RETIRED - Detroit Police Officers are getting screwed, #!"+**, as of February 28th, retirees from the Department will lose their medical benefits, with no assured replacement, reimbursement plan, in place. February 28th - everything we worked for, sacrificed for will be gone.
The Detroit Bankruptcy has been mismanaged, bungled and botched from the beginning - when Governor Snyder made plans for the bankruptcy, before the data had been verified.
The Detroit Bankruptcy should have been a 'managed bankruptcy', like the GM / Chrysler bankruptcy, all the pieces should have been, in place and agreed too. Everything should have been considered - but now bit and pieces are missing, not everything is on the table, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, was blackmailed into contributing to the solution, while other assets were left out (Belle Isle (other options were not considered), Museum of African American History, Detroit Historical Museum, Rouge Park and all the other parks in Detroit,
Water Department (?), vacant land etc...Mike Ilitch, the billionaire, and other corporate executives walk away with Detroit tax payer monies ($235m +), tax credits, and loans, while Detroit retirees, Police and Fire retirees walk away with no insurance and now No retirement checks (*?)
I retired as a Detroit Police Sergeant, with BC/BS Master Medical coverage. I received a Duty Disability from the Department, at the request of xPC Ella Bully-Cummings, and the support of the Detroit Police Medical Section, after 23 / 31 years. Less than 10 days later, I had a triple heart by-pass operation. I still haven't realized all the effects of my on duty related injury (I was hit by a car, during an ice storm). I took the position of sergeant because of the medical benefits, and I worked all those years, in service, to the residents of Detroit. I made sacrifices in my personal life, for Detroit residents. Now, I face uncertainty - a reduced retired check (?), and expensive health insurance that I must pay for, despite my service to the community and believing that the State of Michigan Constitution protected me - as I had protected the public.
I am sad, depressed and disappointed that Detroit retirees are not given the respect and dignity that they worked for - that outsiders - are taking away my life and future, claiming that we must share the burden - while banks and brokerage houses that knew the facts and risks involved in loaning money to Detroit are going to walk away with even more money, than they deserve - the same banks and brokerage houses that are responsible for the 2008 National Economic Collapse and Depression, that they were responsible for. Indeed the State must accept blame, for not paying attention to Detroit as it slowly sank into a 'pit of debt'. The banks and brokerage houses have recovered their losses and are indeed - back to billion dollar profitability.
I am now going to purchase BC/BS insurance for $868. a month / with no dental or optical, because in addition to growing old and the infirmities that includes, I have to protect myself from my duty related injuries, and the uncertainties that they will present, in the now and future years.
Detroit is still an unsafe city, with poor schools, and it will be for years, because the billionaires are building a downtown and midtown - for us - but they will reap the bounty, the millions of dollars, because of the hundreds of million of dollars, we as taxpayers gave them, err they gave themselves..
Where is the Justice - Where is Superman when you need him.
