LANSING – Wednesday was the day for groups to get their comments into House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) regarding his proposal to pool all public employees under one insurance plan, and the leader said he would use the input into crafting his final proposal in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, some groups submitting comments continued to debate the merits of allowing local governments and schools to opt into the pool or whether participation should be mandatory.
The health insurance arm of the Michigan Education Association said the majority of state health plans that include community colleges, local governments and universities provide an “opt-in” provision, which allows local control and collective bargaining rights to be maintained.
Referencing a Legislative Service Bureau paper on Dillon’s proposal, the Michigan Educational Special Services Association (MESSA) stated it “demonstrates and confirms that there is no collective bargaining in a mandatory plan. If type and level of benefits are not subject to bargaining then the only decision that remains in the purview of collective bargaining and local control is the essential decision made at the local bargaining table: whether to participate or not.”
But Don Wotruba, director of legislative affairs for the Michigan Association of School Boards, countered that without mandatory participation, the competitive buying power of the insurance pool is diminished.
He said if schools have to negotiate with local labor groups on whether or not they should enter the state pool, then Michigan would be no better off than it is today except that schools would have another insurance option. However, Wotruba said schools already have plenty of options when it comes to insurance.
The main problem now has been that schools that try to get away from MESSA are threatened with recall campaigns of board members or other problems that are not associated with improving the classroom, Wotruba said.
However, MESSA also argued that states with uniform health plans are facing severe fiscal problems, including North Carolina, which requires all local governments and school employees to be on one plan.
“In April, North Carolina legislators were forced to appropriate an additional $255 million to cover expenses for the current year. Clearly, no matter what the governance structure looks like, if state government takes over health coverage for all local government and school employees and mandates participation, the state will own the financial liability for the plan,” MESSA Executive Director Cynthia Williams wrote in the group’s response.
MESSA also criticized a reference in Dillon’s proposal to the Michigan State University Labor Coalition as a model for governance, saying that was a structure created by the eight labor organizations that works for them. “The coalition model was not mandated on the organizations by state statute or employer will,” Williams said.
Wotruba said if there is a statewide board setting the level of benefits for public employees, it should be a mix of employers and employees like other states have. But if the governance structure sets up negotiations with collective bargaining units, than the board should be made up of employers and not employees.
Dillon said many individuals and groups provided comments on his plan, including teachers, school administrators, local government representatives and other public employees.
“We’re in the process of reviewing all the comments and feedback. The input provided will be used in the coming days and weeks to craft a public employee health care reform structure that works for Michigan and can help us craft a healthcare reform proposal that can save taxpayer dollars and keep more teachers in the classroom and police on the streets,” Dillon said.
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