Medicare B Up To $938; 1.7% Pension COLA

Medicare B Up To $938; 1.7% Pension COLA

City retirees received two doses of good news last week, as the Office of Labor Relations announced that those who qualify will receive a Medicare Part B subsidy check for $938.40 in August, while the New York City Employees' Retirement System is providing an extra $25.50 a month to city pensioners.

"This is very important for our members," District Council 37 Retirees Association President Stuart Leibowitz said of the Part B assistance in a June 27 phone interview. "With the escalating cost of health care, obviously, we're appreciative of the reimbursement."

STUART LEIBOWITZ: Pleased by boost.

$139 Above Last Year

Reimbursement checks will be sent to city retirees and their spouses 65 and older. Deductions of $78.20 per month were made from their Social Security checks last year.

The reimbursement represents a jump of $139.20 over last year's allowance of $799.20.

Mr. Leibowitz also had qualified praise for NYCERS's cost-of-living adjustment, which is calculated at one-half of the yearly inflation from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006, and is made against a maximum pension allowance of $18,000.

"We're always grateful to be in receipt of the COLA, which we worked very hard to get," he said. "However, we recognize that it's only 50 percent, and capped. That is unfair."

Continue Albany Push

He said he will continue to push for legislation to increase the COLA adjustment to 100 percent of inflation, along with a lifting of the cap.

The adjustment can never be less than one percent, nor more than three percent over the previous year, under the COLA law passed in 2000.

Those eligible for COLA include: disability retirees who have been retired for at least five years; service retirees, beginning at age 62, who have been retired at least five years or beginning at age 55 who have been retired for at least 10 years; and beneficiaries who have been receiving an Accidental Death Benefit for at least five years.

Spouses receiving the joint-and-survivor option benefit are eligible to receive 50 percent of the monthly COLA of the retiree's allowance.