Legislative leaders said Tuesday that they plan to create draft legislation by the end of next week aimed at fixing the state’s financially plagued health-insurance plan for public-school employees.
“I am just trying to get the ball rolling with a starting point,” said House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot. “I don’t have any magic solution as we sit here today.”
Without action in a special session, the health-insurance premiums paid by public-school employees will increase by about 50 percent on Jan. 1. The Legislature’s fiscal session begins Feb. 10.
Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, said he and Carter are trying to avoid having more than 80 different drafts of the legislation as lawmakers try to reach a consensus on fixing the insurance plan.
Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe has repeatedly said he wants majority of the100-member House and 35-member Senate to support proposed legislation fixing the health plan in both the short term and long range before he’ll call a special session to consider the matter.
“Right now, we have got a consensus emerging that we need to do something and that we are willing to do in a special session,” Beebe said Tuesday.
But he acknowledged that some school district superintendents have objected to requiring districts to contribute more money to the health insurance plan.
Beebe announced Monday that he is delaying the enrollment period for the health insurance plan by a month to give lawmakers, teachers and administrators “some more breathing room” to try to reach a consensus. That means the enrollment period will be Nov. 1-30 rather than Oct. 1-31.
The governor said he and lawmakers have to reach a consensus by about Oct. 15 to give the state’s Employee Benefits Division enough time to print enrollment materials by Nov. 1. If a legislative consensus is reached by Oct. 15, a special session could be called “fairly quickly.”
In an email to House members Tuesday, Carter referred to Beebe’s decision to delay enrollment and willingness to call a special session if an agreement is reached by mid-October.
“Accordingly, in an effort to coordinate this process to meet this pressing timeline, President Pro Tempore Lamoureux and the speaker’s office, in conjunction with inputs from the governor, plan to have draft legislation to each of you by the end of next week for your consideration,” Carter wrote in his email.
“The legislation will address both short-term funding as well as substantive policy changes to the plan for the future,” Carter wrote. “I know that this issue is important to each of you and all input is welcomed. Time is of the essence.”
Lamoureux said he sent a similar email to senators Tuesday.
He said he hopes to send draft legislation to senators by 11:30 a.m. Oct. 4 at the latest.
Carter and Lamoureux both said it’s premature to know whether a legislative consensus on short-term and long-range fixes can be reached, but they hope it happens.
The Legislature’s options include shifting more state funds to the plan, repealing some tax cuts to provide more funding, requiring school districts to pay more and trimming health insurance benefits, Beebe has said. The state has about $164.8 million in unappropriated and unallocated surplus, according to state budget administrator Brandon Sharp.
Under the rates approved by the State and Public School Life and Health Insurance Board, the premium for the most expensive and most popular plan for school employees will increase next year to a maximum of $336 a month, up from $226.70 this year.
The monthly premium for family coverage under the plan will increase to about $1,528, up from $1,029.96 this year.
Bob Alexander, director of the state’s Employee Benefits Division, has cited a lack of funding from the state and school districts as the primary reason rates have increased. The plans cover 47,000 teachers, cafeteria workers, janitors and other school employees and their families.
Rates for identical plans covering state employees have been stable.
State agencies contribute $410 per month for each budgeted position to help pay for state employees’ insurance.School districts are required to contribute at least $131 per enrolled employee per month. The state also contributes $50 million a year toward school employees’ insurance - or about $89 per employee enrolled in a plan. A fee, imposed under the 2010 federal health-care law to help insurance companies cover people with high medical bills, will add $5.25 per month to insurance costs starting next year, according to the Employee Benefits Division.
Beebe has said it would cost the state about $58 million to avoid any 2014 premium increases in the school employees’ plans.
Beebe said he met with two teacher groups Tuesday, one day after meeting groups of lawmakers and school district superintendents.
Afterward, Beebe said the reaction “has been relatively positive from the standpoint of trying to work together to see if a solution both short term and long-term can be achieved that significantly lowers the rate increases for public school health insurance.
“The devil is always in the details, so we have had push back in a couple of areas [Tuesday], particularly from some superintendents, as some of the details get thrown out as possibilities,” Beebe said.
The push back from some superintendents was about “how much they are going to help solve this problem,” he said. “If the state and the taxpayers help solve it, what are the schools going to do to help solve it? We know the teachers are helping solve it.”
He declined to say how much more school districts need to contribute to the plan.
“We don’t even have it down on a paper as far as a specific concept bill form in draft form that you could share with legislators,” Beebe said.
Beebe said there “is not a lot discussion about a further reduction in benefits” in the health insurance plan.
While there needs to be some education about the benefits in different plans that might be more suitable for people, “nobody is talking about doing away with the gold plan,” he said, referring to the most popular plan.
Carter said changes in benefits for the health plan “are on the table,” and he’s relying on the governor to make initial proposals.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 09/25/2013