Fumo loses Pa. Senate health-care benefits

HARRISBURG - The state Senate is stripping Vincent J. Fumo of his lifetime state-paid health benefits, in the latest financial aftershock from his public corruption conviction.

But losing the top-of-the-line benefits - which cost taxpayers about $15,000 annually - doesn't pose an immediate concern for the former Philadelphia power broker with a long history of health issues.

Fumo, 66, will get free medical care while in a yet-to-be-determined federal prison. He is to begin his 55-month sentence on 137 corruption counts at the end of the month, when his state benefits also will end.

That means the burden shifts from Pennsylvania to federal taxpayers.

However, when he is released, Fumo will have to get - and pay for - his own benefits for the fist time since taking office in 1978.

In retirement, senators get to keep their coverage for themselves and their spouses after serving in the chamber for at least eight years. Fumo served 30½ years.

But those former senators must remain members of the state pension system, said Russell Faber, the chief clerk of the Senate. Fumo no longer qualifies on that count.

Last week, the State Employees' Retirement System notified Fumo that his $100,500 annual pension was forfeited as a result of his July 14 sentencing on fraud, theft, and obstruction of justice counts. Former lawmakers lose their pensions upon sentencing for any of a long list of crimes that relate to their public service.

Fumo had been collecting a $8,371 monthly retirement check since he left office in December.

The pension forfeiture triggered the loss of his health coverage, said Faber, who sent Fumo a letter this week notifying him that his benefits would stop at the end of the month.

The package provides coverage of major medical, dental, vision, prescription drugs, and long-term care. Senators pay only a fraction of the cost.

Under rules enacted three years ago, members of the upper chamber contribute 1 percent of their gross salary toward the benefits. That figure stays the same in retirement.

So Fumo, who left office making $76,163 annually, was paying about $64 a month for his benefits. Taxpayers picked up the remaining $1,257 each month. Before 2006, senators did not pay anything for the coverage.

A jury in March found Fumo guilty on all counts for defrauding the Senate and two nonprofits out of more than $4 million for personal and political gain. In addition to his prison term, Fumo was ordered to pay more than $2 million in fines and restitution.

Arguing for leniency last month, defense lawyers reminded a federal judge that Fumo suffered a heart attack last year, has diabetes and high blood pressure, and is on numerous prescription drugs for anxiety, depression, and high cholesterol.

Also this week, the Senate notified a former longtime aide to Fumo, Susan Skotnicki, that she, too, is losing her lifetime health benefits.

Like senators, employees of the Senate also get to keep their coverage in retirement, but not until they reach 25 years of service. Skotnicki, of the Harrisburg suburbs, pleaded guilty in January to submitting phony invoices for thousands of dollars in restaurant bills on behalf of Fumo and his staff.

Skotnicki allegedly pocketed $60,000 in the scheme. Last month, she forfeited her $50,450 annual pension, built up over 30 years, as a result, according to information provided to The Inquirer under the state's Right to Know law. She will be sentenced in November.

Losing such Senate health benefits is rare, if not unheard of. Faber said that Fumo was the only senator, and Skotnicki the only Senate employee, known to have been stripped of their policies since at least the early 1980s.