OPERS' Board Recommends Benefit Plan Changes

The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) is the largest pension system in Ohio. Entering its 75th year of service, more than 166,500 retirees and 356,000 active public workers look to OPERS for a secure retirement, now and in the future.

The pension system has weathered decades of economic ups and downs. Each time, it has emerged stronger because the Board of Trustees planned for the future and listened to stakeholders allowing the Board to address issues quickly.

Most recently, on Nov. 18, the Board recommended to the legislature a series of changes to benefits designed to strengthen the pension system and with the added goal of maintaining adequate funding for health care. Depending on legislative implementation, the recommended changes to benefits will build on past actions by the Board to prepare for longer life expectancies of retirees, to encourage member engagement in their retirement planning and to correct inequities resulting from benefit subsidization.