The COLA accounts of the pension systems have the $350 million in them necessary to cover the pension check raise.
Jones said the financial condition of retirees — many already living on limited fixed incomes — has changed for the worse because of increased health insurance premiums and copays. “They can’t pay for medicine,” he said, adding that he thought the double-digit increases in retirees’ state Group Benefits insurance plans caused by administration was “mismanagement.”