Press release
Texas Governor Greg Abbott added retired teacher health insurance, TRS Care, to the special session call after State Rep. Lance Gooden urged the Governor to prioritize the issue.
Gooden filed House Bill 151 last week to address the current crisis in retiree healthcare, and wrote to the governor urging immediate action. He hosted a live interview with the head of the Texas Retired Teachers Association on Tuesday and encouraged their more than 80,000 members to flood the Governor’s office with phone calls and emails.
After insisting the special legislative call would not change from what was initially released last week, Governor Abbott’s office announced the inclusion of TRS Care early Thursday morning.
“This is a massive victory for teachers and retired teachers, who have finally had enough with the lack of respect at their state capitol,” Gooden said upon learning of the proclamation. “I am so proud of retirees and active teachers that I represent, and all of the thousands who have joined me in making this happen. What started as a long-shot effort that I began on the 4th of July has culminated into a very possible solution during this special session.”
“I’m hearing private conversations among my colleagues in both chambers that are unfamiliar to me in all of my three terms in office. There is palpable nervousness among legislators who realize they must step up to the plate for teachers and retirees this session,” Gooden continued.
“I was elected with great effort from teachers and have always considered them one of my largest bases of support. I will never stop making them a top priority and will continue our fight during this special session that finally shows potential to deliver serious wins for Texas.”
So thankful for your hard work! Retired teachers and current teachers appreciate your efforts more than you will ever know!
Thanks for your hard work.
I am currently on trs care Medicare advantage. Best coverage I ever had. Let’s leave it that way.
Have you seen what the previous legislation would do to your Medicare Advantage premiums. For myself & spouse the increase would go from $255/mo to &590/mo & a $500 deductible. Plus what is paid to Medicare-pretty large increase for retirees!
That is exactly the same thing TRS told me. I pay for both myself and my spouse. $224 now and $590 with a higher deductible starting January 1, 2018. This doesn’t include the $134 each we have to pay to Medicare.. How are we supposed to make it??
Where can we find out what the TRS Care covers?
Thank you so very much for thinking about we retired teachers. We taught because we loved children. Our salaries were not great, but we did it for our career, because we felt we made a difference in a child’s life. Thank you for fighting for we retired teachers and our health care.
Our daughter who followed in my husband and my footsteps is a current teacher in a rural area and has not had even a step raise or cost of living raise in 4 years, but all of her expenses continue to rise. Unfortunately, we are losing too many good teachers because of this reason.
I am a dedicated educator with a masters degree and 38 years of full time teaching experience and 13 years substitute teaching and tutoring since retiring! Needless to say hearing good news is encouraging. There has been no cost of living raise since I retired 13 years ago. For those of us who are widowed, increasing insurance premiums and deductibles can be astronomical. Thank you, thank you for hearing our voices! All the heads of state and legislators are where they are today because of dedicated educators who did not leave education even with low salaries and long hours. Thank you, Sara Stephens.
Thank you Lance Gooden for all you do for education and teachers.
Thank you, thank you, Lance and all who supported us retired teachers! Keep us one of your top priorities and you will get our support for a long time. Again, many thanks for pushing hard.
Y’all sure sing the praises of Gooden….he is not Conservative and he had nothing to do with this. The credit goes to the Governor and LT. Governor and Conservatives.
We get it, your a fanboy site of his but not everyone is buying what your selling.
I’m a retired teacher, having taught for 40 years. I still occasionally substitute. My pet peeve is people, especially educators?, who can’t spell correctly. You should have written, ” not everyone is buying what you’re saying.” NOT “…..what your saying.” By the by, English is my second language. Sorry, but the teacher in my just has to correct spelling.
Thank you, Rep Gooden and Gov Abbott, for making retired teachers a priority in this Special Session.
Thank you for being a voice for teachers active and retired. There is not a legislator in Austin, Governor Abbott included who would be where they are had it not been for teachers.
Thank you for your efforts on behalf of the retired teachers of Texas!
Thank you so much Rep. Gooden. Thank you for seeing the true value of educators and the respect to help them after serving Texas children for so long. Wish I lived in your district. You are our hero!!!
Thank you Rep. Lance Gooden for supporting Texas Teachers, Administrators, and all the other Education Employees in the state. We appreciate your time and efforts.
Thank you Rep. Lance Gooden for getting Gov. Abbott to prioritize Teacher Healthcare. As a retired teacher I really appreciate your continued efforts. Thanks again!
It’s time for all educators to rise up and act. All legislators will be tracked according to their on-record support for Texas educators, and our votes, or lack of, will speak accordingly. It has been nothing less than negligence on the part of legislators who have failed to ensure that retired teachers will not be relegated to living at poverty level due to not being provided with costs of living increases for years and rising medical insurance costs. Social Security offsets have been disastrous to those who have invested in America’s future. Shame on them all.
Hope y’all treat the teachers fairly and with respect. I will not vote for anyone that votes against the teachers or tax reform.
As a retired Texas teacher of 32 years I appreciate the help you are giving to us regarding our health insurance. I have moved to Oklahoma because I am a two time cancer survivor, single mom to two teenage daughters and caring for my 85 year old mother who is confined to a nursing home. If our insurance goes up to the extent that just paying the premiums will take over 1/3 of my pension each month and then no prescription drug plan, I don’t know what I will do. I already have to work to support my family, I can’t exist on retirement alone. I would be forced to take on an additional full time job and that will still leave my children uninsured. I am in a panic because I am not physically able to take on a full time and a part time job just to pay prescriptions and insurance on me. Thank you for your diligence in this!
Thank you so much for considering health care for teachers. It is so crucial for retired teachers and will be for all TX teachers. Your support is very important. We don’t get cost of living raises and the majority live on $2,000 to $3,000 a month. With a retired husband we would pay $1,500 a month on health care. Devastating ‼️‼️‼️ Thank you!
Thankful for getting it on the agenda. Now we need to continue to remind legislators that they need to give back some of what has been taken away in the past 20+ years From TRA and Education as a whole!
A Thank You to State Rep. Lance Gooden for supporting Texas teachers.
Please help under 65 yrs old who lost their copay and got $3000 deductible now. Essentially we lost our insurance., but still pay premiums. All retired teachers should be addressed equally. Thanks for all you do!
Thank you Representative Gooden for getting this looked at again . As a retired educator who became disabled at 55 and substantially had 3 open heart surgeries as well as lost a kidney to cancer , I was blessed to have the TRS insurance when my health crisis began . I thought my moderate income was ok because of the other benefits , such as insurance and retirement. Now at 68 because of the insurance fiasco that will begin in January without legislative intervention, I have started back to work full time with the County primarily for health insurance & prescription benefits . I’m blessed that my health is good enough that employment is an option. I feel for my former coworkers that don’t have the employment opportunities that I have . It’s not a threat but a promise that if the TRS insurance changes presently planed don’t drastically change for the better, I plan to be the most politically active person I can be this next election cycle in an effort to vote out of office any incumbent that allowed this health care fiasco to occur .
Thank you so much Mr. Gooden. Few people stand up for teachers. You are awesome!
Thank you for addressing the needs of teachers. A question, why are TRS and ERS funding so different? School districts do not have the expense of matching S.S. and retirement. Texas State Employers must pay S.S. and retirement matches, yet ERS is less costly for employees. This is so unfair. Please look into this.
Looking forward to real changes. The cost of benefits for people in education is horrible. The cost for families is outrageous and my heart goes out to to paraprofessionals and custodians. Their rates are the same and their pay is so much less.
Hey! If you want to help retired teachers you might look at HB 711 and repeal WEP so that retired teachers, and others , to get the Social Security payments that they put into. This is money they worked for!
Thanks so much for your effort to help teachers and retired teachers. I retired last year after 22 years. I have been retired for 1 year and my insurance through TRS doubled in that short time. I’m not up for Medicare for several years and TRS has only one plan for me to choose from. It will take almost half of my monthly retirement check to keep insurance coverage for my husband and I. Again thanks for helping.
Great job Rep Gooden.
Youre our Knight in Shining Armor.
Thank you Rep. Lance Gooden for being a friend and supporter of teachers!
Thank you for all of your efforts. Please remind your colleagues that the eyes of all Texas teachers and retirees are on how legislators handle this issue. Compassion equals votes and our votes count.
Thank you Mr. Gooden for standing up for teachers and retired teachers. Our pension, unlike government officials, is not enough to cover the cost of living and health care.
Thank you very much for your hard work!!
Thank you for your hard work!!
well, the insurance is to expense, the custodian only makes $10, or $12 an hour so how can hey afford $1000 plus a month for insurance ?? and teacher are not getting a fair retirement in the FACT that the state is only putting in 6% and the teacher only 6.5% less than social security which they cannot not collect.
Please continue to work for us. Tell us what we need to do to get something done and you know we will do it. It might be the first time all of the teachers no matter what organization they belong to will unite.
Thank You! It is nice to be treated with respect. Continue to help us as we helped the students of Texas. God Bless Texas and God Bless the U.S.A.
Paraprofessionals are never given any consideration even though they are expected to “teach” numerous students and cover classrooms for the teachers. Please consider them as their pay is much lower. Also work on retired school employees to be allowed to get TRS benefits AND Social Security benefits, as many have paid into both.
Thank you so much for caring about us