Lee looking into new healthcare options

LEE – The town is serious about potentially moving its employees over to a Group Insurance Commission (GIC) or similar healthcare plan, if a new plan agreeable to all parties cannot be negotiated.

That’s the message the Lee Board of Selectmen tried to send to town employees and retirees at its last meeting.

The discussion began with Lee Town Administrator Bob Nason saying how healthcare costs had risen steadily over the years, both for the town and its employees.

“For some time we’ve been confronting ever-increasing healthcare costs,” said Administrator Nason.

He then gave the recommendation, on behalf of himself and the members of the Insurance Advisory Commission, the selectmen adopt sections 21-23 of Massachusetts General Law Section 32B.

These sections give a municipality the power, as a result of legislation passed in 2011, to switch health insurance plans if the savings of such a switch would be five percent or more.

Such a switch is accomplished through a process that bypasses collective bargaining negotiations after 30 days, should a deal not be reached.

The proposed plan is then sent to a panel, consisting of a representative of the employees, a representative of the town and a representative selected by the secretary of administration and finance in consultation with the town and the employees. This three-member panel then examines the plan, and its decisions on it are binding to all parties.

When this legislation was passed, which was voted for by every member of the Berkshire delegation at the time, with the exception of representative Paul Mark (D-Hancock), a number of labor leaders characterized it as a betrayal.

Administrator Nason said these sections would only be invoked if a compromise could not be reached.

“There are many of us who think that the GIC like plan goes too far,” said Administrator Nason. “But we needed to…signal…that we were serious about containing our health insurance costs.”

Ginger Armstrong, president of the Lee Education Association (LEA), was one of the people who spoke against the selectmen adopting the law.

“Over the past several years, the LEA has accepted furloughs and minimal wage increases in an effort to work with the town to minimally affect the town taxes and ward off other increases,” said Pres. Armstrong, who also noted LEA members had historically paid more for health insurance than those in other Berkshire school districts.

She said, given the LEA’s history of amicably working with the town, the town should work with them again and postpone voting on adopting the law, in favor of meeting with the LEA and other town employees to negotiate a compromise.

“Moving to a GIC lookalike plan could result in hardships for all town employees,” said Pres. Armstrong, who added even with postponing the vote, the town could still adopt the law if it became necessary.

“There’s no timeline for taking the next step,” said Administrator Nason, who noted the town didn’t have to use the section, even if it adopted it.

“We’d like to have the month of January to…work with you collaboratively before you adopt the law,” said Cindy Polinsky, regional services consultant for the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

“Our goal is that we can, over the next four to eight weeks, come up with a plan that we can all sign-off on,” said Administrator Nason.

The selectmen didn’t seem averse to adopting the law, but were careful to point out they weren’t eager to use it.

“If we enact this now, there’s no saying that we have to follow through with it,” said Selectman David Consolati.

“I’m not convinced yet that you would need to adopt this immediately tonight,” said Neil Clarke, a Lee resident and retired teacher, once again noting the teachers’ history of working with the town.

He also pointed out the human impact involved with modifying healthcare plans on employees and retirees.

“If we vote for this GIC thing  in the end, I don’t think I can support it,” said Selectman Consolati, who nevertheless maintained the town might need some leverage in negotiating a new healthcare plan. “We also need something that says, if we don’t come together, we’re going to have to resort to this.”

Selectman Consolati said he believed they could wait a few weeks before voting on adopting the law, something Select Board Chairwoman Patricia Carlino agreed to.

Selectman Gordon Bailey was not present at the meeting.

In the end, the selectmen voted to not adopt the law at their meeting, and to postpone considering it to its Jan. 22 meeting.

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on January 3, 2013. Filed under Breaking News,Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry