COLUMBUS, Ohio — Geoff Hetrick, who runs Ohio Public Employee Retirees Inc., says the latest vote to cut health care money for retirees is a necessary evil.

  • Starting January 2022, nearly half a million Ohioans will see a decrease of up to $300 a month
  • There’s disagreement as to OPERS’ decision to cut costs
  • Rep. Diane Grendell is introducing a bill that takes a good hard look at how OPERS is spending money meant for retirees

“The one thing that retirees need to keep in mind is that their pensions are guaranteed, but health care benefits are not, and OPERS’ board has a separate fund to manage health care expenses. And that fund is going to be insolvent in roughly 12 years. So, healthcare has to be shored up,” said Hetrick.

Shoring up that healthcare means taking up to $300 a month away from retirees starting in 2022.

It’s a decision that is making Representative Diane Grendell (R-Chesterland) suspicious.

“OPERS is paying investment advisors excessively high bonuses, and yet OPERS is seeking to cut medical benefits and is seeking to cap retirement benefits, claiming that there’s a lack of funds,” said Grendell.

But Hetrick says that’s par for the course.

“If you look at OPERS salaries, they are consistently at what I would call market value,” said Hetrick. “And you have a number of investment advisors who, if they were on Wall Street, they would be making very large salaries. They would likely be making much more money than they are working here in Columbus. So, if you want good people, you have to pay market value, and you get what you pay for.”

Still, Grendell is introducing a bill that takes a good hard look at how OPERS is spending money meant for retirees.

“We’re going to investigate and really go in with an open mind, you know, because there’s a lot I don’t know. But when I looked at it deeper, I found that OPERS management employees are being paid millions of dollars annually. About 30 OPERS personnel are being paid more than the governor,” Grendell said.

“Is this a big deal? I don’t think it’s a big deal from the perspective of trying to effectively manage the fund,” said Hetrick. “It is a big deal though if you’re a retiree and you’re seeing a cut. We get that.”

Grendell says she expects bipartisan support on the bill.