MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Four retired Conway first responders say the city broke a decades-old promise to provide lifetime health insurance benefits.
Jimmy Hammond, Eddie Scott, Tim Chapman, and Jeremy Carter say they were promised free health insurance for life when they began their careers with the Conway Fire Department and Conway Police Department if they worked for the city for 25 years.
All four received letters in 2025 informing them the city would no longer completely cover health insurance for retirees over 65, effective Jan. 1, 2026.
“When I joined the Conway Police Department, they told me if I’d stay with them for the 25 years that they require, my insurance would be paid on me,” said Scott. “And I stayed with them for 25 years, a little bit more, but now they’ve backed up on that, and it just doesn’t seem to be right. I took them at their word.”
Retirees say they were never informed of policy change
The letter Hammond received states the change is in accordance with a policy change the City Council made in 2008 and reaffirmed in 2025.
But Hammond said despite the council making that decision in 2008, he and the other retirees were never told, and spent that time under the impression their health insurance would be covered.
“They waited seventeen years, seventeen years to pull this hat trick,” said Hammond, who worked for the Conway Fire Department for decades.
Carter, also a Conway Fire Department retiree, said the news came as a shock.
“It was news to me, it really was, we were always, that was an incentive, and until December 3, when I got a letter, I had no idea it was a shock,” Carter said.
Chapman, who worked for the Conway Police Department for 30 years and retired in 2022, said he used the benefit as a recruiting tool to encourage others to join Conway departments.
“We had a lot of movement, and I would talk to the fellas and say, man, I know you can make more money at the other departments, but this insurance, man, the rest of your life you can’t give that up,” Chapman said. “I said it’s gonna cost you, you’re gonna save so much money at the end.”
Financial impact and lack of city response
Chapman said the change will cost retirees $300 to $400 per month, but said he’s more upset about how the situation was handled than the financial impact.
“I’m more upset about the fact of the way it happened, rather than the money itself,” Chapman said.
Hammond said he believes he and his fellow retirees were lied to. He has spoken to the city council about his concerns, but said they have not addressed them.
Multiple city council members, the mayor, and the city’s public information officer did not respond to requests for comment sent more than a week ago.
“It hurts me very bad that the city council will not talk to us about it,” Hammond said.
Hammond said some retirees are having to decide whether to put money from their Social Security payments toward health insurance.
He said he might have finished his career elsewhere or put more toward his retirement if he had known about the change.
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