Lockheed Martin Retiree Medical Cost

[DarkOps]

Retired from Lockheed Martin (LM) early '97 after more than 32 years continuous service.

Received January 2015 LM notice of LM dropping health coverage at end of May 2015 and requiring transfer via OneExchange (OE).

Have learned the following:

- OE is a middleman between insurance providers and retirees.
- If retiree uses OE, retiree must present any conflict to OE, not provider.
- Neither LM nor OE will have fiduciary responsibility to retirees.
- OE provides no written method to know or select options. (No trace of OE statements.)
- OE will NOT allow video or audio recordings of presentations to retirees.
- OE allows only telephone interaction to structure contract.
- Upon completion of option selection, retiree (and spouse) must sign written OE contract.
- LM reserves the right to drop contributions to health coverage.

This seems to be the next step in LM dropping all health coverage and responsibility to retired employees.

Do other LM retirees have concerns or similar evaluation of the change?

What will you do?

 

[Dash man]

I'm too young to be on Medicare, so it doesn't affect me yet. It looks like I'd better make plans to find a different plan when the time comes. We're 58 and currently on DW's plan from her work, but had planned to consider the LM plan in a couple of years.

 

[Nunthewiser]

Me too, but I just helped my mother get through the same OE thing as a survivor benefit that GE still has. No fun and the paperwork they give you was "big enough to keep you warm" as the old CSN&Y song goes.

 

[LRDave]

Retired from Lockheed Martin (LM) early '97 after more than 32 years continuous service.

Received January 2015 LM notice of LM dropping health coverage at end of May 2015 and requiring transfer via OneExchange (OE).

Have learned the following:

- OE is a middleman between insurance providers and retirees.
- If retiree uses OE, retiree must present any conflict to OE, not provider.
- Neither LM nor OE will have fiduciary responsibility to retirees.
- OE provides no written method to know or select options. (No trace of OE statements.)
- OE will NOT allow video or audio recordings of presentations to retirees.
- OE allows only telephone interaction to structure contract.
- Upon completion of option selection, retiree (and spouse) must sign written OE contract.
- LM reserves the right to drop contributions to health coverage.

This seems to be the next step in LM dropping all health coverage and responsibility to retired employees.

Do other LM retirees have concerns or similar evaluation of the change?

What will you do?

I am not the LM retiree, but my 90 year-old father is and I recently did the whole switch to OE on behalf of my father and my 88 year-old mother.

At my parent's advanced age, I did not consider an alternative. I figure LM could have dropped them as easily directly as they can now by dropping contributions through OE.

It was an extremely tedious process via telephone. OTOH, the advisor I spoke with was pretty helpful and the net of the change is that for THE COMING YEAR, my parents will be paying less for what appears to be better coverage.

I have no illusions that OE won't raise rates while LM contribution will stay the same. But in my parent's situation, this was a small consideration.

 

[Hermit]

Retired from Lockheed Martin (LM) early '97 after more than 32 years continuous service.

Received January 2015 LM notice of LM dropping health coverage at end of May 2015 and requiring transfer via OneExchange (OE).

Have learned the following:

- OE is a middleman between insurance providers and retirees.
- If retiree uses OE, retiree must present any conflict to OE, not provider.
- Neither LM nor OE will have fiduciary responsibility to retirees.
- OE provides no written method to know or select options. (No trace of OE statements.)
- OE will NOT allow video or audio recordings of presentations to retirees.
- OE allows only telephone interaction to structure contract.
- Upon completion of option selection, retiree (and spouse) must sign written OE contract.
- LM reserves the right to drop contributions to health coverage.

This seems to be the next step in LM dropping all health coverage and responsibility to retired employees.

Do other LM retirees have concerns or similar evaluation of the change?

What will you do?

I turned 65 this year so I won't be affected. Last year, my medical costs for myself and two kids totaled about $17,000 including dental and vision. That was with the LM Essentials program. I'm glad that is behind me.

 

[Dash man]

I turned 65 this year so I won't be affected. Last year, my medical costs for myself and two kids totaled about $17,000 including dental and vision. That was with the LM Essentials program. I'm glad that is behind me.

The changes being discussed are for those 65 and older using the LM Medicare health plan. Those under 65 I don't believe are affected yet.

 

[Hermit]

The changes being discussed are for those 65 and older using the LM Medicare health plan. Those under 65 I don't believe are affected yet.

I'm using Humana and Medicare Advantage. The costs of LM Medicare insurance was way out of my league. I couldn't figure out what was so special I would be getting for my money when Medicare pays for almost everything.

 

[DarkOps]

I am not the LM retiree, but my 90 year-old father is and I recently did the whole switch to OE on behalf of my father and my 88 year-old mother.

At my parent's advanced age, I did not consider an alternative. I figure LM could have dropped them as easily directly as they can now by dropping contributions through OE.

It was an extremely tedious process via telephone. OTOH, the advisor I spoke with was pretty helpful and the net of the change is that for THE COMING YEAR, my parents will be paying less for what appears to be better coverage.

I have no illusions that OE won't raise rates while LM contribution will stay the same. But in my parent's situation, this was a small consideration.

The January 21, 2015 Lockheed Martin ANNOUNCEMENT included the following statement:
"Lockheed Martin reserves the right to change any of its retiree medical or other benefits plans, programs, or arrangements at any time."
My retirement paperwork did not have that statement. I assume that if we were to endorse the OE contract that the clause would become binding on us.

My experience with Lockheed Martin is that retirees are a burden. I expect that all LM contributions will change to zero once the "transition" is complete.

Did you find information that the Lockheed Martin contribution will stay the same?

 

[LRDave]

The January 21, 2015 Lockheed Martin ANNOUNCEMENT included the following statement:
"Lockheed Martin reserves the right to change any of its retiree medical or other benefits plans, programs, or arrangements at any time."
My retirement paperwork did not have that statement. I assume that if we were to endorse the OE contract that the clause would become binding on us.

My experience with Lockheed Martin is that retirees are a burden. I expect that all LM contributions will change to zero once the "transition" is complete.

Did you find information that the Lockheed Martin contribution will stay the same?

I did not word that well. Nothing I saw indicated they can't, in fact, lower their contribution. I just meant that if (when) premiums increase, I do not expect LM to jump in there with an increase in contributions.

I agree that LM views retirees as a burden and will shed any commitments to retirees as fast as they can.

 

[Bamaman]

When I see all the numbers posted above about healthcare costs, it's scary. I retired at 58 years old from a megacompany, and just went on Medicare 4/1/2015.

My health insurance plan was $420 per month, and my new Medicare Supplement is now something like $150 per month--a take home increase in my pay (pension.)

I am a stable Type II diabetic. My wife had uterine cancer 7 years ago. Had we found ourselves without insurance, we'd been dead ducks. No company would touch us--until the ACA came to roost--but at extremely high deductibles.

I'm just thankful that my company is still supplementing our Medicare Supplement and that they're taking care of in this small way.

But remember that in long term retirement, you'll still need $250K+ for your share of deductibles and co-pays for your lifetime.

 

[ziggy29]

My experience with Lockheed Martin is that retirees are a burden. I expect that all LM contributions will change to zero once the "transition" is complete.

I think this mentality is increasingly true for all employers.

 

[Texas Proud]

Just as an FYI, just because there was no specific stmt about changes to a plan on paper you received does not mean they cannot change... the actual plan document is the determining document and it is probably a full ream of paper.... and I bet it is in there...