Were your Beaufort County health benefits cut in 2016? You may be eligible for cash
Retired Beaufort County employees who were stripped of their retirement benefits in 2016 may soon be eligible to receive money, the Beaufort County Council decided Monday night.
The County Council agreed Monday to pay an estimated 50 to 60 former county employees who retired after July 1, 2016, a portion of $125,000.
The decision comes more than a year after the county agreed to settle a lawsuit over reducing health benefits for retirees in 2016. As part of the settlement, the county agreed to pay 40 former employees $695,000.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 40 former Beaufort County and Bluffton Township Fire District employees, alleged that the county broke its contract with employees in 2016 when it took away health coverage benefits from several hundred current and former employees.
In March 2015, Beaufort County Council voted unanimously to rescind health coverage benefits from 95 retirees and 590 workers eligible to receive it upon their retirement.
On Monday, several former county employees asked the council to correct the injustice and offer some money to the employees who did not sue over the lost benefits.
Council agreed and voted unanimously (10-0) to offer the payment. Council member Gerald Dawson recused himself from the vote.
“I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Council member York Glover, who continually fought for the issue over the last year. “It’s the moral thing to do, for this council to live up to their commitment to these retirees.”
The county expects to send letters to eligible retirees to review and sign next week, according to county spokesperson Chris Ophardt. The amount of money each person receives will be based on a formula that factors the employee’s length of employment, their life expectancy as of July 1, 2016 and the amount of subsidy that was included in their health benefits, Ophardt said.
Employees who did not have health insurance when they retired are not eligible for a payment, he said.
Loss of benefits
In November 2003, Beaufort County Council passed a resolution that allowed employees with at least 10 years of service to continue their health and dental coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield.
In 2008, the council revoked the policy for new employees, stating that only employees who were grandfathered in could continue receiving health benefits after retiring.
In March 2015, the council terminated all county health benefits for employees already in retirement and for current employees who would’ve been eligible upon retiring.
When the policy went into effect in June 2016, it eliminated health coverage for 95 retirees and 590 then-current employees who were eligible upon retirement.
Another 10 Bluffton Township Fire District retirees lost coverage, and about 95 current employees were entitled to it.
The benefits were cut due to rising costs, officials said in 2015.
Beaufort County was paying about $380,000 in annual contributions to health care premiums for the retirees, former deputy county administrator Josh Gruber said in 2015. The retirees paid the rest of the $323,000 cost.
“The numbers are what the numbers are,” Gruber said in 2015. “The cost to continue providing this benefit has reached a tipping point that is no longer sustainable.”
On July 21, 2016, 16 former Beaufort County and Bluffton Township Fire District employees sued the county and fire district for the loss of health coverage. Over time, more defendants were added to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was taken off the docket in 2018 and then re-added in July 2019.
