June 2025

Welcome to June, Lansing Labor News readers.  Despite overtime, honey-do-lists, or myriad other tasks trying to steal the joy of warmer weather, please have a safe and enjoyable summer season.  Before we get to those activities, I want to go over a bit of business related to our GM unit retirees and the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust. 

Each year the Trust evaluates the level of benefits to ensure that the Trust’s assets align with its long-term liabilities.  This annual review allows the Trust to improve benefits while adapting to your changing needs.  Proceeding the most recent review, the Trust is introducing a Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) for 2025.  An HRA assists you with out-of-pocket healthcare expenses and is regulated by the IRS.  For those GM unit retirees covered by the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, a brochure & step-by-step guide was mailed to all Trust households in April (2025) along with a welcome letter and debit cards.  If you threw away or misplaced these mailings, you can view or print them from www.uawtrust.org or call 866-637-7555 for replacements. 

Depending on the health of the Trust, the annual amount or the entire HRA may change, so please do not throw away your HRA cards.  The Trust is utilizing WEX to administer the program, so you may hear the HRA refereed to as the “WEX card”.  The HRA card is in addition to, but different from your over-the-counter (OTC) card.  While two HRA cards were sent, the $600 benefit is issued to the Trust healthcare contract holder only.  There is only one HRA benefit per eligible auto retiree or surviving spouse—or contract holder—for the household.  If there are two contract holders in the household, the brochure covers this topic also.

Everything a retiree needs to know about the Trusts HRA benefit is included in the aforementioned brochure, so please review it.  The Trust also offers video tutorials and virtual meetings.  For the more adventurous, you can review IRS Publication 502 concerning HRA’s.  When you use your card, please keep all receipts and documents.  If WEX doesn't electronically receive the IRS-required information from the card transaction details, WEX will ask you for an itemized receipt or Explanation of Benefits (EOB).  Again, this benefit is different from the OTC benefit card or your personal debit card, it can only be used to pay for qualified health expenses including Medicare premiums.  When you activate your HRA card through WEX, the consultant may ask for your banking information, know that this is optional.  You can link your HRA card to your bank for faster payment in the event you request a reimbursement.  Reimbursements are covered in the brochure and online.               

In closing, I would like to express my gratitude to our retired members but also highlight some unfortunate realities.  The introduction of the HRA has put tremendous demand on our two remaining benefit representatives.  With roughly 7,000 retired and 900 active members, the representatives are trying to balance the best they can.   We have created handouts, held an informational session at the retiree meeting, and linked Trust documents on the Locals website.  In addition to these efforts, we ask that our retired members read the entire informational packet sent by the Trust.  On your own or with the help of a family member, please also utilize the tools available on the Trusts website, it is a great resource that I use often.
Matt