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Mass Retirees urges modest increases to survivor allowance and correction of option B/C inequities
Summary
Witnesses from Mass Retirees asked the Joint Committee on Public Service to advance bills raising a minimum survivor allowance and to correct long-standing inequities for retirees who elected certain survivor options before 2004.
Nancy McGovern of the Mass Retirees Association asked the committee to support legislation to increase the minimum survivor allowance and to correct actuarial inequities for earlier retirees.
McGovern said Senate 1867 would “increase the minimum option d survivor allowance from 6,000 to 9,000 annually, $750 per month for surviving spouses of public employees.” She described the increase as modest and prospective, noting the amount was last updated in 2011 when chapter 176 doubled the prior $3,000 minimum.
McGovern also described House Bill 2787, which addresses disparities affecting retirees who selected option B or option C before July 1, 2004. She told the committee that “pre‑2004 retirees continue to receive significantly reduced benefits” because their pensions were calculated using older mortality tables; she cited data showing those retirees receive pensions “12 to 13% lower for similarly aged beneficiaries, and between 15 to 24% lower if the retiree was older than the beneficiary.”
Supporters framed both bills as modest fixes to long‑recognized fairness issues in retirement calculations and survivor benefits. The proposed changes would apply prospectively and provide local retirement boards with corresponding local‑option language where applicable.
Committee members thanked the witnesses and asked no substantive follow-up during the hearing. The Mass Retirees witnesses urged a favorable report to advance the reforms.
