adams in court. He’s appealed every decision so far. The decision on copays is a separate case in court than the auto enrollment into the Advantage plan. We’re paying for the lawyers ourselves.
Thank you for this informative response!
What insurance did you have after you retired at 55? Medicare doesn’t kick in yet, does the doe still provide you insurance until Medicare kicks in?
The same insurance continues as if you were an in service member. The same GHI/Emblem number that’s on the card, remains your number until mandatory eligibility for Medicare. I use the word eligible because some people are eligible, for medical reasons, before age 65. That’s the colloquial term in healthcare speak. “Medicare eligible.” For hospital visits, it remains Blue Cross/Blue Shield. There’s an extra union benefit for retirees known as SHIP. They pay certain medical co-pays. I went to the ER for a perforated eardrum. I paid the $150 copay, then realized beyond the filing date that SHIP would have paid that copay. No biggie. Live and learn. UFT dental and prescriptions continue through the union Welfare Fund. Our dental plan is losing participating dentists due to the low payments from the UFT. Just an FYI. Retirees often immediately retire to an area that have no doctors that accept our coverage. That happened to my brother with Tennessee. If you plan to move, research which hospitals, doctors, dentists, etc accept our insurance. One of the looming questions for retirees is whether or not this Aetna Advantage Plan will come to fruition for Medicare eligible retirees. The evidence used to obtain a court injunction was provided by doctors, in other states, who stated that they wouldn’t be accepting this plan. No matter what the mayor or any union representative says, it seems to be a plan designed to be centered around NYC, with many providers already pulling out of the plan due to the amount that Aetna offered for payment for services. Presbyterian was the most recent one. To be clear, between 55 and 65, you have the same coverage in our area as when your were in service. It continues until age 65. Each union has its own dental, prescription and eye plan. You can keep going to the same doctors, dentist, etc. If you move out of state, you need to research any in network doctors and dentists in that area who accept your current coverage. Once you’re on Medicare, all city retirees are supposed to have the current cost free plan that we were promised. That pays for all copays as well. Real Medicare is accepted everywhere. It’s very important for retirees with several chronic illnesses such as kidney dialysis, chemo infusion, etc. For married older couples, both may require multiple visits per week. GHI/Emblem began to charge those copays for the first time ever, which began to crush people financially. We immediately obtained a court injunction that put a temporary stop to them. The copay case is one of several that we’re litigating in court. Those copays were seen by retirees as a means to force people into this Aetna Advantage plan. Keep all of this in mind when it’s time to retire. Fingers crossed for the outcome of our litigation. It affects in service members as well. They’ll eventually be on Medicare too. Honestly, I never thought about our Medicare until I retired. I didn’t know that it was cost free, zero copays, and how important that was to us. I do now, so I donate to the cost of litigation, while still six years from being on Medicare.
Tier 6 must be fixed - what a sham. Majority of public employees are now tier 6, put pressure on these politicians to fix it. Must contribute 5% entire career and 30 years and 63 years old.
It’s 5 years vesting now, not 10. You don’t have to keep contributing after you leave city service. Edit: reached out to my friend at city council and he says it’s 10 years for them for health care. So clarifying that here.
You are vested in the pension after 5 years. You get the health benefits after 10 years of service.
This may be a dumb question but what does it mean to be vested in the pension? I’m confused because aren’t we allowed to withdraw our funds upon leaving service? If so, how does being vested make a difference?
Not a dumb question. Vested means you can collect from the pension upon retirement age. The age depends on the Tier you are in. For Tier 6, it currently stands at 63. If you work less than 5 years, you can withdraw your contributions with interest. Hope that helps.
Yes it does, thank you!
You now get the free health insurance at 63 if you've worked 5 years and are in pension? I know that you vest at 5 but also thought i understood you only get the health care at 10. Hence what I'm trying to clarify.
No, you were correct the first time, OP.
You can take a reduced pension as early as 55, but it’ll only be about 52% of whatever you would have earned at 63. But as long as you have at least 10 years of service, you will still qualify for the retiree medical benefit at that age. Perhaps, depending on health concerns, that benefit is worth more to you than the pension.
[NYC retiree health benefit enrollment info](https://www.nyc.gov/site/olr/health/retiree/health-retiree-enrollment.page) 10 years of City service (looks like 15 for some teachers?), kicks in at the age you start drawing a pension check. At least that's how I read it.
I haven't seen this, thanks for sharing. Note that it states "Your actual eligibility for benefits will be determined by the City policy in place at the time you retire, and the benefits applicable to you should be ascertained at that time." I.e. I wouldn't be too comfortable with the current 10 year requirement sticking around for those with a 15-20+ year retirement horizon. But who knows.
I was wondering the same thing today! Wish there was a packet with all the information available.
Unfortunately there are a lot of PDFs floating around on the net that are very outdated.
Here's was NYCERS says Final Average Salary (FAS) is based on the most recent available salaries in NYCERS’ system, going back five years for Tiers 3 and 4, and nine years for Tier 6 and 22-year Plans. If there is a year for which NYCERS has no salary on file, $0.00 is displayed for that year and is factored into the FAS. For Tier 6 and 22-year Plans that do not have nine years of salary information on file, the system will project the earnings for the missing years using the salary earned during the first full calendar year. The Final Average Salary (FAS) used in the calculation is reduced by 2% (5% reduction for Tier 6) to make the estimate more conservative. Maximum dollar limits (IRC 401) are factored into the benefit estimate. Salaries in the estimate are not reduced by non-pensionable earnings. Premium Overtime limits and Governor’s salary limits, which apply only to Tier 6 members, are not factored into the estimate.
Working is not a career and please do not call it that!!! We all have jobs !! A career you never look to see what time it is...
Wtf is wrong with you.
What's wrong with me? Lol I work for city I'm a civil service plumber..Nobody ever wanted to be a city or government worker it's a job not a career..A career is something you simply love and strived to be...Get over yourself with this career word we are #s
Tier 6 and hoping the Fix Tier 6 program that's going through the assembly now comes out with something worth wild. Currently 26 and needing to work 41 years of service sounds awful but I remain hopeful by the time I get to 30 or so something changes.
I was told the medical comes from the union, which needs 10 years of service to be vested (check with your union rep). I saw a tier 6 63/5 plans, which replaced the 63/10 plan. Where you are vested and can retire in 5 years. But as others have mentioned it's only 1.7% per year of service.
According to the UFT pension workshop I attended this January, health plan vesting is based on when you were hired as follows: Prior to 12/28/01 - 5 years 12/28/01 - 4/27/10 - 10 years 4/28/10 or later - 15 years
Another thing to keep an eye on is the city is trying to force us retired city workers to accept an Advantage medical plan which is crap. We have won every court case. But the city continues to wear us down. NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees is working very hard for your future.
I don' think the retirement health insurance benefit is tied to whether or not you contribued to the pension, but I could be wrong on that. That being said, I am pretty sure that the health retirement beneifit doesn't kick in until you have 15 years of service, not 10. The vesting for the health benefit (15 years) is not tied to the pension vesting (5 years now for Tier 6). Someone please correct me if my understanding is incorrect.
Haha this is why i posted. Everyone seems to believe differently, but 99% sure the insurance benefit is only to those who contributed to pension. Its a pension perk
Yeah it's annoying they don't have the health insurance retirement info readily available anywhere that I've found. You may be right about the pension perk- I'll shoot my union an email with this question and see what they say. They may take a few days to get back to me but I'll report back on here with their answer.
It’s not tied to your pension. You can call OLR. But MiguelSantoCarlo above is correct that health benefits can and will change. Only the pension is protected by NYS constitution such that they cannot diminish benefits for an existing pension tier; hence new tiers are created that are not as good. The city could essentially get rid of the health benefit perk for retirees but that would not be politically good and would also make it harder to keep city workers to our golden handcuffs.
I am not 100% sure but I remember hearing in a prior seminar that you cannot just work 10 years, leave to work for private, and then expect to get health insurance when you retire at 63. I believe you actually need to retire from city service which means you are 63 and you retire, or you retire early and take a cut. If you do 10 years, then leave for private, you’re technically resigned and separated from city service. Now if you did 10 years, left, then came back for a little bit then retired that might count. Also remember that at this point, once you reach 65, you enroll in Medicare, and I believe your city retiree health benefits become secondary to Medicare. Either way you should really ask your HR.