In a ruling involving the possible elimination of subsidy of health insurance premiums, an attorney representing several CUNA Mutual Group retirees is planning to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Last summer, a lower court said that CUNA Mutual did not violate provisions of the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act and the retirees did not have a legal right to prevent the company from eliminating its subsidy of health insurance premiums.

According to the ruling, accumulated sick pay the retirees believed would be put toward those premiums were included in the subsidy.

In a statement, Rick Uhlmann, CUNA Mutual senior manager of media relations, said the latest appeal is not a case that merits review by the U.S. Supreme Court. An appeals court had previously upheld a lower court's decision that ruled in favor of CUNA Mutual.

“We are pleased the federal courts in Madison and Chicago dismissed this case, and confirmed CUNA Mutual Group did not violate the law when it made the difficult decision to end subsidies for retiree health coverage,” Uhlmann said.