In the midst of the COVID-19 public health crisis and the financial hardship felt across Oregon, our healthcare and retirement benefits are probably not top of mind. But they’re as important as ever. We’ve put together a summary of the latest news and information, so you can stay up to date on PEBB and PERS. 

Retirement 

Changes to the retirement plan that were passed by the State Legislature last year are slated to go into effect on July 1. The bill, SB 1049, is a cut to public employee retirement benefits. Starting July 1 you will see a portion of the 6% Individual Account Program (IAP) contribution diverted into a pers stabilization fund. In plain english, that means you will save less money each month toward your retirement. It will not impact your pension. But according to reporting in the Oregonian, this change will result in a 1% to 2.5% reduction in the overall value of your retirement package. 

For more details on SB 1049, read our FAQ. 

Our union is currently suing the state over SB 1049 along with other public employee unions. Oral arguments in the case will begin in June and could take three to six months to complete. You can follow the latest updates here. 

Healthcare & Other PEBB Benefits 

The Public Employee Benefits Board met in April and we have some important updates. Most importantly, the Board has managed to keep cost increases low, which means there will be no cuts to benefits in the 2021 plans. 

PEBB has enacted a temporary rule through the rest of 2020 to protect health coverage for people who are in leave without pay status due to COVID-19. For this period of time, you do not have to work 80 hours within the current month to have your health coverage extended through the end of the following month. This is to ensure that people in leave without pay status are not at risk of losing their benefits.

And finally, we want to revisit a big victory that SEIU members won last year, which was protecting double coverage. The ability to have double coverage – when a spouse or domestic partner is also a PEBB or OEBB covered public employee – is a big deal to members who have high healthcare needs. When the Legislature tried to cut this benefit, SEIU members rallied and pushed back. 

What’s new for 2021 is the Legislature mandated PEBB to create a surcharge.  Our board set the surcharge at $5.00 per enrollee ($10 per couple) each month to keep double coverage affordable in 2021. 

Many people don’t know that medical double coverage is not the most economical choice for most couples with low healthcare needs. If a worker opts out of PEBB medical benefits they get a $233 per month opt-out payment and the average savings per month for double coverage is around $190 per month. So if you’re not hitting your out-of-pocket max for medical, you may want to see if opting out during open enrollment and becoming a dependent on your partner’s healthcare plan is your best choice. 

If you have questions about what our PEBB representatives are doing to keep costs affordable, you can email our SEIU PEBB representatives Shaun Parkman and Siobhan Martin at pebbreps@seiu503.org.