For 2008 Verizon premiums for retirees has quadtripled. In calling the Verizon Benefit Center the only answer we get is that Verizon went over their budget for 2007, therefore the retirees are being singled out through their health insurance premiums to bail the company out of their finanace problem! It is totally outragous and in some cases for retirees it is either pay your health insurance premium and not pay your bills or eat. Some retirees monthly retirement checks do not even cover the premium and Verizon said they will have to pay the difference that their checks cannot cover. I really don't know who to go to in order to help all of us retirees. Could it be possible to get a class action lawsuit, or is there nothing that can be do, but try to survive and many will have to go without health insurance because the premium is so high they cannot afford it. For example on my premiums: From 2004 to 2006 I paid 0 premium monthly, in 2007 I paid 83.59 premium monthly, now in 2008 my premium will be 397 premium monthly. That is 4 12 times more than last years premium, which I beleive is like a 34 increase in premiums!!! There is no possible way being retired that I can afford to pay such a high premium, it is just about as much as my mortage of 525 per month. In looking at buying your own insurance I found it to be around 300 per month and that is not company sponsored! Why would we have to pay more to get our own when as a retiree, whom the company offered your health insurance for the rest of your life charge such an outragous amount, that is impossible to pay? Is there anything that your company can do to help us retirees, who helped most of their lives to make Verizon what it is today a multi-billion dollar company, who cannot seem to take care of their own. Thank you in advance for any help you can give to me.

Updated On: Saturday, November 10, 2007

For 2008 Verizon premiums for retirees has quadtriples. In calling the Verizon Benefit Center the only answer we get is that Verizon went over their budget for 2007. Therfore, the retirees are being singled out though their health insurance premiums to bail the company out of their financial problems! It is totally outragous and in some cases for retirees it is either pay your health insurance premium and not pay your bill or even eat. Some retirees monthly retirement checks do not even cover the premium and Verizon said they will have to pay the difference that their check cannot cover. I really don't know who to go to in order to help all of us retirees. Could it be possible to get a class action lawsuit, or is there nothing that can be done, but try to survive and many will have to go without health insurance because the premium is so high they cannot afford it. For example, on my premiums: From 2004 to 2006 I paid 0 premium monthly, in 2007 I paid 83.59 premium monthly, now in 2008 my premium will be 397 premium monthly. That is four and a half times more than last years premium, which I beleive is like a 34 percent increase in premiums!! There is no possible way being retired and on a limited income, that I can afford to pay such a high premium. It is juat about as much as my mortage of 525 per month. In looking at buying your own insurance I found it to be around 300 per month and that is buying it outright. When we retired we had a company sponsored health insurance plan.Why would we have to pay more of a monthly premium to our company sponsored health coverage than just buying it outright?? The company offered in a package that you would get your health insurance coverage for life, no mention of monthly premiums! Why would we have to pay more to our company sponsored coverage than buying your own insurance coverage? Just does not make any sense. Is there anything that your company can do to help us retirees, who helped most of their lives to make Verizon what it is today, a multi-billion company, who cannot seem to take care of their own. Thank you in advance for any help you can give to me.