PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Lawyers for thousands of Bethlehem Steel retirees will ask a judge Monday to block the bankrupt company's plan to cut off health benefits to former workers, despite a union's promise to let the proposal go through.þþThe fallen industrial giant has asked the court to allow it to cut off health and life insurance benefits to all retirees on March 31.þþThe proposal is widely expected to sail through, in part because the United Steelworkers of America agreed not to oppose it.þþBut at a hearing in New York, attorneys representing 29,000 nonunion managers, shipyard workers, railroad workers and their families plan to ask a bankruptcy judge to keep the health plan intact until at least late April, or preferably the end of May.þþ``To expect seniors to be able to find replacement health care coverage in such a short period of time is just absurd,'' said Bruce E. Davis, a spokesman for the Retired Employees Benefit Coalition.þþThe group is the last still fighting Bethlehem Steel over the benefits cutoff plan.þþThe United Steelworkers, which represents 61,600 retirees and dependents, dropped its opposition after Bethlehem Steel said it would offer former workers a chance to buy COBRA insurance for six months.þþThose policies, offered under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, are very expensive, but would allow workers to continue getting benefits they enjoyed under Bethlehem Steel's almost-defunct plan until September.þþThat offer was rejected by the non-unionized workers as too expensive. For retirees too young to qualify for Medicare, a COBRA policy would cost at least $700 a month.þþBethlehem Steel spokeswoman Bette Kovach said the company doesn't have the money to continue offering benefits.þþ``We're broke,'' she said. ``A lot of companies terminate retirement benefits as soon as they declare bankruptcy. We didn't. We've continued it for 18 months to a tune of $20 million a month, but we can't afford it anymore.''þþThe Retired Employee Benefits Coalition has privately arranged for some workers to switch to a substitute health plan. It has also held meetings around the country to help workers find replacement insurance. A recent meeting in Sarasota, Fla., drew 500 people, Davis said.þþ``They are scared,'' he said. ``They may, within a matter of days, lose the company-provided health care benefits that have been there to support them for decades.''þþBethlehem Steel's assets are being sold to International Steel Group, of Cleveland. The company, once one of the nation's strongest, made steel for countless battleships, skyscrapers and the Golden Gate Bridge.þþ
Source: NY Times
