ADEA & retiree health benefits

[Guest Ari Epstein]

Does the ADEA apply to retiree medical benefits (not as applied to reducing severance benefits)? E.g., can an employer charge retirees an age based premium without having to satisfy the ADEA's equal benefit/equal cost analysis?

Thank you.

[Guest Killer Joe Ribakoff]

The 9th Circuit recently ruled that the ADEA applied to pension plans. I don't if any court in this great land of ours has addressed your specific question.

[Guest Ray Goetz]

It is not clear whether ADEA applies to retiree medical programs. See Schism v. U.S., 972 F.Supp. 1398 (1997). The Managers Statement to the 1990 OWBPA (P.L. 101-433) amendments to ADEA briefly discuss some permitted actions for retiree health plans in a way that indicates that such plans are, in fact, subject to ADEA.

[Guest AFoodman]

You may want to look at the Medicare Alternate Payor Rules. Our benefits atty was researching a retiree dental issue and told me that portions of ADEA were repealed and moved to Medicare. We wanted to terminate dental coverage at 65 for retirees and that's where he found the info (or lack thereof). Try section 4 of ADEA - that's were the dental information used to be.