History in the making…

Being a holiday week, there wasn’t any big Kodak news.

I received a official letter from Kodak telling what everybody already knows; ie. that Kodak will no longer be paying for retiree’s health insurance after Dec. 31st.

The largest portion of retirees are those on Medicare. They should be looking at plans that cover the “gap” between what Medicare pays and the actual cost of the medical care. In the Rochester area, the big 3 providers are MVP, Excellus (Blue Cross / Blue Shield) and United Healthcare. EKRA (retiree assoc.) has this comparison list online that shows monthly premiums and co-payments. EKRA also this Health Insurance Rankings that shows all the available plans in the US and gives basic rankings. That is most helpful for those retirees living out of the Rochester area. Usually people have until Dec. 7th to pick or change their Medicare plans for the next year. Because Kodak is ending health care you actually have until Dec. 31st to pick a provider for Medigap insurance.

I am in the smaller group of Kodak retirees; those under age 65. My options are to go in one of two directions. First option is to continue coverage under COBRA, which is a Federal Government program for employees losing health coverage. The second option is to independently find a new provider. I am awaiting more details but it appears that COBRA might be my best bet as it is based group rates and individual plans are usually more expensive.