[Vision2020] Otter Defends Insurance Costs

[Tom Hansen]

"Some part-time state employees will see their monthly premiums rise to
$300 from $30."

Courtesy of today's (October 22, 2009) Spokesman Review.

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Otter defends insurance costs
For some part-time workers, premiums will exceed pay
Betsy Z. Russell

BOISE – Gov. Butch Otter is defending a move to increase health insurance
costs sharply for part-time state employees, even though some will face
premiums that exceed their take-home pay.

“This is the same thing the city of Boise does, the University of Idaho
does, every company in the private sector that I know of, does the very
same thing,” Otter said Wednesday. “If you’re a part-time employee, you
receive part-time benefits. So I say we’re being competitive with the
marketplace.”

Otter has pushed to raise state workers’ pay while cutting benefits to
make their compensation more like that in the private sector. But the
state’s economic downturn has put the brakes on any pay increases; rather
than raises, state workers these days are seeing furloughs and other
cutbacks.

Nevertheless, Otter’s director of administration, Mike Gwartney, is
pushing forward the benefits change for part-time employees, effective
Nov. 1. Those who can’t afford the new premiums can drop health insurance.
The House and Senate Democratic caucuses sent a letter to Otter this week
formally requesting that he delay the move, but Otter said Wednesday that
he won’t.

Otter said some part-time state workers with employed spouses are choosing
the state insurance plan over the spouse’s employer’s plan. “They 
 elect
to take for their family the state insurance because it’s so much a better
package,” Otter said.

Senate Minority Leader Kate Kelly, D-Boise, said legislators will probably
discuss the issues in its upcoming legislative session. “There will be an
opportunity at that point to either revisit it or reformat the changes, if
the will is there to do that,” she said.

Some part-time state employees will see their monthly premiums rise to
$300 from $30.

In their letter to the governor, the House and Senate Democrats warned
that any savings the state sees from the move likely would be eaten up by
increased costs in Medicaid or the Catastrophic Health Care fund, as newly
uninsured workers turn to public assistance.

“Rather than shifting insurance costs onto workers who can ill afford
them, efforts should be made to use the State’s bargaining position to
lower State government’s health care costs as a whole,” they wrote. “You
are in a critical position to lead such an effort and we encourage you to
do so.”

Legislative budget analyst Keith Bybee reported to the committee that
state agencies will save $2.7 million from the move, but only about
$900,000 of that is in state funds.

Many of the employees who submitted letters of complaint to the Joint
Finance-Appropriations Committee noted that their jobs are funded by
federal grants.

The cut in their benefits would simply mean more money to be spent
elsewhere in the grant program, rather than saving any state tax money.

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Welcome to Idaho, where our U.S. senators are comfortably living in the
pockets of Halliburton and our governor is unconcerned about the health
care of our under-employed.

Esto perpetua.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"We must explore significant restructuring and find further budget savings
... That's why I'm launching a public dialogue with Idaho taxpayers,
lawmakers, agency officials, state employees and other stakeholders on how
best to achieve meaningful reorganization of state government."

– Governor Butch Otter (October 15, 2009)