"Companies that reduced or eliminated retiree health benefits before the law
took effect would have to restore them"

Watson Wyatt Insider, June 2009

Emergency Retiree Health Benefits Protection Act Reintroduced

Representative John Tierney (D-Mass.) has reintroduced the Emergency Retiree
Health Benefits Protection Act (H.R. 1322), which would prevent employers from
reducing or eliminating health benefits for retirees or their dependents. The
bill has been around for years but has attracted more attention since it
appeared in a pension bill last year.

Under the act, employers could not make changes to their retiree health plans
that would eliminate, reduce or limit benefits, increase out-of-pocket costs or
make it more difficult to obtain medical care. The law would automatically void
any plan provisions reserving the right to reduce or eliminate retiree health
benefits. Companies that reduced or eliminated retiree health benefits before
the law took effect would have to restore them, unless doing so would create
substantial business hardship or work against the interests of plan participants
in the aggregate, or would not be administratively feasible...