CORRE Blog

It is expected that the Tennessee Congressional Delegation, the DOE, and the contractors will announce in the next week or so that the Medicare Part D supplement will be shared with the contractor retirees. In other words, it is expected that on the order of one-half of the supplement will go to the company to pay for its part of medical costs and one- half will go to pay for retiree costs. Although exact figures are not available, the monthly payment of a retiree should be reduced significantly. This will be a reversal of DOE policy that will have been attained by the diligence of Senator Alexander and his staff and the Tennessee congressional delegation.

This would be a victory for retirees as CORRE leaders have maintained and insisted all along that one half of any supplement should go to retirees, thus maintaining the historic 50-50 split of medical costs. CORRE leadership has long felt that this was the intent of Congress when Part D was enacted by Congress and has been tenacious in following up on this issue. Senator Alexander and the Tennessee Delegation in Congress have worked diligently on behalf of Oak Ridge contractor retirees to change the DOE policies and to bring this benefit. It is expected that the contractors will extend this 50-50 sharing benefit to their retirees.

Now, from the perspective of the retirees, the Tennessee delegation needs to renew its efforts for attaining equitable adjustments and the spousal option for retirees. CORRE sees no let up in the pressure for DOE to right the wrongs and end the discriminatory actions against Tennesseans that have been practiced for so many years by DOE. Again, CORRE is looking to the leadership of Senator Alexander and the Tennessee delegation to get that job done.

Pete Lotts
Chair
Government Relations Committee
CORRE