Tennessee’s 2027 premium table for local education retirees puts retiree-only Premier PPO coverage at $470.80 a month for a retired teacher with 30 or more years of service on Network S. The cheapest choice on the same table is the $345.95 Copay PPO, which is offered only on Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee’s Network S. The table comes from Tennessee Benefits Administration and applies to plan year 2027.
The five 2027 choices for a 30-year retiree
For a retired local education teacher with 30-plus years of service on Network S, the monthly retiree-only premiums are:
- Premier PPO: $470.80
- Standard PPO: $436.70
- Limited PPO: $412.50
- Local CDHP with HSA: $360.25
- Copay PPO: $345.95
Stepping down from the Premier PPO saves $34.10 a month on the Standard PPO, $58.30 on the Limited PPO, $110.55 on the Local CDHP with HSA and $124.85 on the Copay PPO. The full spread from top to bottom of the menu is $124.85 a month, or $1,498.20 over a year. That is the difference in premium alone. The table does not list deductibles, copays or out-of-pocket limits, so a retiree asking which plan actually costs least has to put the premium next to what each plan charges when care is used. A retiree who rarely sees a doctor may come out ahead on the $345.95 plan, while someone with frequent visits or costly prescriptions needs to price those under every option before picking by premium.
A retired teacher on the Premier PPO is paying $5,649.60 a year in premiums before a single doctor visit. The Benefits Checklist scans 11 benefit programs that retirees often miss, including Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help with drug costs, and lists the 2026 income limits for each.
Scan the Benefits Checklist for 11 programs that help with retiree health costs →
What a year of premiums adds up to
Multiplying the monthly figures by 12 puts the Premier PPO at $5,649.60 a year, the Standard PPO at $5,240.40, the Limited PPO at $4,950.00, the Local CDHP with HSA at $4,323.00 and the Copay PPO at $4,151.40. The CDHP is the high-deductible health plan paired with a health savings account, and at $360.25 a month it is the second-cheapest premium on the table.
How years of service change the price
The premium falls as years of service rise. On Network S, the same Premier PPO costs a retiree with 20 to 29 years of service $556.40 a month and a retiree with under 20 years $642.00, which is $171.20 a month more than the 30-year retiree pays. The Copay PPO follows the same pattern at $408.85 for 20 to 29 years and $471.75 for under 20 years. A retiree with fewer than 30 years who reads only the headline figure will be looking at the wrong row.
The table also lists higher amounts for other networks, and the Copay PPO is marked not available on them.
Which retirees this table covers
This is the local education teacher retiree table. Retirees of state agencies are on a separate table on the same Partners for Health site, which Tennessee Benefits Administration updated on October 7. A retired teacher should confirm which table applies, since the rows are not interchangeable.
Pricing the four options against a real year of care
Tennessee Benefits Administration posts every 2027 premium document on its Partners for Health page, and that page is the place to start. Pull the table for the right group, find the row for the right years of service and network, then write down the monthly premium and the annual total.
Next, gather last year’s explanation-of-benefits statements and the list of prescriptions. Count the doctor visits, tests and refills in a normal year and price them under each plan’s deductible and copays. The Copay PPO’s $124.85-a-month saving against the Premier PPO disappears quickly if it is paid back in higher charges at the pharmacy or the specialist’s office. The Local CDHP with HSA changes the math again, because its premium is $360.25 a month but the retiree carries the deductible first.
Then compare the networks. The Copay PPO works only on Network S, so a retiree whose doctors sit outside that network has to confirm they are covered before choosing on price.
A $345.95 premium still leaves other costs to cover
A $124.85 monthly gap between plans shows how much one choice moves a retiree’s budget, and the rest of that budget carries its own pressure. The Benefits Checklist covers 11 benefit programs and the 2026 income limits for each, plus a 50-state phone directory for the offices that run them. A printable tracker comes with the download.
Hold a retiree budget up against the 2026 income limits in the Benefits Checklist →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
