Hourly Delphi retirees to meet with Traficant to discuss health-care coverage concerns

STAFF REPORT

BOARDMAN — Hourly Delphi retirees concerned about changes in their health-care coverage have sought and obtained a meeting with former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. at 7 p.m. today in the East-West Ballroom of the Holiday Inn here.

“We’re trying to get information on what else we can do,” said Linda Fanfer of Boardman, chairwoman of the GM-Delphi Hourly Retirees USA Fight Back, who organized the meeting. “We’ve been writing to every politician you can think of,” she added.

Hourly retirees are concerned about the switch from their current comprehensive health-care coverage to a new high- deductible catastrophic health-care plan, which is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

The hourly retirees would like to either keep their current plan or switch to something better than the catastrophic plan, Fanfer said.

The new annual deductibles will be $2,500 for a single person and $5,000 for a married couple. Out-of-pocket annual maximums will be $3,500 for single retirees and $7,000 for families under the new plan.

Fanfer said salaried retirees of Delphi are also welcome to attend the meeting to discuss their concerns.

“They know that he’s a problem- solver,” Linda Kovachik said of Traficant. Kovachik, of Boardman, was an aide to Traficant while he served in Congress. Traficant was released from a federal prison Sept. 2 after serving seven years and a month on various felony charges, including racketeering.