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Retired Police Officer Sues Town Over Change in Health Insurance
By Administrator   
Monday, November 29, 1999 07:00 PM
Retired police officer Richard Bayramshian is suing the town over a change in the health care benefits for retired employees.
 Retired police officer Richard Bayramshian is suing the town over a change in the health care benefits for retired employees.

The lawsuit stems from a Special Town Meeting vote last November that mandated the transfer of town retirees to a Medicare extension plan.

Before the mandatory transfer, about 50 of the town's 200 retirees were enrolled in Blue Cross/Blue Shield's Master Health Plus plan.

While the Medicare extension plan actually results in lower monthly costs for retirees, the town does not cover the 50 percent of the monthly premium for the Medicare portion of the health insurance. Instead, Bayramshian said, the town only pays the 50 percent premium for the Medicare extension portion of insurance that retirees must pick up in order to have full coverage. With Medicare accounting for about 80 percent of the health insurance, Bayramshian said, the town ends up paying for only a small percentage of the insurance premium, not the fifty percent he said retirees were promised during the course of union negotiations.

"What kind of message is this sending out to the retirees who have served the town?" Bayramshian asked.

In the lawsuit filed in Plymouth Superior Court, Bayramshian is asking the court to declare that Duxbury is in violation of Massachusetts General Laws because it is not paying for half of the entire monthly premium.

Bayramshian's wife, Janet, a retired secretary and dispatcher for the fire department, filed the lawsuit along with her husband.

Bayramshian, who retired in 1996 after a 31-year career as a police officer, said all he is asking is that the town once again pay for half of the health insurance premium. He said he has loved living in Duxbury and raising his family here, and that he wishes the town and its administration no ill will.

Proponents of the town meeting article to switch the Medicare plan said the move will save the town $150,000 annually and the save the retirees $106,000 in costs.

The goal of the switch in coverage was not to diminish benefits, but to provide benefits at a reduced cost, according to Peter Savage of Cook and Company, the town's health care consultant.

Bayramshian said he doesn't buy the argument that the Medicare extension program is comparable to the Master Health Plus plan. As an example, he said, retirees who have long hospital stays could end up paying more under the Medicare program than in the Master Health Plus program.

"It's just a better program," he said.

Even though Bayramshian said he would rather be enrolled in the Master Health Plus plan, the lawsuit he filed hinges only on the town's payment of fifty percent of the monthly premium.

"It's about fairness," Bayramshian said. He said the police and other town employee union contracts were negotiated and signed with the assumption that the town would continue to pay for half of the retirees' health insurance premiums.

Town Counsel Robert Troy said the key issue in the case is whether or not the town is obligated to pay half the cost of the group insurance plan or if the town is required to pay 50 percent of the all insurance, including Medicare.

"How we see it is that the town is obligated to pay half the cost of the group insurance, in this case, Medex (the Medicare extension plan)," said Troy. "Bayramshian feels, given his representation, that when he retired, the town would be paying 50 percent of all the insurance, while we're only paying for the Medex and not the Medicare. In some sense, it's a misunderstanding of semantics."

Bayramshian said the issue revolves around both taking care of those who have served the town by having the town keep its word.

In some communities such as Worcester, Bayramshian said, municipal officials have come under fire for weakening retiree health benefits.

"I just want to see the town do what's right," Bayramshian said.

Town Manager Richard MacDonald had no comment on the court case.

No date had been set for a court hearing as of Tuesday, according to Bayramshian.
 

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