poll on hospitals that give retirement defined pensions and medical benefts

lee1 · Jul 2, 2003

So I take it that NOONE on this HUGE discussion board has a defined pension or medical retirement benefits??? Come on now, some people here must have it other than state/federal nursing employees.

renerian, BSN, RN · Jul 2, 2003

I do not work in a hospital so I cannot comment.

renerian

prmenrs, RN · Jul 3, 2003

I retired from "state-run" hospital system, and receive retirement income, health, dental and legal insurance from that system.

I am now working part-time @ a private "system" hospital, and altho the position is casual, therefore, non-benefitted, I am able to contribute to a tax-sheltered 403(b) plan, and contribute to my social security account (when I hired @ the other system, I was not required to contribute to social security).

I don't know if that answers your question or not.

lee1 · Jul 4, 2003

Originally posted by prmenrs
I retired from "state-run" hospital system, and receive retirement income, health, dental and legal insurance from that system.

I am now working part-time @ a private "system" hospital, and altho the position is casual, therefore, non-benefitted, I am able to contribute to a tax-sheltered 403(b) plan, and contribute to my social security account (when I hired @ the other system, I was not required to contribute to social security).

I don't know if that answers your question or not.

Thanks, can you tell me approx what kind of pension monthly money you get????

What do you think is better in the long run, a defined pension---set amount of money/month at retirement, or a 403 that the hospital has matched albeit only 6-7.5% and depends on you to save the rest watching your stocks sail up and down

prmenrs, RN · Jul 4, 2003

The amount of the pension is computed using a formula of my age @ retirement and my length of service, and an average of my highest monthly compensation over the last few years preceeding retirement. The older you are @ retirement, the longer your service credit, and the more you got paid, the more you'll get, but I don't think anyone gets more than 80% of their pre-retirement salary. Mine is less than that because I didn't wait till I was 60 to retire.

You could also make voluntary contributions to TSAs, IRAs, and you could select how much risk you wanted to take on those investments. I think there were 5 or 6 categories, including one "multi-asset", which was spread over ~ 4 of the others. The place I'm at now only has 3 funds to pick from, so who knows if I picked to right one. Then the guy had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to rollover my other funds to his--not likely!!

I worked for a HUGE state university system--I doubt the average hospital, even a big corporate one could come close to matching it.

I would go for the set pension, and try to do an IRA or something on the side.

OC_An Khe · Jul 4, 2003

In a small not for profit hospital we receive a defned benefit pension, with no contribution by the employee. In addition the hospital will match up to 3% to your 403b account.

For retirees 65 and over the hospital doesn't provide any retirement medical benefits. If you retire before age 65 you can contnue to partcipate n the current medical insurance program but you have to pay the entire group premium until you are 65 then you have to switch to medicare.

lee1 · Jul 5, 2003

If you pardon my asking but range are we talking about in your defined pension. How much money per month would you get in other words????

renerian, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2003

I think that is a little private and may be why people are not giving you their retirement pension amount.

renerian

prmenrs, RN · Jul 5, 2003

Originally posted by renerian
I think that is a little private and may be why people are not giving you their retirement pension amount.

renerian

that would be correct.

lee1 · Jul 10, 2003

Originally posted by renerian
I think that is a little private and may be why people are not giving you their retirement pension amount.

renerian

Well, I am just trying to find out if most people are getting something worthwhile or not. My hospital does not offer a defined pension at present and we are in the throes of a contract renewal where a defined pension is something we have asked for but NOT been able to negotiate for. Today is our vote and we will find out soon if we are on strike or able to renegotiate. A defined pension has been a huge request by our nurses. We do get a 403B match now of up to 6% of your base salary, if you are saving more than 5%. Now, the problem with that is that if you make only an average salary of between $55,000-$70,000 yr and live in one of the highest cost of living areas in the USA ----NJ suburbs of NYC----what kind of money can you honestly be saving here, especially if you are the head of household and have children?? Our union can ge their parent organization union's pension program and we are asking that the match the hospital was making now be put into the pension program but the hospital has refused to budge on this. We would like to continue also our 403B but not be matched if we obtain the pension.

renerian, BSN, RN · Jul 10, 2003

Good luck and let us know what happens.

renerian