Should I retire 3 years early to get health insurance?

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Anonymous

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I have earned the milestone of health insurance and life insurance for life. I have been counting on that for when I retire in 5 years. I'm wondering if I should retire right before the split happens and walk away with those benefits I've earned?????? The reps from Hospira got screwed. HR e-mail says new company will do as they wish with benefits.
 












You must do it, or risk losing it all. Anyone who is eligible would be foolish NOT to retire before the spin off. you don't have to look far to see what will happen. HOSPIRA was same situation and they got screwed over.
 




Anonymous said:
You must do it, or risk losing it all. Anyone who is eligible would be foolish NOT to retire before the spin off. you don't have to look far to see what will happen. HOSPIRA was same situation and they got screwed over.
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Yes and it looks like those poor reps will not be winning the class action lawsuit.
 




Anonymous said:
You must do it, or risk losing it all. Anyone who is eligible would be foolish NOT to retire before the spin off. you don't have to look far to see what will happen. HOSPIRA was same situation and they got screwed over.
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Could you fill us newbies in on Hospira? What happened exactly? The other thread's description is not easy to follow.
 




Anonymous said:
Could you fill us newbies in on Hospira? What happened exactly? The other thread's description is not easy to follow.
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Hospira was a company spun off from Abbott. It was my understanding many reps over 40. They froze the pension and anyone under 50 lost their health insurance for life that they had earned. If anyone has anything to add, please do. That's the way I have always heard it. Abbott did this to limit their pension liability and health insurance costs.
 




Anonymous said:
Hospira was a company spun off from Abbott. It was my understanding many reps over 40. They froze the pension and anyone under 50 lost their health insurance for life that they had earned. If anyone has anything to add, please do. That's the way I have always heard it. Abbott did this to limit their pension liability and health insurance costs.
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Abbott spun off the hospital products division as Hospira because it was a high volume, low profit commodity business. The fact that many of the employees were older was not a consideration.

But look, even the "new" Abbott could change the health care plan for retirement, or freeze the pension plan. The good news is that you will probably have some warning before it happens; the bad news is that if you leave or go into retirement, you won't get the severance. And that could be worth a years salary or more in and of itself. Not counting another year of profit sharing. The older reps that got let go last January had the best of all worlds.... they don't have to put up with this stuff.
 




Anonymous said:
care plan for retirement, or freeze the pension plan. The good news is that you will probably have some warning before it happens; the bad news is that if you leave or go into retirement, you won't get the severance. And that could be worth a years salary or more in and of itself. Not counting another year of profit sharing.
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Severance? You are mistaken. There will be no severance. This won't be a layoff, it's a spinoff ( regardless of the management rhetoric ), or split.
 








Anonymous said:
In the words of Jim Cramer..."If you are currently employed in this economy, you should not quit your job unless you have a comparable job already lined up."
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Or...you should not quit your job unless you risk losing your pension and medical benefits if you foregoe retirement and take a huge chance on your post- Abbott life. Jim Cramer (WTF he is) obviously doesn't fit this demographic.
 




Anonymous said:
Abbott spun off the hospital products division as Hospira because it was a high volume, low profit commodity business. The fact that many of the employees were older was not a consideration.

But look, even the "new" Abbott could change the health care plan for retirement, or freeze the pension plan. The good news is that you will probably have some warning before it happens; the bad news is that if you leave or go into retirement, you won't get the severance. And that could be worth a years salary or more in and of itself. Not counting another year of profit sharing. The older reps that got let go last January had the best of all worlds.... they don't have to put up with this stuff.
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They will not let us know these things until after we are on board. They don't have to and they won't. I feel that I have to retire before the split. And yes, there will not be any severance or unemployment. I plan to start my job search in May 2012.
 








Anonymous said:
Abbott spun off the hospital products division as Hospira because it was a high volume, low profit commodity business. The fact that many of the employees were older was not a consideration.

But look, even the "new" Abbott could change the health care plan for retirement, or freeze the pension plan. The good news is that you will probably have some warning before it happens; the bad news is that if you leave or go into retirement, you won't get the severance. And that could be worth a years salary or more in and of itself. Not counting another year of profit sharing. The older reps that got let go last January had the best of all worlds.... they don't have to put up with this stuff.
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Don't even go there. Abbott absolutely spun off Hospira due to the age of the employees. Read the court testimony from the trial. Miles and Tom Freyman were stupid enough to discuss it in a Board of Director's meeting for which the minutes were made public. However, they had better attorneys than the plaintiffs (Winston & Strawn vs. some garden-variety ambulance chasers). You can believe that this move will somehow enrich Miles--more than he has been already.
 




Anonymous said:
I have earned the milestone of health insurance and life insurance for life. I have been counting on that for when I retire in 5 years. I'm wondering if I should retire right before the split happens and walk away with those benefits I've earned?????? The reps from Hospira got screwed. HR e-mail says new company will do as they wish with benefits.
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You have answered your own question. The reps from Hospira got screwed and the new company will do as it wishes with benefits. Answer: you retire.
 








Spot on. I lost alot going to Hospira. After working my rear end off in Hospitals, days, nites and weekends. Made some money and many award trips. That said, I see and hear things for what they are:

Listening to the Appeals Court on-line replay of the arguments on appeal: I was completely impressed with the Abbott Legal Team....all sounded like they came from Northwestern, Harvard, Yale or The University of Chicago.

The Hospira planitiff attorneys (our side) sounded like they were in Kangaroo Court as 1st year law students.

The case was as simple as Abbott driving a Lambourgini at 128mph on the Interstate and rear ended an Abbott HPD Rep in his Caravan doing 55mph. Checking voice-com.

The district judge ruled "this happens everyday in corporate America." "Abbott even gave them about $7,500 total over 5 years ($1,500/yr) as compensation." That can buy you 1 hour in the ER's I call on...if your retired with out medical insurance.





Anonymous said:
Don't even go there. Abbott absolutely spun off Hospira due to the age of the employees. Read the court testimony from the trial. Miles and Tom Freyman were stupid enough to discuss it in a Board of Director's meeting for which the minutes were made public. However, they had better attorneys than the plaintiffs (Winston & Strawn vs. some garden-variety ambulance chasers). You can believe that this move will somehow enrich Miles--more than he has been already.
Click to expand...
 




Anonymous said:
Don't even go there. Abbott absolutely spun off Hospira due to the age of the employees. Read the court testimony from the trial. Miles and Tom Freyman were stupid enough to discuss it in a Board of Director's meeting for which the minutes were made public. However, they had better attorneys than the plaintiffs (Winston & Strawn vs. some garden-variety ambulance chasers). You can believe that this move will somehow enrich Miles--more than he has been already.
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You are a stupid whiner. He doesn't need the money. And you can blame the attorneys, blame the weather, blame the Cubs, blame whoever you want, but the fact remains that the Court decided in favor of Abbott. Get over it. You lost because there was no merit.
 




Anonymous said:
You are a stupid whiner. He doesn't need the money. And you can blame the attorneys, blame the weather, blame the Cubs, blame whoever you want, but the fact remains that the Court decided in favor of Abbott. Get over it. You lost because there was no merit.
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Miles, why are you trolling the board? Shouldn't you be in the office doing some work?
 




Hell... We are all so aware that Miles doesn't need the money! If he's so damn benevolent, why didn't he give up some of his salary and keep some of the people who were high performers from the January layoff. Everyone at the divisional levels below a VP are afraid of losing their jobs even if they are consistently high performers, especially true in PPD. Fear does not motivate people to higher levels of achievement. It paralyzes them and reduces their capacity to perform. The suite has been infused with nepotism and others are hoping to get into the "club" some way, whether its by screwin' your way up and to safety like MSz, or covering for your buddies indiscretions.
 




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