Quinn wants to cut state money for retired teachers’ healthcare

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed the state stop paying into the health insurance plan that covers retired suburban and downstate teachers, and how he plans to keep the program going is unclear.

The proposal is part of the governor’s budget plan released Wednesday. Details from the plan show that starting July 1, Quinn would not pay toward retired teachers’ health benefits, which totaled about $87 million this year.

Quinn budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft, though, didn’t answer questions about what the plan would mean for the health care of retired teachers.

“Due to the state’s fiscal challenges created over decades of mismanagement, we have zeroed out those lines and will work to achieve savings,” Kraft wrote in an email.

Like all of Quinn’s budget proposals, this one is far from becoming law, and lawmakers already are starting to craft their own budget plans.

Still, Illinois Education Association spokesman Charlie McBarron said the union plans to fight back against Quinn’s proposal.

“I don’t know that it is clear what would happen to the program,” McBarron said.

To pay for the program now, working teachers pay in a part of their salary toward the Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program, and the state matches their contribution — about $87 million total last year.

Then, retired teachers pay premiums if they want the coverage.

While the cut is included in the materials Quinn’s administration released about the program, he and his aides haven’t yet talked about it publicly.

So details about how it would work remain cloudy.