Norwood Pension Flap Class-Action Settlement In Works: City And Retirees Ask Judge For 'Fairness Hearing'

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The argument was over complaints that Norwood illegally shifted  increased costs for health care insurance to its pensioners.  Former police and fire department workers said they took lower pay in the 1970s in exchange for promises of medical benefits after they retired.  When the costs rose, Norwood broke its promise.  Judge Charles Kubicki has not set a date for the fairness hearing in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, but the joint request filed last week signals that the conclusion of the lawsuit is near.  The case -- which involved about 150 city workers -- is important, although it has not attracted a great deal of attention.  The Norwood case shows that attempts by state and Cincinnati officials -- who are battling an explosion in pension expenses for public employees -- to chop retirement benefits for government workers will likely wind up in court.

The Norwood lawsuit is Case No. A 098881 and was filed by retirees who started working for that city before 1975.  The city promised health care benefits as part of the pension package.  The retirees said said they gave up pay raises and cost of living adjustments in exchange for the health care benefits.  The retirees claim that in 2005 Norwood forced them to begin paying a portion of their health care insurance premiums:

"Sometime in 2005, the city, without any notice or process being provided to the retirees, implemented a policy that certain police and fire retirees that were non-Medicare eligible would not be reimbursed for all health care premiums.  Indeed, the evidence [to be presented at trial] will reveal that the City reimbursed these premiums since at least 1990 as part of its contractual obligations that were made when induced the retirees to continue to work for at as well as certain language contained in police and fire labor contracts.  Many retirees were made aware of this newly adopted policy not by the City, but by the third party administrator that handles their claims and paperwork."

Norwood said it agreed to pay up to $2,250 a year for co-pays, deductibles and medical expenses not covered by the pension insurance, which came from the Ohio Police and Firefighters Fund.  Norwood contended:  "Any medical expense not covered by the applicable insurance policy or in excess of the ($2,250 a year) would be paid for  by the retirees. . . The plain language of the plan limits benefits to $2,250 'per plan year for each plan participant.'  The language could not be any more clear or unambiguous."

Kubicki was scheduled to try the class-action Oct. 7 without a jury.  The trial was canceled.  The case was originally filed in U.S. District Court where Judge Michael Barrett spent three days holding unsuccessfully settlement talks.  It was moved to Common Pleas Court last year, were the parties tried to mediate a deal.  They have explored a possible settlement, and the Oct. 12 request for a fairness hearing indicates they reached an agreement.  A fairness hearing is unique to class-action litigation -- it requires the judge to determine that the settlement is fair, adequate, reasonable and not based on collusion between the lawyers.  The judge is supposed to act as the protector of the class, and once the settlement is presented, the judge make his evaluation.

OH-02 Jean Schmidt: Her Arithmetic Shows Healthcare Law Won't Add To U.S. Debt Like War In Iraq

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Republican congresswoman says the health care reform law signed by President Obama -- a measure which she vehemently opposes -- at most could add $260 billion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years. She adds that it might really be as low as $59 billion. Either way, Schmidt's arithmetic adds up to far less stress on federal finances than the $16 billion per month going for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is way less than the estimated $323 billion proposed for new jet fighters. Jean Schmidt's math seems to show health care is not the evil budget monster that will devour the national treasury and bankrupt the nation. Indeed, the numbers tossed around by Schmidt aren't all that frightening, and look quite at odds with GOP warnings that health care reform has put the U.S. on the eve of destruction.

For example, the Congressional Research Service puts the cost of the wars to date at $1.05 trillion. So far, $299 billion has been spent in Afghanistan. Another $747.3 million has been spent in Iraq -- a nation the U.S. invaded to search for weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. By Schmidt's reckoning, the Iraq War has already cost U.S. taxpayers three times as much as health care will if all goes wrong between today and 2020. (This year's appropriation for the wars is $139 billion to the Department of Defense.)

Schmidt, of course, hews to the GOP line that health care is a disaster. But her numbers indicate just the opposite. She wrote in today's Cincinnati Enquirer: "Yet once all of the budget gimmicks and unrealistic future cuts are removed, the plan will actually add between $59 and $260 billion to the national debt over the next 10 years . . . They understand this measure is about creating a new government entitlement to give coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans. A laudable goal, but a dream we simply cannot afford."

But besides the wars, other items already in the federal budget are adding more, much more to the debt. The October 2008 TARP Bill which passed under Republican George W. Bush, had $700 billion in spending. Most of the money went to bailout big banks and Wall Street, but some was used for GM and Chrysler. The stimulus bill passed last year under Democratic President Obama was for $787 billion. And then there is the plan to build the F-35 joint strike fighter jet -- the pricetag is estimated at $323 billion for about 2,500 of the planes.

Ohio Death Row Inmate Tries Suicide: State To Pay Healthcare And Hospitalization Until March 16 Execution

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- At last count, there were about 2.8 million Ohioans under age 65 without health insurance coverage. Convicted murderer Lawrence Reynolds Jr. is not among them. He is in a Youngstown hospital being nursed back to health -- and state taxpayers will be paying all the medical bills. Gov. Ted Strickland delayed Reynolds' Tuesday execution for a week while the Death Row inmate mends after apparently attempting to take his own life Sunday. He swallowed pills that have not been identified, nor is it known how he got them. Prison officials are investigating. The Akron Beacon Journal is reporting: "Reynolds' condition has been upgraded from serious to stable and he is regaining consciousness, a prison official said this afternoon. He is being treated at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Youngstown."

Reynolds was convicted of killing Loretta Foster in 1994. The 67-year-old victim was his neighbor in an Akron suburb. The execution was postponed because of the medical emergency. This situation is so bizarre: Somebody who wanted to die is in the hospital being cared for until he can be put to death. Meanwhile, thousands of law abiding Ohioans who want to live are condemned to disease or death because they can't afford health insurance. Statistics show that the largest chunk of uninsured Ohioans, about 76%, are working, or are members of working families. Their wages can't pay the health insurance premiums, or their employers don't offer affordable plans, often because small business can't pay the expenses. The other 24% of uninsured Ohioans are unemployed, many because of the Great Recession. Or they have chronic conditions or disabilities and can't find coverage. But if you are on Death Row, you can obtain the best care in the world even though its only meant to keep you alive until your date with the executioner. If you want to learn more about healthcare, check out this report called Ohioans without Health Insurance.

Wal-Mart, KFC And McDonald's Workers: So Poor Ohio Taxpayers Pay Their Health Care Costs

CLEVELAND (TDB) -- Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think tank, reports the state government is paying more for the health care costs of the working poor who qualify for Medicaid: "The three employers with the most workers enrolled in Medicaid on average in Ohio were Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Yum! Brands, which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." Altogether, there were 50 employers with about 111,000 people whose medical benefits were subsidized by Medicaid, a welfare program.

"The state of Ohio paid an estimated $111.5 million in 2007 to cover Medicaid costs for workers and their dependents at the 50 Ohio employers that appeared most frequently in data collected by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Altogether, 111,046 participants in family and children’s Medicaid worked at these employers or were family members of workers.

"The total approximate cost to Ohio of workers and their dependents using Medicaid at employers for whom a four-year comparison was possible increased 29 percent, to $107.6 million last year from $83.4 million in 2004, in inflation adjusted 2007 dollars.

"Enrollment in Medicaid and food stamp programs continued to grow at these employers between 2004 and 2007, increasing by 14.6 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, over that time. Employee and dependent participation in cash assistance declined 21.6percent during the same period."