Message from Hector Saenz, President, IBM ~ Kyndryl Retirees Chapter
To: IBM / Kyndryl Retirees Chapter_NRLN Members From: Hector Saenz, Chapter President and NRLN Board Member Subject: Update on IBM ~ Kyndryl Retirees Chapter's Actions
You may have read previous messages to IBM retirees that your IBM / Kyndryl Chapter and the National Retirees Legislative Network (NRLN) launched an investigation in January into whether there was an injustice to IBM retirees when IBM changed its healthcare benefit.
This resulted in retirees only able to apply FHA/HRA funds if they elected one of two UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans. Retirees who have a Medicare supplement plan (Medigap) no longer have access to FHA/HRA funds to pay their Medigap premium.
To gain information and comments, IBM retirees where invited to participate in a survey that opened on February 24 and remains open for participation at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NRLNIBM
Click here to access survey results as of April 9.
Our team which includes Steve Bergeron, Chapter Membership Director, Bill Kadereit, NRLN President and I have been gathering and studying documents that IBM sent to retirees about healthcare coverage. I want to thank the IBM retirees who have provided documents.
Steve has been doing an outstanding job of recruiting IBM / Kyndryl retirees to sign-up as Chapter members at https://nrln.org/email-sign-up. Membership is 551 and growing daily. Steve has also been a big help in identifying IBM healthcare program documents.
Individuals who have participated in the survey, who were not already Chapter members, have had their names and email addresses added to the Chapter’s database. I encourage these individuals to go to the NRLN sign-up webpage and do a full sign-up that includes your name, email address, home address and IBM / Kyndryl Retirees Chapter. Your home address is important to have in our database. With your home address our system will identify your Congressional District. There are times when it is important to ask members to send an NRLN sample letter to their U.S. Representative and Senators.
Your contact information will be in a database provided by a highly qualified database service. The database service, your Chapter and the NRLN will never provide your personal information to anyone.
On April 8, a letter, including anonymous comments from our survey, was mailed to Arvind Krishna, IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. After Bill Kadereit and I acknowledged IBM’s outstanding financial results in the second paragraph the third paragraph stated: (Click here to read the letter.)
“However, based on an NRLN / Chapter survey of IBM retirees, many now believe IBM executives have lost IBM’s moral compass and have become indifferent toward its retirees. That is not so good. The appearance created is that IBM made a callous attempt to coerce retirees into switching from 2022 plan coverage to new coverage of two new UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage PPO plans effective 1/1/2023.”
The closing paragraph stated:
“Finally, as IBM’s CEO, we implore you to learn just how much of the $11.2 billion free cash flow it would take to allow retirees to exhaust the full amount of their HRA balances over their remaining years. You can reconsider and restore them. IBM’s storied history of evenhanded employee / retiree relations is a legacy.
If a response is received from Mr. Krishna or a member of his executive team, I will let you know.
As you know, on September 7, 2022, IBM entered into separate annuity contracts with Prudential and MetLife to transfer its pension benefit-paying responsibility for about 100,000 retirees and beneficiaries covered by the IBM Personal Pension Plan. This action is known as Pension Risk Transfer (or De-risking).
The NRLN is continuing to lobby Congress and is working with a Congressional Committee’s staff to get its Pension Risk Transfer proposals enacted into law. The primary objective is that group annuity contracts must be required to purchase reinsurance that is sufficient to provide a replacement annuity of equal value from a third-party insurer that is independent of the annuity provider and financially capable. We can’t say at this time whether legislation would apply retroactively to IBM’s Pension Risk Transfer action.
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Welcome to the IBM and Kyndryl Retirees Chapter
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IBM
IBM retirees were among the founding members of the National Retiree Legislative Network (NRLN) more than 20 years ago. A nucleus of 383 IBM retiree NRLN members who currently receive the NRLN’s emails and Action Alerts are part the new NRLN IBM and Kyndryl Retirees Chapter.
- Hector Saenz, an IBM retiree and a member of the NRLN Board of Directors, is the Chapter President.
- If you have questions about the Chapter contact the NRLN Vice President – Communications at contact@nrln.org or call toll free 866-360-7197.
IBM retirees and future retirees have a heritage with the International Business Machines Corporation that was founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Today, IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise which helps clients in more than 175 countries.
- Help the Chapter grow by encouraging other IBM and Kyndryl retirees and future retirees to Sign Up HERE!
KYNDRYL
Kyndryl retirees and future retirees can claim much of the history of IBM up to being spun off as Kyndryl in 2021. Today, Kyndryl is an American multinational information technology infrastructure services provider that builds, manages and develops large-scale information systems in more than 60 countries.
As a Chapter member, the NRLN urges you to:
- Respond to NRLN Action Alerts to support legislation that the NRLN, Chapter leaders and members considers beneficial to retirees.
- Also, help the Chapter grow by encouraging other IBM and Kyndryl retirees and future retirees to Sign Up HERE!
NRLN Chapter members do not pay dues but enjoy the full support of all the other 13 NRLN Chapters plus major Associations. The Chapter will make a request to members for a startup contribution to supplement the allocation that the NRLN has provided. Otherwise, the NRLN conducts an annual solicitation for voluntary contributions and the Chapter will be allocated a proportional budget.