You probably won’t like the changes to public-employee pension funds

There are five public-employee pension funds in Ohio and they are a big business. These funds provide financial security to 1.75 million people and have collective assets worth $192 billion.

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (public workers)
State Teachers Retirement System (teachers)
School Employees Retirement System (school-bus drivers, cafeteria workers, janitors, secretaries)
Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (municipal police officers and firefighters)
Highway Patrol Retirement System (state troopers)

Though not required, all five provide health insurance. In the future though, this may not be a guarantee. With soaring health care and drug costs and recent economic hardships, several funds are reducing/eliminating cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), cutting subsidies, and increasing the cost of health care.

Example: Members of the School Employees Retirement System receive 3 percent COLA one year after retirement. Administrators of the fund though want to eliminate the COLA from 2018-2020. So after receiving no COLA for three years, it would return at a capped rate of 2.5 percent thereafter.

Example: The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System is the largest public pension fund in Ohio. Changes to this fund could drastically affect young retirees; they will pay $219.33 per month in health premiums which is six times more than retirees last year.

To see the long scroll of changes being made to public-employee pension funds in Ohio, click here.

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