White Plains Retirees Either Pay Up or Lose Health Insurance

When a police officer sacrifices to serve his or her community, so does that officer’s family.

“For 13 years, I slept alone,” said Bernadette Burns Rossing, who grew up in White Plains.

Rossing’s husband, Carl A. Rossing III, is a retired member of the White Plains Police Bureau, where he worked for more than 22 years. For 13 of those years, Carl Rossing worked the night shift missing holidays and working odd hours while his son, who has since passed, was ill.

Rossing says her family, who lives on Robertson Avenue in Hartsdale, lived up to its end of the bargain and that the city isn’t holding up its end of the deal.She says her husband was promised free healthcare during retirement when he took the job.

According to The Journal News, the White Plains Common Council approved a measure in 2010, as a consent item without public discussion, to charge retired civil service employees, firefighters and police officers 15 percent of their insurance costs causing about 640 retirees to file lawsuits. The pay-in only includes employees who retireed before 1995, according to The Journal News' intereview with Karen Pasquale, senior advisor to the mayor. Pasquale also told The Journal News that the city made its decision based on the the rise of health care costs.

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Rossing. “What made them do this all of a sudden and change this? I don’t know.” 

Rossing was even more appalled when an enormous bill of $3,972, for the period of July 2010 to Jan. 1 2012, arrived at their home the week before Christmas. The premium had to be paid by Jan. 10 or the Rossing’s and their daughter, as well as other retirees, would lose insurance coverage unless they proved financial hardship.

Rossing’s reaction to the second bill for the period of Jan. 2012 through March 2012 for $703, which showed up on Christmas Eve, and was around $200 more than anticipated: 

“Are you kidding me? They’re crazy!”

“It’s not a lot of money, his [Carl Rossing’s] pension,” said Rossing. “I feel for those other [retirees] guys—some who have cancer, or you hear how his wife is in a wheel chair. It’s just horrible.”

Rossing says steep property taxes and the high cost of living in Westchester also stress funds during retirement. She says she isn’t interested in utilizing one of the City’s other free healthcare options, which she says aren't as comprehensive and doesn’t include her specialized doctors

“I see doctors frequently for the next five years, I have tests and a lot of co-pays,” said Rossing. “I’m not in any place to switch insurance. I’m not going to run around when we were promised that they would pay. This is how it always was, why are they taking this [free health care] away?”

Like us on  Facebook  (facebook.com/WhitePlainsPatch) and follow us on  Twitter (twitter.com/WhtPlainsPatch)