Journal-News.com

Dean Byrd, who spent 30 years working at Armco Steel, the forerunner of AK Steel Corp., thought that health care would be the last of his worries in retirement.

Byrd, 68, of Carlisle, is one of about 4,900 Middletown Works retirees anxious about a federal ruling on a proposed $663 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit that will establish a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association to take over health care for the retirees and their families. The trust would go into effect March 1.

The settlement ended a 20-month lawsuit filed by retirees in July 2006. It would cover those who retired from Armco and AK Steel from 1950 through May 31, 2007, and for all salaried employees who retired after 1983 represented by the former Armco Employees Independent Federation.

When Byrd retired in 1994, he was promised health care for the rest of his life. But the steelmaker, like many other companies, said to remain competitive it had to shed such legacy costs.

Judge Timothy S. Black presided over a two-day hearing this week in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati to examine the agreement and to hear the challenges of other retirees who have filed objections to the settlement and proposed employee-run trust. A decision is expected by month's end.

"We think we have a good settlement, but people have a right to say yea or nay," said the Rev. Michael Bailey, president of the Concerned Armco/AK Retired Employees.

Byrd, who has diabetes, asbestosis and suffered a pair of heart attacks and one massive heart failure, said each day he takes 13 pills and gets three shots. If he had to purchase his medication, he said it would cost $12,000 a year compared to his current coverage of $5 a prescription.

"We're in there to fight for our benefits and not to negotiate them away," he said.

Those objecting also have filed an appeal with the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.