Vermont Business Magazine House Speaker Mitzi Johnson wants to finish the legislative session by as early as next week, if not by this weekend, but Governor Phil Scott is continuing to push his plan for a statewide teacher health insurance contract, which he says will preserve benefits for teachers and save the state $26 million a year by creating one, large risk pool out of the new, lower ObamaCare health premiums. The House Republicans are standing with the governor even as Senate Democrats have dismissed the plan. The ultimate leverage the governor can employ is use of the veto, but in the meantime he is still trying to convince at least enough House Democrats to join him. The teachers union opposes the plan because it contends it will harm local control of the collective bargaining process.
“As a bipartisan amendment to H509, sponsored by Reps. Greshin (I-Washington-7) and Beck (R-Caledonia-3) , that would allow the state to realize up to $26 million in education savings a year awaits discussion in the House, I want to assure Vermonters I remain committed to seeing this proposal is fully debated and eventually adopted," Scott said in a statement issued Wednesday morning.
“By taking advantage of a more affordable statewide health benefit for school employees, we can achieve tens of millions of dollars in savings without cutting school programs, increasing average out-of-pocket costs for teachers’ healthcare or compromising collective bargaining rights.
“I’m grateful to the Democrats, Republicans and Independents who are working to implement the statewide health benefit, which is necessary to ensure we maximize savings for taxpayers through this change in health plans – an opportunity we only have this year. These savings can be used to provide much-needed relief for taxpayers.
“This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save up to $26 million a year will help make Vermont more affordable, and I believe we have an obligation to Vermonters to reach an agreement on this before adjournment. In order to generate as much savings as possible, while not requiring school employees to pay more, we must make certain there is a statewide mechanism in place to ensure the savings are, in fact, secured for taxpayers.
"Anything that does not achieve these outcomeswould not be an acceptable alternative,” the governor said.
Amendment to H509 was offered by Reps. Beck of St Johnsbury, Greshin of Warren, Baser of Bristol, Browning of Arlington, Brumsted of Shelburne, Christensen of Weathersfield, Condon of Colchester, Conlon of Cornwall, Cupoli of Rutland City, Hooper of Brookfield, Jickling of Brookfield, Gannon of Wilmington, Juskiewicz of Cambridge, Murphy of Fairfax, Olsen of Londonderry, Scheuermann of Stowe, Shaw of Pittsford, Sibilia of Dover, Sullivan of Dorset and Wright of Burlington.
It reads in part: "Vermont’s school employees receive health coverage through the Vermont Education Health Initiative (VEHI). Actuarial analysis of current VEHI plans indicates they have among the highest actuarial values of any health insurance plan offered in the State of Vermont. Premiums for VEHI plans are up to nine percent higher than those for a BlueCross BlueShield platinum plan offered through Vermont Health Connect.
"In response, the VEHI is replacing existing school employee health insurance plans with plans designed to be competitive with Vermont Health Connect. This change means that, as of January 1, 2018, all school employees will be on new health care plans.
The new health plans cover the same health care services and networks, but they have lower premium costs. The savings associated with lower premiums is estimated to be as high as $75million. The new plans also create higher out-of-pocket exposure through deductibles and co-payment requirements.
"However, because the premiums for these plans are markedly lower, there are opportunities to keep employees’ out-of-pocket costs at current levels while also realizing up to $26million in savings.
"These new plans have made health insurance negotiations more complex. In at least 20 supervisory unions, the parties have declared impasse over the inability to negotiate the transition to new health insurance plans.
"The State of Vermont is uniquely positioned to bargain health care benefits and coverage with school employees in a manner that ensures fairness and equity for school employees and delivers savings for property taxpayers."
To learn more about the Governor’s proposal, CLICK HERE.
Source: Governor 5.2.2017