Last week the TRS Board of Trustees approved a one-time payment of $448.12 to all TRS-Care (retiree healthcare) members. This payment is the remainder of the $286 million appropriation of federal stimulus money made by the Texas Legislature to TRS last fall. Most of those funds were used to fully cover many out-of-pocket costs related to COVID-19.
TRS said the payment will be distributed in March, but it has yet to specify when TRS-Care members should expect to receive those funds. Members who receive their TRS annuity by direct deposit will receive this payment in their banks. Otherwise, members will receive a physical check delivered to the address currently on file.
To be eligible for the payment, members must have been enrolled in TRS-Care as of the beginning of the year and must still be enrolled when the checks are sent out in March. The surviving spouses of TRS-Care members enrolled in TRS-Care as of the beginning of the year may also be eligible. TRS will notify retirees by mail starting in late February and going into March if they are eligible.
This payment is completely separate from the one-time supplemental payment check that retirees should have received in January of this year. The January payment will be sent from the TRS pension fund, whereas this check will be sent from the TRS-Care health fund.