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Union deal causes hassles CASEY: Union contract causes health-care hassles for some Kroger retirees Some 275 retirees from Kroger who used to get Medicare supplemental insurance through the company will lose that entitlement beginning July 1. Some are unhappy at because they were enrolled in a substitute they didn't choose, without their knowledge.

Roanoke Times - 6/25/2017

Some 275 retirees from Kroger who used to get Medicare supplemental insurance through the company will lose that entitlement beginning July 1. Some are unhappy at because they were enrolled in a substitute they didn't choose, without their knowledge.

Carol Winners got a rude surprise Monday in the form of a letter in her mailbox. It led the Kroger retiree to believe she had been enrolled in a health insurance plan she had never heard of. The company was United American and the insurance was a Medicare supplemental policy.

"Your United American Policy is enclosed," the cover letter read. Along with it was a bill for $189 and directions to pay the first month's premium.

Winners called her insurance agent, Jim Trout of Salem, and learned she wasn't the only Kroger retiree who had received the enrollment notice. At least three other clients, all Kroger retirees, received the same letter. All were confused. A couple were angry, Trout told me.

Next, Winners called United American and told them she wanted no part of the policy and resented being enrolled without consultation. Then, she called this newspaper, where she wound up talking to me.

"I think it's a scam," said Winners, 84. "Some people are going to send money to these people."

It turned out not to be a scam, but it's something that seems at least a bit out of the ordinary and confusing. It doesn't appear to violate any state insurance regulations, said State Corporation Commission spokesman Ken Schrad. Federal rather than state law governs retiree benefit plans.

The change was the result of Kroger's most recent union contract with the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400. Union spokesman Jonathan Williams said it has affected 275 Kroger retirees in an area stretching from Harrisonburg to eastern Tennessee. More than 5,000 workers are covered under Kroger's union contract.

Under the previous contract, certain Kroger retirees such as Winners were allowed to purchase Medicare supplemental plans through a benefits company operated jointly by the union and Kroger, Williams said. But that entitlement was bargained away in the most recent contract.

In March, the union notified affected retirees that their Medicare supplement coverage would be ending June 30. The union followed up with postcards notifying the retirees of meetings in May to discuss the change. At the meetings, retirees were offered a replacement policy with United American through the Woodard Agency, an insurance broker.

Those who didn't sign up with United American, or who, like Winners, didn't attend the meetings were enrolled out of "an abundance of caution," Williams told me.

"The entire group was rolled over to the new plan ... so if July 1 came and someone had a heart attack, they would be covered," Williams told me.

So Winners and the other retirees automatically received "certificates of coverage" with United American along with directions to pay the premium for a Medicare supplement plan they didn't necessarily want or need.

I called the Woodard Agency on Thursday and left a message, but nobody there got back to me.

Jim Trout told me this had caused some unnecessary confusion and angst for his clients, and, he said, probably for others. He also said the price of the United American policy for Winners was high compared to other available plans.

Winners retired from the Cave Spring Kroger in 1995. She used to run the flower shop there. She told me she was paying $209 monthly for her Medicare supplement plan through Kroger, and the benefits included prescriptions, dental and vision coverage.

Trout signed her up for a plan that's roughly comparable, at least with regard to doctor visits and hospitalization. She's now paying $192 monthly for a United Healthcare plan offered through the American Association of Retired Persons. But "as far as eye care and dental, I doubt it will be as good," Winners said.

Trout said Winners now has a "Level N" Medicare supplement plan through United Healthcare. The one Winners was offered through United American for $190 per month was a "Level G" plan, which has higher deductibles and copays. Winners could have purchased a "Level G" plan through United Healthcare for $124 per month, he said.

"United American is a good company, but they're high with their premiums," Trout said.

Trout mentioned two other concerns for the Kroger retirees, many of whom are of advanced age. Some might believe they owe the money and pay the premium, he said.

But if they've already signed up for one Medicare supplement plan, paying the premium for a second Medicare supplemental plan could confuse their benefits administration. That's because insurance companies report their enrollees to Medicare. The federal agency might be left not knowing which plan applies.

"It could create a claims problem initially," Trout said. "It very well may cause confusion."

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