Page 7 - November 2017 Magazine

What resulted was the creation of the CPD/CFD, Aetna PPO Extended Service Area (ESA) Advantage Program. The missing components of the conversation that our retirees were first having with their hospitals and doctors were satisfied once the PPO and ESA aspects of the healthcare coverage were explained. The Lodge and Local 2 will continue to fulfill our promise to work toward ensuring retirees are offered a health- care coverage option that is not only affordable, but coverage that allows retirees to maintain their medical services of choice. Will everyone be 100-percent satisfied with the cover- age? The honest answer is certainly not. Were we all 100-per- cent satisfied with our coverage while on the job? We all know the honest answer is certainly not. To continue with being honest, we broke our backsides for nearly three years with this search. We looked for the best program that would satisfy the most needs. We considered companies that either offered inef- ficient coverage or wanted to charge too much for services, and found them unacceptable. Anyone who suggests that we have done less is either uninformed or has personal reasons. It seems that some of the voices are emanating from those who don’t care for Chicago Lodge No. 7 (and never did), or from others who don’t care for the present FOP administration (and never will). Other naysayers appear to have more of a financial interest maybe because they were once considered (but eventually eliminated), or because they see financial opportunity in their futures. Needless to say, none of these people truly have the best interests of our retirees at heart.
headline.” As we continue to deal with non-stop accusations and calls for our collective heads by police-haters, and while we regularly dealt with everyone’s kitchen sink being thrown at us, we were still able to maintain our focus and come up with healthcare options for all retired members of the Chicago Police Department, as well as for their surviving spouses. For some to now step off the sidelines and throw stones is easy. How do the sayings go? There is the ever-present “talk is cheap,” the commonly-uttered “actions speak louder than words” or, to paraphrase an adage less used, but just as signif- icant, “Judge people by what they actually do, not merely by what they say.”
Unless someone has been living under a very large rock the past few years, we have been quite inundated more often than not at the FOP. As we regularly put it: “Another day, another
To those who decided all of the sudden to become so vocal, where were you and what did you do when the City first announced its desire to end retiree healthcare several years ago? What was done before to prepare for today? This nearly three-year healthcare search was an extremely tiresome process, but the loathing, complaining and moaning by some is nearly as exhausting; especially when it comes from some of the same people who were in a position to impact the present retiree healthcare dilemma but chose to sit by and do absolutely nothing. In closing on this issue, a promise was made by this administration and a promise was kept by this administration. One more final and honest admission on retiree healthcare: I am signing my mom and dad up for the $292 Aetna plan. d
Be Safe and God Bless the Police
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ NOVEMBER 2016 7