# Municipal Health care Reform



## Crvtte65

As most of you (hopefully) know, it seems the topic of discussion this fiscal year will be municipal health care reform. This needs to be taken into serious consideration as in past years such "hot topics" have came with changes that most of us did not believe would happen such as flaggers, Quinn Bill cuts, and pension reform (however the pension reform is not over).

Since we cannot post whole article's and the State House News Service doesn't have an online posting, I'll cut and paste the highlights:



> REPORT: MUNI-GOVERNMENT HEALTH PREMIUMS, BENEFITS OUT OF WHACK
> 
> By Michael Norton
> STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
> 
> APRIL 5, 2011&#8230;&#8230;Municipal governments in Massachusetts provide employees with health insurance plans that are far more costly and generous than those offered in the private sector or through other public employers, according to a new report.
> 
> The report, released Tuesday by The Boston Foundation, a self-described community foundation with $733 million in assets, and the business-supported Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, labeled municipal government health plans "gilded benefits from a bygone era" and called upon Gov. Deval Patrick and the Legislature to allow municipal health plans to be designed outside of collective bargaining.
> 
> ...
> 
> The report hits Beacon Hill as talks continue over municipal health insurance policy changes and a day after more than 300 union officials, teachers, police officers, firefighters and other municipal workers roamed the State House halls urging lawmakers to preserve health care under collective bargaining.
> 
> ...
> 
> Calling the benefits in municipal government health plans "extraordinarily rich," the report acknowledges that plan design changes made outside of collective bargaining would shift co-payment and deductible costs onto employees, but concludes that helping municipalities control the rising premiums will help cities and towns and their employees and represents "the more profound and lasting advantage of cost sharing." Without reforms, additional cuts to education and municipal services are likely, the report says.


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## CJIS

I can think of several company's in the bay state that have better plans and benefits. I won't list them here because it is unfair to do so and those people there bargained for those plans. 

As usual more BS from that fat cats on the hill.


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## Guest

Right, because the problem is obviously people who work for a living and support their families, and not the illegal aliens, drunks, junkies, and welfare leeches who take everything and contribute NOTHING.

Keep blindly voting for the big (D), you morons.


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## OfficerObie59

My town does better with our own plan than we would with the GIC. But because the big (D) is all about the collective, no doubt they're going to force ALL municipalities into it under the (false) pretense that it will be cost effective in the long run. 

Why am I not convinced? Because as much as I complain, my municipality has a pretty good hold on their finances. The state government? Need I say more...


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## topcop14

The health plan offered by my municapilty is such a great deal that we get our insurance from my wife's employer. ( she works in the private sector)


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## TRPDiesel

mtc said:


> And the "cheap" plans the GIC are pushing on us are... wait for it.... FULL OF QUACKS !!!
> 
> Not ONE of my Dr's is on Tufts Spirit.... most of them are on Community Choice - except they don't "do" the Brigham.... which is odd - since they take my orthopedic - who works out of the Brigham exclusively.
> 
> Freakin' Odd!!


I just got my "packet" I get the bottom line and prices and copays but it is still like reading braille to me. I can't emphasize enough how pissed off I get to pay a co-pay and then get an additional bill after the insurance company pays what they feel like. I was introduced to health insurance in the military. I didn't pay for anything. Then I got "real" health insurance and I went to a doctor, paid a $25 co-pay and was billed for an additional $15. Funnything is cash payments are accepted and a similar appt runs a cash customer $40. WTF.


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## Guest

What ticks me off, besides having a copay AND a ridiculous deductible for each family member (so really, insurance doesn't actually pay much at all), is that they seem to be encouraging people to switch to different plans... but if you do, then your deductible for the year starts over from scratch when the new plan kicks in. WTH?! So what's the incentive to change plans??? They all suck about the same! 
I've had so many issues that I've had to call them to get straightened out, and make them fix their mistakes, hubby says I know their rules and procedures better than they do. It's a little ridiculous when I have to call and tell them that they are supposed to cover something and explain why. I just want an insurance company that pays what they're supposed to pay and doesn't need me to do their job for them.


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## rg1283

The GIC sucks... I had it when I worked for the DMH... Every year things go up.. It sucks... now I work for a private place and the have the SAME union.. I pay less for insurance and get more.. slight increases here and there but they are not severe like with the GIC. 

It won't matter soon anyway.. Healthcare will keep ballooning.

Its quite simple.. Mass Health pays hospitals so little that in order to stay in business they have to charge private insurance more... costs keep going up plus with the government involved.

I remember my grandfather who's widow is a retired state employee complaining when health insurance went up to $5 a week in the 80s.

My grandfather has survivor benefits through the GIC and can't switch plans and he never complains about anything. Of course those benefits are from circa 1992 when she retired so I guess those 1992 rates are frozen??

My dad is a state employee also..for one of the colleges he has a useless liberal union called the MCCA. Every year the insurance goes up...

I would never go with the GIC if you can avoid it.. the plans have fucking lab deductibles (meaning you pay cash for your lab work) and if you have to go to the hospital....forget it....

Health Insurance should be able to be brought on its own tax free like car insurance. 

In an ideal world employers would have nothing to do with health insurance. I think Obamacare will be repealed... eventually.


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## Bloodhound

The longer that employers continue to shift the costs of health insurance onto employees, the longer this is going to continue. We are only propping the health care industry up temporarily. No one is addressing the actual causes of the rising costs. I don't know how this is going to end, but it won't be good.


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## Crvtte65

Bloodhound said:


> The longer that employers continue to shift the costs of health insurance onto employees, the longer this is going to continue. We are only propping the health care industry up temporarily. No one is addressing the actual causes of the rising costs. I don't know how this is going to end, but it won't be good.


That was mentioned by a few at the Joint Committee meeting at the State House in March that I attended


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## Crvtte65

Here it is: From the House Way's & Means Committee Budget that was released on April 13th. Unfortunately, its too late to call your rep's to co-sponsor Rep Walsh's amendment to remove sections, they can still support it so start calling them


All eligible retirees to enroll into Medicare
Creates 3 new sections in chapter 32B that permit plan design and enrollment in the GIC
These sections will not alter the collective bargaining rights associated with premium splits

*Plan Design*
Upon acceptance of this section by the governing body of a municipality, a municipality may alter co-payments, deductibles and other plan design features in its health plans provided that such features are no greater in dollar amount than those in the largest subscriber plan offered by the GIC
A municipality may increase co-payments, deductibles and other plan design features provided that the dollar amounts never exceed those in the largest subscriber plan offered by the GIC
The decision to change co-payments, deductibles and other plan design features will not be subject to coalition or collective bargaining

GIC
Upon acceptance of this section by the governing body of a municipality, it may elect to provide health care coverage to its subscribers by transferring them into the GIC if the municipality can demonstrate that the avoided costs of transferring to the GIC are greater than the avoided costs that would be achieved by the implementation of plan design pursuant to section 21
The decision to transfer to the GIC will not be subject to coalition or collective bargaining

*Saving*
Upon implementing plan design or transferring to the GIC, a municipality must notify its insurance advisory commission, or its regional equivalent, of the estimated avoided costs to the municipality
The insurance advisory commission may request any reports or other information used to determine said avoided costs
Upon consent of the insurance advisory committee, the municipality places 10% of the estimated avoided costs into an escrow account
The municipality shall then convene a meeting with the public employee committee to determine how the 10% will be utilized by the employees provided that the funds can only be used for health related programs such as HRAs
Once a written agreement is reached between the municipality and the public employee committee, the funds in escrow shall be disbursed accordingly
Negotiations under this section shall only convene for the purpose of determining the use of the 10% of avoided costs for the first year during which health plan changes have been implemented

*Outside Sections*
The provisions of sections 21 and 22 shall not be inconsistent with any collective bargaining agreement in effect as of July 1, 2011
If specific dollar amounts for co-payments or deductibles are included in the body of an agreement, changes to those dollar amounts shall not be authorized until the initial term of the agreement has ended


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## strike

The bill was voted at 11:30 last night! Does anyone know where we can get a copy of the roll call how people voted. This is as bad as Wisconson! If you still are voting Democrat why. They fucked us on details, fucked us on quinn bill now health care! WTF!


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## Sircopalot

The MPA said they had at least 50 votes locked up as of last week. Yet, only 43 voted yes and 111 voted no! This is bad, real bad....


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## kwflatbed

*House votes to*
*restrict unions*

House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly last night to strip 
Massachusetts police officers, teachers, and other municipal 
employees of most of their rights to bargain over health care, 
saying the change would save millions of dollars for financially 
strapped cities and towns.

(By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff)


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## Crvtte65

Sircopalot said:


> The MPA said they had at least 50 votes locked up as of last week. Yet, only 43 voted yes and 111 voted no! This is bad, real bad....


The list of co-sponsors for the amendment (Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition)

The Speaker decided last night at 18:00 that instead of waiting to debate it, he wanted to "get it out of the way". The lumped it together with an education and local aid amendment so the consolidated amendment was debated on starting around 21:00 hrs and ended around midnight. I say its because yesterday was the DPW workers lobbying and today was going to be police/fire and the next teachers then on Friday everyone since Friday is when they would have normally dealt with outside sections of the budget...

---------- Post added at 11:46 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------



strike said:


> The bill was voted at 11:30 last night! Does anyone know where we can get a copy of the roll call how people voted. This is as bad as Wisconson! If you still are voting Democrat why. They fucked us on details, fucked us on quinn bill now health care! WTF!


In a few weeks it will be available publicly. I'll post it up when I see it


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## Guest

Impossible.....the Democrats are the pro-union party and are for the working man! 

Flagmen, Quinn Bill, and now health care.....keep blindly voting for the big (D) you morons in the Teamsters, AFL-CIO, and SEIU.


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## rg1283

I don't know who to vote for anymore...


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## Guest

rg1283 said:


> I don't know who to vote for anymore...


Call, write, or e-mail the candidates, and request their positions on the issues that matter to you. People running for public office (especially those who are challenging incumbents or running for an open seat) can be surprisingly forthcoming if you just ask them.


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## Johnny Law

They voted on it last night because they were afraid (and rightly so) there would be a huge amassing of unionized employees screaming for their heads today, the scheduled day according to the flyer I got in the mail from IBPO.

Basically this was a cock block vote last night so we would be powerless today, and a huge middle finger to us all. Off with their heads!


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## rg1283

They had a GIC Convention at Qunisigamond Community College last week.

I happened to be there. If your single and go to the doctors office and never go to the hospital and never need a lab test its not a bad deal...

God help you if you have a family..... $750 deductable per family.

I'm not even talking about ER and hospital/surgery yet... but that was in the $500 in some cases.. That seemed to vary...

I wanted to say what the fuck out loud.. I went to every table.. Fallon.. Tufts... Harvard Pilgrim... Neighborhood Health Plan....pretty much all the same stuff.. $250 per person deductible, $750 per FAMILY deductible..

I would hope that is one paid MORE they would have a reasonable health plan but it seems that either all the insurance companies were peddling the cheapest products that day. They all sucked... every one of them...

In the private sector (for now) its so much better insurance wise..... 

Bottom line no matter where you work.. insurance is going to go up..

Small Businesses are getting killed by this also..

I agree its good to keep municipal employees employed... But how much more will costs rise until it takes up so much salary you have to to get a second job...


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## Guest

rg1283 said:


> They had a GIC Convention at Qunisigamond Community College last week.
> 
> I happened to be there. If your single and go to the doctors office and never go to the hospital and never need a lab test its not a bad deal...
> 
> God help you if you have a family..... $750 deductable per family.
> 
> I'm not even talking about ER and hospital/surgery yet... but that was in the $500 in some cases.. That seemed to vary...
> 
> I wanted to say what the fuck out loud.. I went to every table.. Fallon.. Tufts... Harvard Pilgrim... Neighborhood Health Plan....pretty much all the same stuff.. $250 per person deductible, $750 per FAMILY deductible..
> 
> I would hope that is one paid MORE they would have a reasonable health plan but it seems that either all the insurance companies were peddling the cheapest products that day. They all sucked... every one of them...
> 
> In the private sector (for now) its so much better insurance wise.....
> 
> Bottom line no matter where you work.. insurance is going to go up..
> 
> Small Businesses are getting killed by this also..
> 
> I agree its good to keep municipal employees employed... But how much more will costs rise until it takes up so much salary you have to to get a second job...


Yes, it sucks. The $750 deductible is GIC-wide, so it doesn't matter which insurance you choose. We've had the Indemnity Plus plan for several yrs now, because you are covered no matter what Dr or hospital you go to. We considered switching to Harvard HMO because it's slightly cheaper monthly, but mainly because they offer 3 mos free for switching. We thought $250 a month for 3 mos would be a great savings! ...Then realized that if we switch plans, our deductible starts over for the year ($750). So we wouldn't actually be saving anything! Wow, what a racket.


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## Crvtte65

strike said:


> The bill was voted at 11:30 last night! Does anyone know where we can get a copy of the roll call how people voted. This is as bad as Wisconson! If you still are voting Democrat why. They fucked us on details, fucked us on quinn bill now health care! WTF!


Here you go, attached PDF


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## firefighter39

Good job, PFFM, IBPO, AFL-CIO etc.... these are the people YOUR (and my) unions supported. Once again fucked with out even a reach around. That is why I will never vote for a democrat, at least a republican is honest in where they stand.

The unions are all in bed with these fuckers and they will continue to endorse them.

How about cutting health care for illegals instead of those of us who work for a living. I can harldy wait til I retire, take my pension and give a big middle finger to Massachusetts when I move out of state!:stomp:


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## BrickCop

Delta784 said:


> Impossible.....the Democrats are the pro-union party and are for the working man!
> 
> Flagmen, Quinn Bill, and now health care.....keep blindly voting for the big (D) you morons in the Teamsters, AFL-CIO, and SEIU.


The problem is that the (R) and (D) parties don't give a crap about unions nowadays...screwed either way.


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## Guest

BrickCop said:


> The problem is that the (R) and (D) parties don't give a crap about unions nowadays...screwed either way.


The difference is that the Republicans will be honest with you; Mitt Romney pledged to not touch the Quinn Bill, and was good on his word. Deval bullshitted the police unions to the point that the chief's association endorsed him.....I wonder if they'd like a do-over with that one?


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## cc3915

*Senators want to protect union bargaining power on health care*

BOSTON -- Several area state senators say they do not support a House proposal that would strip public unions of their power to negotiate health-care benefits.

Most contacted by The Sun said the millions of dollars in savings to cities and towns touted by House leaders can be achieved via a plan that does not remove collective bargaining from the negotiation process.

The House plan has the strong backing of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, but has been fervently opposed by public unions. It is estimated that the change could save cities and towns more than $100 million on health care statewide. 

Read more: Senators want to protect union bargaining power on health care - Lowell Sun Online
​


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## rg1283

Whats scarier is what could happen in Worcester. If the Police and Fire unions in Worcester don't approve of Worcester's "GIC-Like" health plans then their could be huge lay offs come July.


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## Crvtte65

Rumor mill is that they just laid off a bunch and demoted 10 or so, or was it just the notices that they were going to?


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## mpd61

Absolute GARBAGE!!!!! 
I left the State service in 06' because then at age 45 I would be FAR better off in retirement $$$ and able to retire almost a decade earlier, as a Federal employee. At that time if anybody remembers, the state legislature allowed GIC to substantially increase insurance premiums. 
Massachusetts is sooooo Effed up!!! Seal Team 6 needs to hit Beacon Hill next I'm telling ya!
:skull:


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## cc3915

*State Senate limits collective bargaining rights; approves $30.5b budget*

The Massachusetts Senate voted tonight to curb the collective bargaining rights of police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees, making it likely the overwhelming Democratic state will limit union power in an effort to ease budget woes.

The voice vote, with barely any debate, came a month after House lawmakers approved similar legislation in hopes of saving cities and towns $100 million in the next budget year. Governor Deval Patrick has indicated he is eager to sign the bill once the two branches hash out their differences.

While the measures backed by the House, Senate, and governor vary, all three would allow mayors and other local officials to move local workers into the state's health insurance plan or to design their own plans that similarly trim costs for management. Each plan would leave a window to discuss those changes with workers, but would ultimately let local officials alter their plans, regardless of whether workers oppose it.

State Senate limits collective bargaining rights; approves $30.5b budget


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## Guest

*Re: State Senate limits collective bargaining rights; approves $30.5b budget*



cc3915 said:


> The Massachusetts Senate voted tonight to curb the collective bargaining rights of police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees, making it likely the overwhelming Democratic state will limit union power in an effort to ease budget woes.


But they'll keep dishing out the EBT cards, WIC vouchers, SSDI checks, and Section 8 certificates to the illegal aliens, junkies, drunks, and lazy welfare leeches with wild abandon.

Keep voting for the big (D), you fucking idiots.


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## LGriffin

#109351 Created July 8, 2010


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