The state Public Employee Insurance Agency (PEIA) has wrapped up a series of meetings across the state to gather input from plan participants about proposed increases. Now it is up to the finance board to make a final recommendation to the legislature.
Under the plan, public employees face premium increases of 14 percent for the state fund or 16 percent in the local government plans. Retirees would see a 12 percent premium increase. The proposal includes an increase of 40 percent in deductibles, higher prescription costs and an increase in the spouse surcharge.
PEIA director Brian Cunningham explained patiently at each of the meetings that the finance board has limited options; it is responsible for setting prices for the participants and the government to meet health care costs, which continue to rise.
“I agonize over these changes. I know my team agonizes over it. I know the board agonizes over it,” Cunningham said. “We don’t want to make these tough decisions, but we have a fiduciary responsibility to do so.”
That is true, but it was also cold comfort for hundreds of individuals in the PEIA plan who spoke out at the meetings. At the hearing I attended, one person called the increases “cruel,” another said the higher health care costs amounts to “a pay cut,” and another said, “I don’t want a pay raise just to cover my insurance.”
Some of the speakers questioned why their health care costs were rising when state leaders spent the last couple of years crowing about budget surpluses, and they wondered why some of that money couldn’t be used to help with their health care costs.
By law, the plan employees must pay 20 percent of the health care costs, while the state pays 80 percent. That leaves no flexibility for the legislature to take some of the stress off the employee share when costs rise.
WVEA President Dale Lee argues the legislature should pass a measure recommended by a PEIA Task Force a few years ago to change the statute language to “the state shall pay no less than 80 percent and the employee shall pay no more than 20 percent.” That would give more flexibility to PEIA funding. However, that bill has never received serious consideration in the legislature.
The next Governor and the new legislature have some options: They can allocate funds to offset some of the proposed premium and out-of-pocket costs. They can make small adjustments such as allocating $10 million to help retirees pay for their health insurance. They can revise the 80/20 split. Or they can do nothing and justify that by explaining the state has given consistent pay raises and tax cuts.
A key to their decision will be what PEIA members do. In 2018, teachers went on strike and shut down schools. Hundreds of teachers and school service workers descended on the State Capitol to protest. That walkout got the attention of Governor Justice and lawmakers who passed a five percent pay raise.
Teacher union leaders are not advocating for another strike, but they do not always have control over what their members do. The decisions about such things are member driven, and based on the comments at the public hearings, the level of frustration over their rising health care costs is growing.