The Connecticut State Employees for Medicare Choice was started to advocate for state employee retirees to be allowed to choose between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans during open enrollment periods, as occurs in most states. Right now, our only option is a privatized Aetna Medicare Advantage plan. While many retirees may be satisfied with it, not all are, especially those with serious medical conditions.
Gloria Bent and James W. Russell were the initiators. Gloria Bent became aware of the need for a choice between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans when her late husband, former UConn Physics Department member Gary, was denied needed skilled nursing care after cancer brain surgery, a treatment that is routine under traditional Medicare.
James W. Russell, CSU Professor of Sociology Emeritus at Eastern Connecticut State University, became aware of the need for a traditional Medicare option when a cancer hospital turned down his Aetna Medicare Advantage insurance but would have accepted traditional Medicare. Russell was the main organizer of the successful campaign that won members of the Alternate Retirement Program the right to transfer to the State Employees Retirement System Hybrid Plan in 2011.
We are dedicated union members who encourage our State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) and state legislators to work hard for this needed retiree healthcare reform.
We are affiliated with The National Alliance for Retiree Healthcare.