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Committee advances amendment to let PSPRS retirees continue cancer coverage at actuarial rates
Summary
The committee approved a strike-everything amendment to House Bill 2689 to let more Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) members continue cancer-insurance coverage after earned-time expires; sponsors said retirees would pay actuarially determined premiums so the PSPRS fund is not tapped.
A House Special Committee on Public Safety and Law Enforcement on Feb. 18 approved a strike-everything amendment to House Bill 2689 that, sponsors and stakeholders said, would let retirees in the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System continue a long-standing PSPRS cancer-insurance plan by paying actuarially determined premiums.
Representative David Livingston, the sponsor, described the change as protecting the pension-related fund while expanding coverage to retirees who previously did not have an option to continue cancer insurance. “When we structure it right, we have it written right, we can do two things at once,” Livingston said.
Diane McAllister, speaking for PSPRS, explained the mechanics: active employers have historically paid $50 a year that credited members with earned time (five months per year of service) of cancer-insurance coverage. Once that earned time expires, the statute previously allowed only people who had already had a cancer diagnosis to continue coverage at their own cost; the amendment would permit all retirees who are PSPRS members to continue coverage provided they pay a premium set using actuarial analysis. McAllister said the intention of the floor amendment is to have the PSPRS board set a premium based on actuarial assumptions so the existing fund corpus is not drained.
Stakeholders including the Professional Firefighters of Arizona and the County Supervisors Association testified in support or neutral and said they had worked with PSPRS on the draft amendment. Tom Carretto of the firefighters’ group said the plan offers valuable coverage for first responders and that expanding the option would aid retirees.
Committee members asked detailed questions about actuarial treatment and whether the expansion would create fiscal pressure on cities and counties. PSPRS witnesses said the plan would be designed so that the new group would pay their own premium and not impose additional employer costs; a floor amendment was promised to clarify actuarial-rate language.
The committee adopted the Marshall strike-everything amendment and returned HB 2689 as amended with a due-pass recommendation. The roll-call record reported 12 ayes, 0 nays, 0 present, 3 absent.
