Ryan signs bill bailing out teachers insurance program

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Retired Illinois schoolteachers averted an 80 percent increase in insurance rates Thursday as Gov. George Ryan signed a bill restructuring the Teachers Retirement Insurance Program.

The measure increases monetary contributions from the program's current sources and for the first time requires school districts to chip in as well.

TRIP provides health insurance for 44,000 retired teachers and their families. Participants were socked with a 21 percent premium increase July 1 and would have had to pay 80 percent more Jan. 1.

The plan:

Increases participants' premiums no more than 10 percent in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and no more than 12 percent the following year.

Increases contributions from active teachers' paychecks from 0.5 percent to 0.65 percent starting Jan. 1 and 0.75 percent in July 2003.

Requires the state to continue to match active teachers' contributions along with $6 million over the next three years to make up for past underfunding.

Requires school districts to pay 0.4 percent of teacher contributions starting Jan. 1 and 0.5 percent starting in July 2003.

For 18 months, districts may use money for TRIP that they otherwise would pay into the Teachers Retirement System. The state will reimburse the pension system over the next several decades.

The law is in effect until July 1, 2004, giving lawmakers time to come up with a long-term solution.