Hank Terry figured he had a deal with Denver. He would put his body on the line as a police officer, and the city would help pay for his pain.
Despite being run over by a drunken driver and operated on 30 times, Terry held up his end for 33½ years. Once Terry retired, the city let go completely.
Most retired Denver cops who are under 65 and not yet eligible for Medicare are in the same situation as Terry and his wife, Saundra. Many of these officers could be hit with health insurance premiums that cost more than their home mortgages.
Beginning in February, the Terrys could face health premiums ranging from nearly $1,300 a month to more than $1,700 a month.
“How can I pay that much and still have a house?” wondered Terry, who, at age 60, has a monthly retirement income of $3,200.
The short answer is, he can’t.
“The only way we could do it is to sell our house and park our 25-foot Airstream trailer on our daughter’s property,” said Saundra Terry.
That isn’t going to happen.
“At the end of January, we will go uninsured,” Saundra Terry said.
“It’s ridiculous,” her husband added.
Unconscionable also comes to mind.
Active-duty and retired police officers used to share a single health-
insurance premium pool, called a blended pool. Now active-duty officers have one premium pool and retirees another. Because retirees are older and in worse health than active-duty officers, their health care costs are much higher. So the insurance to cover them is much more expensive.
In 2003, PacifiCare, one of two insurance companies providing health coverage for Denver’s cops, “required that we be unblended,” said Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman.
In 2004, Kaiser Permanente, the cops’ other health insurance company, made a similar demand, Whitman said.
The result was relatively mild premium increases for active-duty officers and an unaffordable explosion in premiums for retirees. For 2006, PacifiCare raised active-duty cops’ health insurance premiums by 5 percent, but retired cops’ premiums shot up by roughly 69 percent, said Tyler Mason, a spokesman for PacifiCare.
The retirees took such a hit because of their claims, Mason explained.
“We spent more on retirees than we took in in premiums,” Mason said.
Kaiser went to separate premium pools because PacifiCare did, said Brian Crady, who handles the Denver police account for Kaiser. Retired cops’ rates increased by 18 percent for 2006, Crady said.
Combined with an earlier 14.4 percent Kaiser increase, Saundra Terry said she and her husband were looking at just under $1,300 a month in Kaiser premiums to keep their existing health insurance.
Coverage from PacifiCare for the Terrys would have been roughly $1,700 a month.
That may be about to change. Because police retirees raised a stink about the new premiums, PacifiCare and Kaiser have backed off the requirement that active-duty officers and retirees be separated.
Now, active-duty cops and the city must decide how much more they are willing to pay in health premiums to subsidize retired officers.
Beginning today, the Police Protective Association will ask its members if they want to return to a single-
premium pool with retirees, union president Mike Mosco said.
Mosco said union leaders were not given specifics about health insurance premiums. If they had known what was happening, Mosco said, “we would not have let it get to this point.”
Complicating matters now is the possible need to reopen the police union contract if the city is to increase contributions to retirees’ premiums.
“That’s never been done before,” Whitman said.
Maybe not. But hundreds of retired police officers never before had to choose between health insurance and homes.
“It’s not,” said Hank Terry, “a pretty picture.”
Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.
