The Modified Rule of 75 | Subsidized Medical | and the only retirement benefit

This continues to scare me for others.  People who qualify for the Modified Rule of 75 still do not have it showing up in this year's hewitt medical subsidies.  I'll show screenshots later.

I have been searching my hard drive and I cannot find the document I thought I'd sent to myself which had the Modified Rule of 75 outlined.  Theoretically, you should be able to contact Fidelity and they would be able to give you your retirement date.  I found that to be very "hit and miss."  Also, in dealing with Fidelity, while they'll give you information over the phone, to get something in writing will take a significant amount of time.  That is because it is vetted by both Fidelity and some group inside AT&T.

Remember:  I have no idea what current company policy is, but I do know the following:  My NCS is November 10, 1989.  I began with McCaw Communications and I had uninterrupted employment through all the acquisitions and split-offs and whatnot.  Also, because this is a "math" thing, my birth date is March, 1961.

I'd originally understood the Rule of 75 to be any time the sum of your years of service plus your age equaled or was greater than 75.  I first called Hewitt in 2012, right after my 52nd birthday.  At that time, I'd crossed the 20 year threshold, which I thought was the minimum.  The Hewitt representative stated that I didn't qualify for retiree medical benefits even though the sum of my years of service plus my age equaled 75, it was an either / or rule.

Start Dates		End Dates		Years		Years Sum
11/10/1989		11/10/2009		20		68
3/5/1961		11/10/2009		48
11/10/1989		11/10/2012		23		75
3/5/1961		3/5/2013		52
11/10/1989		11/10/2014		25		78
3/5/1961		11/10/2014		53

What they told me, and what I subsequently found in the document I can no longer find, but you'd have to search for on the intranet was the following logic:

>= 20 years of service and >= 55

OR

>= 25 years of service and >= 50

In other words, I had to cross the 25 years of service mark because I was too young to qualify when I crossed the 20 years of service mark.  

So when Dave and I began to talk about doing different things with our lives, saving for a business, etc.  I began checking in with the Hewitt website.  The following screenshots are what I saw at the time.  Stepping through their screens isn't easy.

When you go to the AT&T Benefits Center @ resources.hewitt.com/att, you have your opening screen:

Select on the Life Events under Quick Links to the right

That launches a new screen which has a bunch of highlighted tabs.  You want to select "Life Events"

In the "Retirement section" you'll have several selections.  As far as I can tell, you'll only know if you'll qualify for subsidized medical as a retiree in the year you'd be able to retire.

Here's where the disturbing part comes in and I've heard it from more than a few current AT&T Employees with the same provenance I have.  When you select the "Retiring Now?  In a Few Months" it shows some drop downs, including Make Your Retiree Health Choices

Which, of course, launches yet another window.  Before they "fixed" my status, the "benefit" showed ~$650 / month medical for myself & ~$720 for my spouse.  When it was fixed, then there was only ~$250 for my spouse.  Those were the 2014 benefits.  The 2015 have changed, but still, the screenshot below shows the subsidized benefit.  And you can see that the Individual would be $0.00 beginning December 1, 2014 - which would be the first day of the first month I would have qualified for retirement.

So, when I did announce my retirement plans 3 months in advance, I still expected I would NOT be receiving subsidized medical.  Hewitt even put in a TT to research and came back with a rote phrase about "McCaw... blah blah blah blah."  I live in the state of Washington, so I could get the same insurance for half the price of the COBRA'd medical for the same coverage.  

That just firmed my decision to leave AT&T really.  Why put all that time in?  

I'm glad I gave the three month notice.  H.R. does NOT require you to give 3 month notice.  The only HR requirement is the standard two weeks stuff.  It was by announcing my retirement to my friends that I ran across someone who did have subsidized medical show up for he and his wife.  

At that point, I engaged my boss with a CC a person who has the title of "Employee Relations Manager,"  at AT&T Human Resources Services.  She engaged this mystery group called The Employee Advocacy Group.  The email I received back had none of their contact information.  They compared my lineage to my friend's and found they matched.  As of September 26th, my Hewitt records showed the subsidized medical.

I am paying $25 / month for my medical insurance.  My life insurance is more expensive than the medical.  I have COBRA'd the EAP insurance @ $1.  

Yet another "glitch" showed up.  Fidelity did not have a record of my employment from July 9, 2001 - 12/25/2005 where I was "rehired" into the "mobility" program.  This affected my hire date with Equifax when I was trying to speak to a representative.  I did not know about the 12/25/2005 date.  This paperwork problem might have impacted the initial Hewitt Medical.  I dunno.  Everyone continued to say that I was a "one off."  But considering how many people who should be able to retire this year that I know and who still don't show the subsidized medical - I don't think so.