Since July, our unions have partnered with other public employee unions representing state and local government employees to oppose the premium increases proposed by the state’s actuarial consultant. Our union coalition made specific, data-driven proposals that would have cut the proposed premium increases by 25–50 percent, saving over $80 million for taxpayers, employers, and employees, without diminishing the quality of health care plans or shifting costs to employers or employees.
We proposed basing premiums on actual experience rather than estimates. Using actual experience, Horizon’s estimates, and the experience in other states as evidence, we proved that the state’s actuarial assumptions are flawed, inflated, and never questioned. What’s more, the state audits less than 20 percent of overall claims, so millions of dollars in overpayments and improper payments are never identified or recouped. We also proposed improved governance and auditing to fix this.
Our unions made several other proposals that would lower prices, create competition between Horizon and Aetna, and enforce the prices guaranteed by these insurance carriers. Sadly, the state rejected or ignored all of them. As a result, public employees will have to pay unprecedentedly high premiums, especially those working in local government, where the increases are 16.3 percent, effective January 1.
We won’t wait around until the state proposes another rate increase next year. We will keep fighting for the ideas our unions put forward and others, which have saved millions in other states. Unions have the best ideas for real health care reform to control costs, now and in the long term. We are fighting back against the total cost of coverage and the prices charged by insurance carriers, which must be controlled through cooperation between our unions and the state.
We hope you’ll join us when we take this fight to Trenton
