Insurance Tests Ability For Consensus

Gov. Mike Beebe bought a little time this week for Arkansas teachers worried about a huge hike in their insurance premiums.

He delayed enrollment in the state-provided plan by a month, switching an Oct. 1 start date for Nov. 1.

That might not sound like much, but the additional time signals that some serious talk is going on that could fix what is both a short-term and long-term problem.

The state’s teachers and other public school employees learned recently that their insurance premiums were going up by as much as 50 percent on Jan. 1.

Rising medical costs, under-utilization of the plan and the experience of several catastrophic claims within the group forced the folks who oversee the Public School Health Insurance program to announce rate hikes.

There are diff erent kinds of plans available, but one family premium would go from about $1,000 a month to $1,500. That’s $6,000 more a year. To say the least, the hikes have the attention of teachers, some of whom may opt out of coverage.

Around 47,000 peopleparticipate in the program and many have been letting Gov. Beebe and the lawmakers know how big a financial hit this will be, unless the state comes to their rescue.

The short-term fix is for the state to put more money into the program, easing what the teachers must pay.

That can’t happen, however, unless the Legislature is in session to make the appropriation of another $53 million to the program.

That’s reportedly the sum necessary to erase the premium hikes.

The next scheduled session is the fi scal session in February, so a special session would be necessary for the Legislature to act before the increases take place.

There are state surplus funds that could be used to make the short-term fi x; but Gov. Beebe, the one with authority to call a specialsession, has said he won’t do that unless lawmakers also work out long-term solutions for teacher insurance problems.

Beebe, who has only called one special session in his two terms in the governor’s oft ce, wants lawmakers and others involved in the issue to reach some consensus before he’ll bring the Legislature to Little Rock.

That way, the business could be attended to in a matter of days and at a lower cost to taxpayers.

Beebe has been meeting with dozens of school district superintendents, teachers and legislators to collect their ideas about what he says is a “complex” situation.

He’s asking how the program might change to increase participation and reduce cost. And he’s asking who should pay more to support it. Should that be taxpayers, through the state or school districts? Or teachers and other school employees? Or all of the above?

The challenge is to get all the stakeholders on the same page about what changes should be made. Unless there is greater participation or unless medical costs suddenly drop, there mustbe more money from somewhere to pay for the program or cuts in services.

What Beebe did, with signs that consensus might be possible, was put off the participants’ enrollment period to Nov. 1-30, allowing public school employees another month to decide whether to keep the state plan.

What that means for the governor, the lawmakers and others trying to fi nd this magical consensus is that they really have until about mid-October to come up with a solution.

Keep in mind the higher premiums may force some teachers out of the program, further reducing participation and aggravating the problem that brought these premium hikes.

Despite so many indications to the contrary, government can move quickly to resolve some problems. The Legislature could meet in special session and pass something in a week’s time. Still, solving this particular problem in a matter of weeks would be quite a feat - if it happens.

BRENDA BLAGG IS A FREELANCE COLUMNIST AND LONGTIME JOURNALIST IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 09/25/2013

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