By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Health insurance premiums for Massena Memorial Hospital retirees will more than double in March.

Several retirees soon to be faced with the hike, which will affect about 20 people, voiced their discontent to the MMH Board of Managers on Monday, and hospital leaders say the employees’ union failed them when negotiating their benefits.

Nancy Faucher, a retired nurse, said she received a letter saying one-person plans will increase from $175 per month to just over $350 and two-person coverage is going from $377 to $753.

MMH CEO Robert Wolleben said the hospital pays about $250,000 per year in retiree health insurance premiums. Under the old payment structure, employees paid 17 percent of the premium. He said the national average is 37 percent, which is the new ratio.

We could not carry that quarter million dollar expense while cutting things at the hospital,” Wolleben said. “We sent letters out in December to give retirees time to plan.”

He said the contract allows MMH to force the retirees to pay the full premium, but they felt the 37 percent national average was a fair compromise.

MMH Board of Managers Trustee Loretta Perez told the retirees their union didn’t do their job in protecting its members’ interests.

“If it’s in your contract … your union did not take care of you,” Perez said. “It should have been stopped. You guys were not protected … it’s sad.”

Faucher said she looked at other municipal retiree insurance premium rates around the area and most charge retirees nothing. Those included Massena schools, town and village, along with Massena Electric Department and state prison employees.

“The sample you’ve conveyed here is not an accurate sample. It’s municipal entities,” Wolleben said.

Massena Memorial is still a municipal hospital. They got town approval in March to pursue privatization, but they haven’t yet separated. He said in December that it could happen before the end of the year.

The premiums could rise annually. Wolleben said they will revisit the rate yearly.

“I understand it’s discomforting to you, but this is an organization that’s come off three bad years and these decisions need to be made,” Wolleben said, adding that they can look for a better plan on the insurance exchange.

“We’re talking about people who make $24,000 per year from retirement and pay three-quarters of that if they want health insurance,” said Bobbi Lauber, a current MMH employee.

“Here we take care of people for 26 and 30 years. Everyone else in this community gets health insurance,” Faucher said.