Category: Retirement Matters

Medicaid and You Who Is Covered? – Many of usthink of Medicaid as the program that pays for the health care for low-income individuals.  It is the largest provider of health insurance in the U.S., covering one in five Americans and 2.6 million Michigan residents.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a majority of… Read more

By Joanne Bump U.S. Household Net Worth — The U.S Household Net Worth (or assets less liabilities) reached a new peak in 2024 as the unemployment rate and household debt were near record lows. This gain was not shared equally within the U.S. economy, due to the wealth gap, as reported by the New York Times. In… Read more

By Joanne Bump Making Sense of Federal Uncertainty — Federal employees have been fired to cut waste and fraud. Consider the advice of Deep Throat, a character in the movie “All the President’s Men,” who said, “Follow the money.” The cost of all federal workers is about 5 percent of total federal spending. The federal administrative… Read more

By Joanne Bump 50th Anniversary of State of Michigan, Deferred Compensation Plan (DC) — You may have heard the phrase that — “We stand on the shoulders of those that came before us.” This is never so true as today, as we approach the State of Michigan’s 50th anniversary of the DC. SERA was made aware… Read more

By Joanne Bump Michigan Sues Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) — On October 24, 2024, Michigan Attorney General (AG) Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit against OptumRx and ExpressScripts PBMs for their role in the Opioid Epidemic in Michigan. In 2022, Michigan reported 2,998 overdose-related deaths. This followed a pattern of increased deaths between 2000 and 2020, as… Read more

The 2025 Social Security (SS) Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) — The SS COLA is estimated to increase by 2.5 percent, according to the nonprofit Senior Citizens League. COLA is tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). It is based on average prices of household items like food, housing,… Read more

By Joanne Bump Discussion of Social Security (SS) Taxation continues from the August 2024 SERA-Nade. Current Proposals Impacting SS Benefits — As seniors count on SS benefits to make ends meet, those opposing the program are calling for numerous reduction plans like privatizing benefits, reducing the annual cost of living adjustment, sunsetting benefits, and increasing the… Read more

By Joanne Bump Social Security (SS) and Medicare — Most Michigan Defined Benefit state employee retirees receive a significant portion of their financial resources from SS, Medicare, and a State pension. Make time to learn about how these benefits could change and impact your pocket book. The aging population and growth in federal health care costs… Read more

By Joanne Bump Solve the Social Security Deficit — In May, the most recent annual Social Security Trust Fund report said that unless changes were made, Social Security benefits would be cut by about 20 percent beginning in 2033. According to a February 2024 American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) survey, the importance of Social Security… Read more

By Joanne Bump Pension Rate of Returns — The good news is that State Employee Retirement System (SERS) pension investments have performed well. The ten-year time-weighted rate of return is 9 percent as of 12/31/2023. In addition, SERS returns substantially beat their public plan peers, across all longer time periods. The long-term return is significant because… Read more