Does creditable service with other retirement systems count toward the SERS service to determine years of creditable service for the purpose of group insurance?
In general, if you are retiring under the Reciprocal Act and you participated in the State of Illinois Group Insurance Program while contributing to one of the other State retirement systems, i.e., State University Retirement System, Teachers Retirement System, Judges Retirement System, or General Assembly Retirement System, state service under the other retirement system would count towards the 20 years of service needed to qualify for health insurance coverage at no cost. Service with all other retirement systems, such as IMRF, count for pension purposes, but not for group insurance, since these systems do not participate in the State of Illinois Group Insurance Program. Normally the last system you participated in carries the group insurance, but there are exceptions. Check with SERS to determine if your service under another retirement system would count toward your creditable service time.
