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Embarq retirees pinched by company's changes to benefits
ANTONIO VELARDE
September 9, 2007 - 11:57AM
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Carolyn and Joe Etheridge thought their golden years would be secure after Joe
retired from Embarq in 1997 after serving for 41 years.
But Carolyn and Joe, who began working as a teenager for what was Carolina
Telephone & Telegraph Co., before it was later bought by Sprint and then Embarq,
were confused after receiving a letter from the company in July stating their
health and life insurance benefits were being changed.
According to the company Web site, as of Jan 1, 2008, it will no longer provide
company-sponsored medical coverage to Medicare-eligible retirees or
Medicare-eligible dependents.
The company also stated that effective this month, company-provided life
insurance benefits extended to those who retired before Jan. 1, 2004, would no
longer be offered to retirees participating in CT&T's Voluntary Employees'
Beneficiary Association, while those only covered by the company life insurance
program would by 2008 have benefits capped at $10,000.
And beginning in 2008, the company will no longer provide a monthly subsidy for
Medicare premiums.
Etheridge said the company has said the efforts were cost-cutting measures to
keep it competitive.
"And their only defense is that other big corporations are doing it, and they're
doing it to be competitive," Etheridge said.
She and her husband are among the more than 3,000 Medicare-eligible retirees in
the state and several thousand more nationally whom Tom Matthews, an Embarq
spokesman, said are being affected by insurance policy changes in the company,
which services 18 states nationwide.
Etheridge said many others who are concerned have banded together to get the
changes reversed, citing the efforts of a North Carolina group that she said is
considering a class action suit.
Etheridge, who said she has suggested to the group that members consider
dropping their Embarq services in protest, said her husband turns 70 in March,
and finding an insurance provider will be difficult and costly.
She said that, had they been given warning, they could have sought other options
sooner.
"If they had let us know even five years ago, we could have gotten some
insurance," she said.
Matthews said there may be confusion among retirees about the specifics of the
company policy changes, stating that Embarq is ending company-sponsored
insurance policies and has been in contact with an insurance provider that has
been contacting retirees about possible benefits it can offer.
Matthews also said that life insurance coverage for retirees through Embarq is
actually being capped at $10,000, though there is some variability depending on
other coverage retirees might have.
Matthews said the strategy will, beginning in 2008, help the company have an
annual cash savings of $30 million.
"The rationale is to try to remain competitive," he said.
Anyone interested in learning more about the retirees' efforts can go to
www.eq65.com.
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