NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Retired Metro police officers, firefighters and other former city workers say the future of their health care hangs in the balance.
Dozens gathered Monday morning for a meeting at Inglewood Baptist Church. It comes after Vanderbilt University Medical Center announced it will stop taking Humana's Medicare Advantage plancome April 1 following a reimbursement dispute.
If the dispute isn't resolved, it could mean the end of specialty care at Vanderbilt for retirees like Pamela Fox and her husband.
"He has Keratoconus of his eyes so he had to have two cornea implants," said Fox. "So he's been going over there for 20-something years."
But others said they wouldn't even be in this situation had Metro leaders not decided to change their healthcare coverage back in 2021, forcing pensioners from three coverage options down to one. The change took effect last January.
"From what we understand, this is going to save a lot of money, like over a billion dollars down the road for Metro to start dealing with that unfunded liability," said Vice Mayor Jim Shulman, who was one of only two government officials at the meeting. At the time, Metro faced an unfunded Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) liability of $4.3 billion.
Former Metro firefighter B.R. Hall is on the Metro Benefits Board.
"I feel bad for the people out here," he said. "This is putting them through so much stress."
In 2021 he voted against a decision to switch pensioners' coverage options to one, but the change passed anyway.
"When it came up I made a comment that you're taking the choice away from retirees. and I don't think it's a good idea," said Hall.
Humana representatives and Metro HR fielded questions and concerns at the meeting called by retirees. In the end, there was no resolution but negotiations are ongoing and officials say the April 1 deadline has been extended by two weeks.
"We'll go back and talk to the mayor's office, we'll talk to the council and we'll try to figure out where we go," Shulman said.
Whatever the outcome, the clock is ticking and retirees say their healthcare is on the line.
"I just, I just hope it all will work out," said Fox.
