United We Matter seeks to restore prescription drug benefits for elderly and disabled retirees who worked a minimum of five years prior to 2011. This subsidy was part of State employees deferred compensation package and State employees had to work at least 16 years in State employment to qualify. Most State retirees worked an average of thirty-five years with the State of Maryland, having earned this benefit twice over. Despite this, the prescription drug program was eliminated after these employees retired. The elimination affects 90,000 State Retirees when they turn 65 or if they retired disabled.
The ethical way for the Maryland General Assembly to eliminate this benefit was by attrition and allow the State employees who earned this benefit continued access. Instead the General Assembly chose to place them in a program where access to prescription drug medicine will be denied because the costs of medication in this new program is prohibitive.
No government has the right to determine the longevity of a person’s life if that person has not committed a crime against God, society or the people. After years of dedicated service, the government should not put these State retirees in a position where they are forced to beg for their lives to keep a benefit that they earned.
The Pledge
Wherefore, I, the undersigned, pledge to support all efforts to move any bill out of committee and onto the House Floor for a vote if that bill seeks to restore the subsidy that covers prescription drug coverage for State retirees who retire disabled or reach the age of 65 and worked for the State of Maryland at least five years prior to 2011.
Thanks for supporting State Retirees