Steel benefit checks in the mail to About 2,000 retirees, spouses and surviving spouses

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.post-trib.com/business/558686,steelcheck.article

September 15, 2007
By Michelle L. Quinn Post-Tribune correspondent

PORTAGE -- About 2,000 retirees, spouses and surviving spouses who worked for National Steel Corp. in Portage will receive benefit checks next week from a trust fund established for former United Steelworkers and other union-represented employees.

The payments, which will equal about $450 per person, will reimburse a portion of monthly premiums paid toward physicians' services for Medicare Part B medical coverage during the first six months of 2007.

Services such as home health care, outpatient physical therapy, X-ray and diagnostic tests are also covered.

The trust fund, called a voluntary employees' beneficiary association, was established in 1993 through negotiations between the USW and National Steel to help finance the cost of retiree health care coverage, said Wayne Ranick, a spokesperson for the USW in Pittsburgh. National Steel declared bankruptcy in 2002, resulting in the loss of health care benefits in July 2003.

The bankruptcy court assigned responsibility for the remaining VEBA assets, amounting to about $90 million, to a board of trustees who have used the assets to reinstate prescription drug coverage and death benefits, and now to help offset the cost of Medicare coverage.

FULL story at link.