Posts Tagged ‘Insurance’
Iowa is one of only six states to offer the option of free health insurance to state government employees and their families. And the state’s cost to provide health insurance has increased more than 300 percent — $176 million — in 10 years, a Des Moines Register analysis shows.
Iowa’s state employees also pay substantially lower out-of-pocket health insurance costs, such as deductibles and office co-payments, than private-sector workers, according to an independent study of nearly 900 businesses and government employers conducted this year by David P. Lind & Associates of Clive.
Government employees at all levels in Iowa, including those working for schools and local governments, pay maximum out-of-pocket costs that are about half the amount paid by workers in private businesses, Lind’s survey found. That represents a possible annual savings of $1,000 or more for each employee.
The combination of higher benefit costs and lower state revenue has prompted calls for change.
Rep. Scott Raecker of Urbandale, the top-ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, has proposed that state employees contribute $50 a month for health care premiums.
As of July 1, 84 percent of the 28,522 state employees enrolled in health insurance through their jobs participated in plans for which they paid no premiums, according to the Iowa Department of Management. That number includes employees in all branches of state government.
The five other states that offer at least some of their employees no-premium health insurance are Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Oregon.
Iowa offers employees a variety of insurance plans. Generally, the 16 percent of state employees who pay part of their premium costs have chosen more comprehensive insurance, which covers more medical conditions, such as chronic illnesses, or pays a greater percentage of total claims.
“We ask indigent Iowans and those living under the poverty level to contribute up to $40 a month for their state-sponsored health plan, yet, in many cases, do not ask state employees to contribute anything,” Raecker said. “It’s not an easy thing to do, but I think most Iowans would appreciate the fact that state employees would contribute to their health care plan.”
The proposal is unlikely to go anywhere in the coming legislative session. Democrats occupy the governor’s office and hold majorities in both the Iowa House and Senate.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, called Republicans’ push to cut state employee benefits “a turkey.”
Benefits were negotiated with unions in legally binding contracts, and cutting them would be unfair, McCarthy said.
He agreed that medical costs are “out of control,” but said the issue needs to be resolved through national reform.
Several other states are looking at how to rein in health insurance costs.
Officials in Alabama, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine and Nevada are considering increasing employees’ share of premiums and co-payments, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least 11 states are considering trimming coverage.
Requiring employees to pay partial premiums would not only help offset the government’s costs but also help them gain awareness of health costs, which ultimately would help hold down rates, said Fred Buie, president of Keystone Electrical Manufacturing Co. in Des Moines.
Keystone, which has 60 full-time employees, has kept health insurance costs level in the past four years largely by setting up health reimbursement accounts, which reimburse employees for some medical expenses. The accounts come with a tax advantage that helps offset costs for Keystone.
Keystone employees pay an average of about 18 percent of health care costs through monthly premiums.
“I don’t know of any private business where employees don’t pay premiums,” Buie said. “If you’re contributing, you appreciate it more and tend to make better use of it.”
Union officials who represent state workers have long argued that good benefits are part of a trade-off state employees make for accepting lower pay.
That depends on state workers’ education levels, according to a review of salary data conducted for the Register by Iowa State University economist David Swenson.
Highly educated state workers, on average, do make less than those in the private sector, by $15,000 or more a year, Swenson found. But state workers as a group make nearly $5,400 more a year on average in base salary and receive $4,700 more in benefits than their private-sector counterparts.
Danny Homan, president of AFSCME’s Local 61, contended last month that the salary and benefits information obtained by the Register is “either a lie or miscalculated.”
The Register, in response, shared much of its data with Homan and spokesman Charlie Wishman and requested they provide information or studies that dispute the newspaper’s findings. They declined to do so, although Wishman, in an e-mail, questioned Lind’s methodology because it did not break out education levels.
Lind’s study focused upon health insurance costs, which, unlike salaries, do not correlate closely with education levels. Lind said the survey has an accuracy rate of plus or minus 3.3 percent.
Union officials say members have accepted smaller raises in recent years to help preserve good benefits. Across-the-board wage increases have been 3 percent or less for the past 10 years, with no raises in 2006 and the current fiscal year. Some employees are eligible each year for step increases beyond the across-the-board raise.
Susan Shields, a pharmacist with the state’s corrections department, falls in the category of highly educated state workers who are paid less than private-sector counterparts. Eleven years ago, she left a pharmacist job with a large retailer to join the state work force. Last year, her pay remained roughly $4,000 less than that of the average pharmacist in Iowa.
Shields said she was working nearly 80 hours a week in the private sector and now works closer to a normal workweek. While pay is less with the state, the benefits are better, she acknowledged.
“I don’t think of myself as being any better off or worse off (than) most pharmacists,” Shields said. “No, I don’t make the same amount of money as someone who works for a big-box retail chain. They make a lot of money, but they also work a lot of hours and have a lot of stress. I’ve been there. It’s not worth the money.”
The state has taken steps in recent years to rein in its increased costs for employee health benefits. Those efforts have created tension.
Beginning in January of this year, for example, Iowa eliminated United HealthCare as a health insurance option for state employees, a move estimated to save $10.8 million this year, according to a memo sent in September to state officials by Ed Holland, division administrator for the Iowa Department of Administrative Services.
Iowa’s five-member Executive Council, headed by Gov. Chet Culver, made the decision. Opponents, including members of his own party, said thousands of workers would have to choose among plans that offer less flexibility, particularly to see specialists in other states. They also cast doubt on the savings.
Holland said last week that the decision has led to few problems to date.
The state also expanded education on wellness and prevention, which officials think will help lower long-term costs.
State leaders, including Culver, have also set up a working group of unions and government representatives to identify ways to reduce health care costs. The next time union contracts are up for negotiations is 2011.
The negotiation process that leads to union agreements on salaries and benefits is conducted almost entirely in private. Typically, the governor, a handful of other state employees and union representatives participate. Although authorities make final union agreements public, union leaders, state negotiators and lawmakers usually do not discuss how negotiators arrived at the agreements.
The Department of Administrative Services denied a request for an interview with any employee of that department involved in the collective bargaining process.
Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said the negotiation process takes much of the decision-making about employee benefit costs out of the hands of lawmakers.
Questioned about the premium-free health insurance offered to state employees, Gronstal said: “I don’t want to characterize it as good or bad because that is unfairly biasing the collective bargaining process. This is a job for the executive branch to negotiate with the employee unions, and I am not going to jawbone the unions down or state government up in this equation. I think it’s inappropriate for us to comment on subjects relative to collective bargaining.”
Senate Republican Leader Paul McKinley said the union negotiation process should be more transparent to allow more citizen input as negotiating takes place.
“One of the things we know is that the total compensation package of state employees has exceeded that of private employees, and it has gotten to the point where we’re seeing billion-dollar deficits,” McKinley said. “The bargaining process just isn’t working to protect the taxpayers.”
If a governor wanted to require employees to pay part of insurance premiums or take other steps to control costs, such changes are often years in the making, said Richard Cauch, health program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“Changes for public employees generally move at a slower pace,” Cauch said, noting the complex union agreements that bind most states. “It’s unlike the private sector, where a company can announce, ‘In 60 days, here’s what we’re doing to you.’”
When you buy Utah health insurance, you are making a purchase that will give you peace of mind as well as making a positive contribution to your health. This is because without Utah health insurance you could find yourself unable to afford the care you need when you have a major illness. Even if you are eventually able to afford that care, it may come too late if you haven’t purchased Utah health insurance in advance.
By purchasing Utah health insurance, you are also helping your future financial situation. The lack of Utah health insurance could result in such massive medical bills that you may even find yourself facing bankruptcy. It is essential therefore that you and your family take advantage of the coverage available.
Utah health insurance can be bought on either a group or individual basis. Group insurance, bought by an organization to cover its employees, requires you to pay regular premiums that keep your Utah health insurance up to date and protect you from unforeseen medical expenses. It is well worth the cost of those premiums to have the advantage of knowing you won’t be hit by crippling bills in the event of an accident or unexpected health problems. After purchasing your Utah health insurance, you can relax in the knowledge that you have taken all possible steps to guard yourself and your family from costs resulting from unexpected health issues.
If a group plan is available to you, it has the advantage of costing less than an individual plan. This is because the employer pays a proportion of the cost. In addition, under a group plan, your Utah health insurance usually has the extra benefit of covering you for pre-existing conditions without increasing the costs.
If you are self-employed, you should organize your own Utah health insurance as soon as possible. There is no benefit in waiting until you develop a medical condition before trying to purchase Utah health insurance. An insurance company is often unwilling to cover an individual with a pre-existing condition, so it doesn’t make sense to wait until a health problem arises before buying individual Utah health insurance. You need to take advantage of your good health now and purchase Utah health insurance while you can, so you will be protected against anything that happens in the future,
For some people looking to purchase Utah health insurance, there are particular advantages to short-term policies. Available through private health insurance providers, short-term policies provide individual and family coverage for periods of between one and six months. You may, for example, be between jobs or working part-time. You may have lost your coverage because of a divorce; you could be a student who is no longer covered by your parents’ policies, or you might be an early retiree. These are just some of the scenarios that would make short-term Utah health insurance a benefit for you until you can establish a more permanent plan.
Even if, for some reason, you are refused major Utah health insurance, you can take advantage of a mini-med or “defined benefit” health plan. Whether or not you have a pre-existing condition, you can purchase one of these guaranteed-issue Utah health insurance plans. Insurance companies can afford to provide such plans because the policies have limits on their coverage. These plans have the advantage of being easy to understand and are available for anyone between the ages of eighteen and sixty-five. Like other Utah health insurance plans, they have the benefit of providing affordable health protection for you and your family, no matter what your individual needs or situation may be.
By the end of this article, you should have gained enough new knowledge on this subject to be able to explain its main points to another person.
If youre a Connecticut occupier looking to find the best rates on vigor assurance, there are many options to take plus of. Most doubtminus the best rates are afforded to employers with a large worker root. However, if you are freshly unemployed, person-employed or have been lacking employment afar for more than 18 months, there are health insurance options for you too.
Here are a few options:
1.lately unemployed: If you were freshly laid off from your job, COBRA (Consolidated anthology finances Reconciliation Act) will permit you to remain the coverages untaken by your guests sponsored health insurance table if you are keen to remain paying the monthly premiums. apprehend, however, your employer is no longer responsible for paying their portion of your premiums, so require to pay more for the same coverage. COBRA coverage lasts for approximately 18 months.
As we take the journey through the final part of this article, you can look back at the first part if you need any clarifications on what we have already learned.
2.Unemployed afar COBRA: vigor Reinsurance Association of Connecticut (HRA) grants options for people who have exhausted their COBRA payback. HRA is a non-profit association of insurance companies and HMOs who grant health insurance coverage in Connecticut. They agreement three types of insurance tables (Portability propose) for individuals. You can chose from an HMO, PPO or SHCP table.
To soften any of the three tables you must be minus than 65 living of age and have had coverage for at slightest 18 months. You must, however, join for coverage past to the expiration any insurance coverage you presently have. Depending on which table you indicate, other qualifications may join.
3.identity-Employed: Before soliciting health insurance if you are person-employed, call the Connecticut chaos assurance Department. They have a item of some insurance companies that are keen to cover the person employed.
In addition to the suggestions above, if you are a portion of a group association, you might be able to take health insurance coverage through that association. forever store around for more than one figure before making a result.
This article is meant to both inform and entertain those who read it. Hopefully, we have (will) accomplished both goals for you.