For those who've been asleep at the switch, this is a friendly reminder that time is running out to file applications for federal assistance if your government pays early retirees more than $15,000 in medical benefits. Many public employers provide some form of OPEB ("other post employment benefits") to retirees under age 65, and the new health care reform act (ACA as it is known) provides a $5 billion fund for private and public employers with high-cost benefits plans.
Application forms and more information can be found at
the website for the Departrment of Health and Human Services.
Don't get your hopes up if your benefits run less than $15,000 per individual, as the program generally applies only to
early retirees with higher costs. But if your benefits plan is that generous and you have not yet filed the requisite paperwork, your taxpayers will not be happy that you failed to obtain your share of the pie.
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
