WI State worker health costs could double under proposed budget cuts
This is old but I heard on the news yesterday again.
State worker health costs could double under proposed budget cuts : Wsj http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/health_med_fit/board-to-take-up-state-worker-health-benefit-cuts/article_82fc8ea5-25a6-5ff3-b5e0-c57a4cc8972f.html … #WrongForWI
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State worker health costs could double under proposed budget cuts
May 19, 2015 6:00 am • By David Wahlberg | Wisconsin State Journal
Gov. Scott Walker's budget calls for cuts to state worker health benefits, which will be taken up Tuesday by the Department of Employee Trust Fund's Group Insurance Board.
..........Self insurance, a controversial model in which the state would pay benefits directly instead of buying insurance from 18 HMOs, is not part of the proposal, but it is being considered for 2017.
The changes to be considered Tuesday would cut $85 million over two years from the $1.4 billion health insurance program that covers 240,000 state workers and family members, most of whom live in Dane County.
Workers’ premiums, as a percentage of overall health care costs, would not change.
But co-payments, deductibles and out-of-pocket limits would go up, resulting in a doubling of those costs for nearly all state workers, according to Segal Consulting, an Atlanta-based firm hired by the state. Those costs, however, would remain among the lowest in the region, Segal said.
Lisa Ellinger, insurance administrator for Employee Trust Funds, said in a report to the Group Insurance Board that the cuts would meet Walker’s budget goals and help the state escape the “Cadillac tax” on rich benefit programs.
But Marty Beil, executive director of AFSCME Council 24, which represents state workers, said the health care cuts are another blow to workers who have already absorbed benefit cost increases and the loss of nearly all collective bargaining power.,,,,,,,,,,
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