Health costs to rise for retired missionaries
In this undated photo, the Rev. Richard Schwenk works with the Aetas
tribal people living near Mt. Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines.
A UMNS photo courtesy of the Rev. Richard Schwenk. |
A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
June 30, 2009 | NEW YORK (UMNS)
When the Rev. Richard and Paz “Caring” Schwenk went to the pharmacy
one day in June to pick up three eye medications, the retired
missionaries had to pay nearly $100 in co-payment fees.
Paz “Caring” Schwenk and her husband retired in 2000 after serving as missionaries for 35 years.
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Their concern is that those out-of-pocket costs will rise
substantially after July 1 under the supplemental health care benefits
plan provided by the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. The board’s directors approved changes to the Collins Pension and Health Plans for retired missionaries at the end of April.
While acknowledging the realities of the current economic climate,
the missionary community is in shock about the speed in which the
health benefit changes were approved and the fact that those affected,
around 500 people, have had very little time to assess how the changes
will affect their pocketbooks.
The United Methodist Missionary Association
has complained to the Board of Global Ministries about the lack of
consultation with the missionary community and requested at least 90
days notice before changes are implemented.
Helen Dwyer, who currently serves as missionary-in-residence at the
board, said a number of retired missionaries seemed to be just
receiving information about the changes in health benefits in mid-June
– only days before July 1.
The Rev. Edith Gleaves, head of the mission personnel, said the July
1 timing on reduced benefits will help “sustain the program.”
Discerning the effect
The Schwenks, who retired in 2000 and currently live in Pasadena,
Calif., near two of their sons, do not know how the plan changes will
affect them. They received the plan details in mid-June, the
75-year-old said.
The couple met at a Methodist high school in the Philippines, where
he was serving as a short-term missionary, fresh out of college, and
she was working as a teacher. After his seminary training, both were
commissioned as missionaries in 1965 and sent to Malaysia, where they
stayed for 14 years before returning to the Philippines.
Under the current health plan, the couple would pay $1,200 a year,
in addition to doctor visits, for the medications needed to help Paz
Schwenk, 78, forestall glacouma. While they normally would use generic
medications, they believe that could be a risk for eye care. Other less
expensive medications relate to thyroid, osteoporosis, prostate and
dermatology health needs.
With the new plan, coverage for non-generic retail and mail-order
prescriptions for those with 25 or more years of service is being
reduced from 90 percent to 80 percent for preferred drugs and 60
percent for non-preferred.
Reductions also are being made for other medical and hospital costs,
reimbursement of the monthly Medicare premium and nursing home
coverage. The reductions are higher for those with 20 to 24 years of
service and coverage for retirees with 15 to 19 years of service is
being phased out for anyone whose service started after Jan. 1, 1997.
According to information presented in April by Stirling Benefits,
which administers the health plan, eliminating coverage of retirees
with 15 to 19 years of service – which takes effect in 2012 – would
have saved more than $300,000 in 2008.
Other annual savings calculated by Stirling includes $265,341 for
changes in coverage to retirees with 20-24 years of service and
$223,060 for retirees with more than 25 years of service.
Not represented
During a May 13 meeting of the board’s personnel services team,
Helen Dwyer pointed out that while missionaries were made aware of
discussions regarding changes to their pension plan and had
representation on that committee, neither her office nor the missionary
community “have been represented at any stage of the process” related
to the health care changes.
“From this perspective, the issue is one of failure to show respect
for the missionaries as integral parts of the General Board of Global
Ministries and a failure to trust missionary representatives to be
privy to and have a voice in the necessity for responsible change
concerning issues that intimately affect missionaries,” she said in a
written statement.
Setting such an immediate time line for the changes “shows little
understanding” of the anxiety some older retired missionaries – many
are in their 80s and 90s and a few range in age up to 107 years – could
feel in dealing with the plan revisions, Dwyer said.
Her husband, the Rev. James Dwyer, who works in mission personnel at
the Board of Global Ministries, pointed out that the financial
constraints propelling the changes in supplemental health benefits to
missionaries are not the chief concern.
“The issue at the moment is not, from my point of view, the
reduction in health care benefits but the fact that senior citizens who
may need advocates to interpret for them … were given 10 days notice of
the changes,” he said.
As of June 26, 502 retired missionaries were receiving benefits
under the plan, including 239 with 15 to 24 years of service and 259
with more than 25 years of service. Another four missionaries were
early retirees, under 65 years old.
That number fluctuates slightly throughout the year, largely because
of deaths. On Jan. 1, for example, 511 were enrolled, including 41
retirees aged 65 to 69, 70 aged 70 to 74, 113 aged 75 to 79 and 282
aged 80 or older.
Issue of immediacy
The Rev. Edith Gleaves says cutbacks were needed to sustain the retiree health benefit. A UMNS photo
by Cassandra Heller.
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Gleaves said some questions about the immediacy of the changes were
raised during the board meeting, “but ultimately the directors
determined we could go ahead with that (July 1) date.”
She said she sent a letter advising missionaries of the coming
changes at the end of May, but acknowledged that missionaries had not
received the detailed plans from Stirling in a timely manner. “They
(Stirling) got delayed,” she explained. “They didn’t send it as soon as
they told us they would.”
Gleaves did note that the board had doubled dental benefits to
$2,000 annually in 2009 and has retained nursing home coverage. “These
missionaries are receiving some benefits that most retirement plans
don’t include,” she said. “It (the plan) also continues to reward
long-term service.”
Still, Richard Schwenk finds the potential increase in their
co-payment of medications and other medical costs “kind of a shock” and
hopes the board will consider reinstituting current coverage when
economic conditions improve.
“We’ll feel the repercussions, I’m sure,” he said. “We sort of depended on the good care that we were promised.”
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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