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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: Your Chapter and NRLN Are Advocating Your Healthcare Coverage Rights

In mid-September I will be representing the IBM/Kyndryl Retirees Chapter at the NRLN’s annual Fly-In to Washington, DC where I will join other NRLN Chapter and Association leaders to lobby members of Congress and their staffs to protect Social Security, Medicare and other top NRLN agenda issues important to retirees. In addition, I will join the NRLN President and NRLN Executive Director to advocate a healthcare coverage issue specific to IBM retirees.

You many have participated in our survey earlier this year that provided us information about IBM’s “education campaign” launched on September 22, 2022, to inform retirees it would be offering for the fall Medicare enrollment two new UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans. IBM also announced it would drop support for traditional Medicare and a supplement plan (Medigap)

The information you provided, plus our research caused us to conclude that IBM in its announcements did not properly inform retirees of their Medicare Guaranteed Issue Rights (GIR) and Special Enrollment Period (SEP) as required by federal law. A GIR and SEP would have provided affected IBM retirees who wanted to remain with or obtain a traditional Medicare Medigap plan the opportunity to purchase it at the best available price and they could not be denied coverage based on their medical history.

You may recall that in my previous message to you, I shared with you a letter that NRLN President Bill Kadereit and I sent on April 8, to Mr. Arvind Krishna, IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. We stated that IBM coerced retirees into switching from their 2022 healthcare plan to new coverage of one of two new UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage PPO plans effective 1/1/2023. Anonymous quotes received from IBM retirees in the NRLN survey were included as an attachment to the letter.

During our appointments with members of Congress and their staffs we will provide considerable documentation on what occurred with IBM retirees (and AT&T and TVA retirees) and urge lawmakers to request that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) enforce GIR and SEP laws to protect retirees’ rights.

We want the CMS Administrator and/or the Secretary of Health and Human Services to notify IBM that it must provide a GIR and SEP for affected IBM retirees. We expect it will take time for this to play out. We will continue to work on this issue and inform you of any progress.

In the meantime, I encourage you all to reach out to former IBM teammates and share the NRLN story and please look for updates via NRLN.org.

Hector R. Saenz, President
IBM/Kyndryl Retirees Chapter

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Welcome to the IBM and Kyndryl Retirees Chapter

IBM 100 Years Ago!

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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. 

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Archived Documents for IBM/Kyndryl

by National Retiree Legislative Network

Message from Hector Saenz, President, IBM ~ Kyndryl Retirees Chapter

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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