From our surveys of Chief Human Resource Officers, there is general approval of the affordability and availability of medical coverage for retirees age 65 and older, those eligible for Medicare. However, that is not the case for pre-65 retiree coverage, both today and for the past two decades.

In 2006, HR Policy launched Retiree Health Access® (RHA®) in a collaboration with Aetna and several participating Association member companies. Since then, RHA has served more than 70 employers and more than 150,000 retirees. RHA is a unique integrated solution for pre- and post-65 group coverage options. The program also includes a multi-carrier individual post-65 solution. All exclusively for HR Policy members’ companies.

Additional information about Retiree Health Access can be found here.

Key Concerns Among HR Policy Members Regarding Retirees

Recent surveys of HR Policy members have identified the following concerns regarding the current state of retiree medical care:

• The cost of pre-65 medical coverage
• Employees delaying retirement to maintain health care coverage until they become Medicare eligible
• The disadvantages associated with grouping pre-65 retirees in the same risk pool as active employees
• The inadequacies of the pre-65 individual marketplace
• The adverse tax treatment of health care coverage purchased by retirees directly
• The challenges of retiree medical financing and the use of employer subsidies
• Overall benefit administration, communications and education

Retiree Health Access in its present form already addresses several of these concerns.  In addition to the current program, the Health Care Policy Roundtable continues to innovate and has several initiatives underway to provide an even more effective solution.

An in-depth paper prepared by the Health Care Policy Roundtable describing the principal concerns of HR Policy Association members regarding retiree health care can be viewed here.

To learn how one carrier is responding to HR Policy member concerns, please see this paper regarding the five things corporate executives need to know about developing a workable solution to the pre-65 retiree benefit pain point.

Please contact HCPR should you be interested in additional information.