2021 Kentucky Revised Statutes
Chapter 161 - School employees -- teachers' retirement and tenure
161.675 Hospital and medical benefits and health insurance coverage for eligible recipients of retirement allowances from Teachers' Retirement System -- Applicability to individuals becoming members on or after July 1, 2008 -- Health insurance supplement payments -- Coverage for spouses, dependents, and disabled children of retirees -- Exemption from premium tax.
Universal Citation:
KY Rev Stat § 161.675 (2021)
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161.675 Hospital and medical benefits and health insurance coverage for
eligible recipients of retirement allowances from Teachers' Retirement
System -- Applicability to individuals becoming members on or after July
1, 2008 -- Health insurance supplement payments -- Coverage for
spouses, dependents, and disabled children of retirees -- Exemption from
premium tax.
(1)
(2)
(3)
The board of trustees shall arrange by appropriate contract or on a self-insured
basis to provide a broad program of group hospital and medical insurance for
present and future eligible recipients of a retirement allowance from the
Teachers' Retirement System. The board of trustees may also arrange to
provide health insurance coverage through an insurer licensed pursuant to
Subtitle 38 of KRS Chapter 304 and offering a managed care plan as defined
in KRS 304.17A-500 as an alternative to group hospital and medical insurance
for persons eligible for hospital and medical benefits under this section. The
board of trustees may authorize eligible recipients of a retirement allowance
from the Teachers' Retirement System who are less than age sixty-five (65) to
be included in the state-sponsored health insurance that is provided to active
teachers and state employees under KRS 18A.225. Members who are
sixty-five (65) or older and retired for service shall not be eligible to participate
in the state employee health insurance program as described in KRS 18A.225.
(a) The coverage provided shall be as set forth in the contracts and the
administrative regulations of the board of trustees. The board of trustees
may change the levels of coverage and eligibility conditions to meet the
changing needs of the annuitants and, when necessary, to contain the
expenses of the insurance program within the funds available to finance
the insurance program, except as provided by paragraph (b) of this
subsection. The contracts and administrative regulations shall provide for
but not be limited to hospital room and board, surgical procedures,
doctors' care in the hospital, and miscellaneous hospital costs. An
annuitant whose effective date of retirement is July 1, 1974, and
thereafter, must have a minimum of five (5) years' creditable Kentucky
service in the Teachers' Retirement System or five (5) years of combined
creditable service in the state-administered retirement systems if the
member is retiring under the reciprocity provisions of KRS 61.680,
61.702, and 78.5536. An annuitant shall not elect coverage through more
than one (1) of the state-administered retirement systems. The board of
trustees shall offer coverage to the disabled child of an annuitant
regardless of the disabled child's age if the annuitant pays the entire
premium for the disabled child's coverage. A child shall be considered
disabled if he has been determined to be eligible for federal Social
Security disability benefits.
(b) Individuals who become members of the Kentucky Teachers' Retirement
System on or after July 1, 2008, shall not be eligible for benefits under
this section unless the member has at least fifteen (15) or more years of
service credited under KRS 161.500 or another state-administered
retirement system.
All expenses for benefits under this section shall be paid from the funding
(4)
provisions contained in KRS 161.420(5), from a trust fund established by the
board under 26 U.S.C. sec. 115, premium charges received from the
annuitants and the spouses, and from funds that may be appropriated or
allocated by statute.
(a) The board of trustees shall determine the amount of health insurance
supplement payments that the Teachers' Retirement System will provide
to assist eligible annuitants in paying the cost of their health insurance,
based on the funds available in the medical insurance fund and any trust
fund established by the board for this purpose under 26 U.S.C. sec. 115.
The board of trustees shall establish the maximum monthly amounts of
health insurance supplement payments that will be made by the Kentucky
Teachers' Retirement System for eligible annuitants. The board of
trustees shall annually establish the percentage of the maximum monthly
health insurance supplement payment that will be made, based on age
and years of service credit of eligible recipients of a retirement allowance.
Monthly health insurance supplement payments made by the retirement
system may not exceed the amount of the single coverage insurance
premium chosen by the eligible annuitants. In order to qualify for health
insurance supplements, the annuitant must agree to pay the difference
between the insurance premium and the applicable supplement payment,
by payroll deduction from his retirement allowance, or by a payment
method approved by the retirement system.
(b) The board shall, effective July 1, 2010, have the authority to charge
retired members who are not paying the Standard Medicare Part B
premium an amount equal to the Standard Medicare Part B premium in
addition to any other payments determined by the board to be necessary
to contain costs within the available funding. If the board determines that
retired members who are not paying the Standard Medicare Part B
premium should pay the equivalent of the Standard Medicare Part B
premium, the board shall phase in the premium according to the following
schedule:
July 1, 2010.............
hirty-three percent (33%)
July 1, 2011........
ixty-seven percent (67%)
July 1, 2012, and thereafter
ne hundred percent (100%)
Nothing in this paragraph shall limit the board's authority to change the
levels of coverage, eligibility conditions, or levels of health insurance
supplement for retirees in order to contain costs within available funding.
(c) The board of trustees may offer, on a full-cost basis, health care
insurance coverage provided by the retirement system to spouses and
dependents of eligible annuitants not otherwise eligible for regular
coverage. Recipients of a retirement allowance from the retirement
system must agree to pay the cost of this coverage by payroll deduction
from their retirement allowance or by a payment method approved by the
retirement system.
(d)
The board of trustees shall offer, on a full-cost basis, health insurance
coverage provided by the retirement system to the disabled child of an
annuitant, regardless of the age of the disabled child. A child shall be
considered disabled for purposes of this section if the child has been
determined to be eligible for federal Social Security disability benefits.
(5) The board of trustees is empowered to require the annuitant and the
annuitant's spouse to pay a premium charge to assist in the financing of the
hospital and medical insurance program. The board of trustees is empowered
to pay the expenses for insurance coverage from the medical insurance fund,
from any trust fund established by the board for this purpose under 26 U.S.C.
sec. 115, from the premium charges received from the annuitants and the
spouses, and from funds that may be appropriated or allocated by statute. The
board may provide insurance coverage by making payment to insurance
carriers including health insurance plans that are available to active and retired
state employees and active teachers, institutions, and individuals for services
performed, or the board of trustees may elect to provide insurance on a
"self-insurance" basis or a combination of these provisions.
(6) The board of trustees may approve health insurance supplement payments to
eligible annuitants who are less than sixty-five (65) years of age, as
reimbursement for hospital and medical insurance premiums made by
annuitants for their individual coverage. Eligible annuitants or recipients are
those annuitants who are not eligible for Medicare and who do not reside in
Kentucky or in an area outside of Kentucky where comparable coverage is
available. The reimbursement payments shall not exceed the minimum
supplement payment that would have been made had the annuitant lived in
Kentucky. Eligible annuitants or recipients shall submit proof of payment to the
retirement system for hospital and medical insurance that they have obtained.
Reimbursement payments shall be made on a quarterly basis.
(7) Contracts negotiated may include the provision that a stated amount of hospital
cost or period of hospitalization shall incur no obligation on the part of the
insurance carrier or the retirement system or any trust fund established for this
purpose by the board.
(8) The board of trustees is empowered to promulgate administrative regulations
to assure efficient operation of the hospital and medical insurance program.
(9) Premiums paid for hospital and medical insurance coverage procured under
authority of this section shall be exempt from any premium tax which might
otherwise be required under KRS Chapter 136. The payment of premiums by
the medical insurance fund or another trust fund established by the board for
this purpose shall not constitute taxable income to an insured recipient.
(10) In the event that a member is providing services on less than a full-time basis
under KRS 161.605, the retirement system may pay the full cost of the
member's health insurance coverage for the full fiscal year that the member is
providing those services, at the conclusion of which, the retirement system may
then bill the active employer and the active employer shall reimburse the
retirement system for the cost of the health insurance coverage incurred by the
retirement system on a pro rata basis for the time that the member was
employed by the active employer.
Effective:April 1, 2021
History: Amended 2021 Ky. Acts ch. 102, sec. 83, effective April 1, 2021. -Amended 2010 Ky. Acts ch. 159, sec. 5, effective July 1, 2010. -- Amended
2008 (1st Extra. Sess.) Ky. Acts ch. 1, sec. 41, effective June 27, 2008. -Amended 2008 Ky. Acts ch. 78, sec. 23, effective July 1, 2008. -- Amended
2006 Ky. Acts ch. 164, sec. 4, effective July 12, 2006. -- Amended 2002 Ky.
Acts ch. 275, sec. 32, effective July 1, 2002. -- Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 438,
sec. 4, effective April 21, 2000; and ch. 498, sec. 21, effective July 1, 2000. -Amended 1998 Ky. Acts ch. 515, sec. 15, effective July 1, 1998. -- Amended
1996 Ky. Acts ch. 359, sec. 18, effective July 1, 1996. -- Amended 1994 Ky.
Acts ch. 369, sec. 22, effective July 1, 1994. Amended 1992 Ky. Acts ch. 192,
sec. 16, effective July 1, 1992. -- Amended 1990 Ky. Acts ch. 476, Pt. V, sec.
538, effective July 13, 1990; and ch. 489, sec. 10, effective July 13, 1990. -Amended 1986 Ky. Acts ch. 440, sec. 14, effective July 1, 1986. -- Amended
1984 Ky. Acts ch. 253, sec. 22, effective July 1, 1984. -- Amended 1980 Ky.
Acts ch. 206, sec. 13, effective July 1, 1980. -- Amended 1978 Ky. Acts ch. 43,
sec. 3, effective June 17, 1978; and ch. 152, sec. 18, effective March 28, 1978.
-- Amended 1976 Ky. Acts ch. 351, sec. 22, effective July 1, 1976. -- Amended
1974 Ky. Acts ch. 395, sec. 18. -- Amended 1970 Ky. Acts ch. 54, sec. 4. -Created 1964 Ky. Acts ch. 43, sec. 20.
2020-2022 Budget Reference. See State/Executive Branch Budget, 2020 Ky. Acts
ch. 92, Pt. I, A, 29, (2) at 864.
2020-2022 Budget Reference. See State/Executive Branch Budget, 2020 Ky. Acts
ch. 92, Pt. I, A, 29, (3) at 865.
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