Adjustment costly to some state of Iowa retirees

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Some former workers for the state of Iowa are facing big jumps in their supplemental insurance for health care.

For some, the increases are more than $400 a month. But the state says nearly two-thirds of the retirees received premium increases of less than $100 per month.

The state says the retirees have been taken out of a pool that includes current state workers.

State Administrative Services Department spokesman Caleb Hunter told The Des Moines Register that the retirees’ health plan is supposed to be covered by their premiums. But the state had been subsidizing it, to the tune of $9.5 million last fiscal year.

He says that by adjusting the premiums and making other changes, the state expects to save about $12 million next year.