Yesterday's County Manager-County Board FY 2015 Budget Work Session included budget items related to compensation of County employees. The average pay of County employees will rise about 2.7 percent in FY 15. But except for the healthiest persons in the County's workforce out of pocket health care costs for County employees will also rise, sometimes significantly, this year.
County Manager Barbara Donnellan will soon decide whether the County will either raise employees' co-payments or go to a 90-10 co-insurance system, where the employee pays 10% of total medical costs, whether office visits or in-hospital medical costs. In the long term the County will implement a 90-10 co-insurance system possibly followed by a health savings accounts system with high deductibles.
Donnellan wants the County to avoid paying the Federal so-called 'Cadillac tax' on so-called 'luxury' healthcare plans, which the County will start paying in 2019, when the cost of healthcare per employee exceeds $27,500. The County has two major health insurance providers, CIGNA and Kaiser Permanente. According to information presented by Human Resources the County's healthcare costs will significantly increase over the next decade, averaging about 7% per year.
There was much discussion by the County Board and County HR Staff about employees incurring large out-of-pocket expenses because of large hospital bills, but nothing was decided about remedies. Donnellan will make a decision about co-pay increases vs. co-insurance for the next fiscal year sometime before employees' open season begins next. month.
There was no discussion whatsoever about the growth of healthcare spending related to the overall growth of Arlington Government spending.
Cindy
9 comments:
What did the County Board expect? They are constantly hiring new full-time employees left for all their vanity projects.
If a local government is going to increase the number of FTEs it's going to pay more for healthcare.
And the 'cost savings' realized bg increasing employees' out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare are going where?
Jay Fisette wants 'cost recovery' wherever possible so the savings can be used to fund the Streetcar, Aquatic Center, Artisphere, etc.
County has plenty of money for public art, architect-designed playgrounds, grants and gifts and bailouts to the weathy performing arts groups. All put on the County Board's consent agenda meeting after meeting.
Most county employees don't know about this yet...
Where are their slush funds and how much are they hiding in them?
Cigna and Kaiser Permanente providing healthcare coverage to County employees? Sheesh, County even has stovepipes in Human Resources.
This is just a big rip-off of middle class County employees to fund their Streetcars on the Pike and in Crystal City.
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