SCHENECTADY City switching all workers to MVP Cost-saving measure was opposed by CSEA BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The Schenectady City Council is moving ahead with its new health insurance plan even though it did not get approval from most of the unions. “This is being done with some controversy, but the benefits are the same or better,” Council President Gary McCarthy said to explain the decision. “And it has signifi cant savings on the next year’s budget.” The plan would move all workers to MVP coverage and give them some new benefits, while continuing all their current benefi ts. The city would save $1 million next year by consolidating its entire work force onto one plan. But the unions may fight the change. When city officials began negotiating the plan early this year, CSEA insisted that its workers be paid more in exchange for the new plan. The mayor refused and CSEA never approved it. The police and fire unions considered the idea favorably, city officials said, but never publicly announced the results of any vote on the issue. Only AFSCME, which covers many of the waste collectors and other laborers, signed on to switch plans. City officials had hoped to make the change this fall, which would have saved up to another $500,000, but delayed the changeover because of CSEA’s demands. With the switch, MVP would cut the city’s rate by $1 million in 2011, and then cap the 2012 increase at 15 percent. That’s less than what the city would normally pay over two years, the city’s employee benefi ts consultant said. “If you average it out, it falls way below,” Gina Longo said. One of the city’s insurers was going to implement an 18 percent increase next year, city personnel and benefits administrator Kathy Finch said. Part of the increase is because of the federal health insurance reform, Longo said, citing the new coverage for dependent children up to age 26. That adds about 2.2 percent to the health insurers’ costs, she said. ...............>>>>.....................>>>>...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00901&AppName=1
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
He's a COUNTY majority leader - this vote was for city workers
they're all the same!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Personally, we've had MVP for at least 25 years, by choice since my wife's employer has a wide choice of plans (more than mine), and we've been totally pleased. We've never had a problem with the "gatekeeper" idea,
Different employers have different MVP plans, a friend of ours switched from MVP to a traditional plan because of large number of Rx's and their higher co-pay, and in a way that was good because there was 5 months of nursing home coverage that the indemnity plan would have covered vs 45 days under MVP.
I would be upset if I'm a city employee and find that now I'm ordered to change my family doctor, or change pediatricians, etc if doctor's in question didn't participate in MVP.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Because of OBAMACARE costs are going up? This was not what the DEMS promised before the vote. There will be no savings. The unions will successfully fight this and even if it does pass the savings are always illusory. Gary Hughes once jumped up at a Chamber meeting and said he was the owner of MVP.
Another medical/drug savings plan. Get on with the City Hall cuts. Sooner or later someone with have to fix the mess that decades of DEM overspending has created. Had enough-YET?
I take issue with the fact that Gary Hughes (city politician) works for them!
Doesn't anyone find that 'smelly'??
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he worked for them before he became a politician
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
I don't think that really matters, but what if there was a way in the future for other companies to be able to give a lower price for the same services? Does this lock in to MVP indefinitely or for a specified amount of time?
Editoral: Schenectady CSEA should not fight switch to MVP Monday, November 22, 2010
Earlier this year when local CSEA leaders refused to go along with Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton’s plan to switch all city employees to MVP Health Plan, we said the city should do it anyway and let the union file a grievance if it wanted to. Unfortunately, the city didn’t make the move then, sacrificing up to $500,000 in savings, but is making it now. It’s entirely justified in doing so. CSEA leaders were playing the usual game of demanding more pay from the city in return for making this “concession.” When Stratton refused, they rejected his plan outright, the only union to do so. AFSCME membership approved it, while leaders of the fire and police departments viewed it favorably, according to city officials. But the CSEA will not be making a concession. With the new coverage, all their current benefits will continue, while they will get some new benefits. Meanwhile the city will save a lot of money on health payments, a $1 million decrease for 2011 and a 15 percent cap for the 2012 increase — at a time when health insurance increases are going up more than that. Without these savings, more layoffs (the new budget already calls for some, including more than a dozen firefighters) are unavoidable....................>>>>..............>>>>....................http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2010/nov/22/1122_prince/
Judge gives Schenectady PBA time to review health insurance provider By PAUL NELSON Staff Writer Published: 06:29 p.m., Tuesday, November 30, 2010
SCHENECTADY -- A judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the city from forcing members of the police union to join a health insurance plan scheduled to take effect Wednesday, PBA attorney Lisa Joslin said.
She said the ruling Tuesday by state Supreme Court Justice Vincent Reilly Jr. gives the Schenectady Police Benevolent Association time to get literature on the Exclusive Provider Organization plan for review.
"We are willing to work with the city despite the fact that they are breaching our contract," said Joslin, who stressed the temporary restraining order applies to the roughly 147 members in the police union but not other city employees. The city on Nov. 8 notified workers of the pending change in carriers but did not distribute information, Joslin said...................>>>>......................>>>>.............http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Judge-gives-Schenectady-PBA-time-to-review-health-845956.php
PBA in court over insurance plan By Paul Nelson Staff Writer Published: 12:00 a.m., Saturday, December 18, 2010
SCHENECTADY -- A temporary restraining order blocking the city from forcing members of the police union to join a new health insurance plan will remain in place until a judge reviews legal papers related to the case, according to the attorneys involved in the matter.
Acting Schenectady Corporation Counsel Al Goldberger said Friday that the Schenectady Police Benevolent Association had asked for an injunction and also filed for arbitration.
"We don't have the final (insurance plan) documents because they have to go to the state for certification," said Goldberger, adding he is uncertain of how long the certification process will take.
Lisa Joslin, an attorney with the PBA, said the union still had not received the paperwork related to the health insurance changes that the city submitted to the state Insurance Department.
Goldberger said the city had given the PBA a synopsis of the new Exclusive Provider Organization plan for review.
The city previously said the EPO is part of an ongoing cost-saving effort, and it had notified city workers on Nov. 8 of the pending change in carriers.
No truer words were ever posted. Another City all DEM farce. No savings-no one listening to the Gazetto editors and a pathetic Mayor/Council who refuse to cut anything. BTW, Gary Hughes is the biggest stooge for Metrograft, for the useless DSIC, for unpopular SS Savage, for every idiotic scheme to fleece the sheeple.
Militant indifference to the taxpayer. Like the pension padding scandal, like having 2 City Attorney's both at full salary, like the golf pro, like the cold storage building, like the City garage/body shoppe. We will never have fiscal competence until every DEM is thrown out of City Hall. And replaced with NNTP fiscal Conservatives-not Alliance Party elites.
So what happens when your doctor doesn't participate in MVP. Again, I'm totally happy with it myself. If one doctor in particular ever left the plan, we would seriously have to reconsider.
I'm also aware that they say for college kids "away" at college (e.g. other state as a good example), parents are told to have all the kids routine stuff done while the kid is at home on vacation. And as my wife explained when we attended an information session quite some years ago, she said that one of her co-workers asked about college students who may have to go to an allergist maybe monthly or weekly for shots and that is a time MVP is not good because the child would have to come home every week. So, that co-worker opted for a different plan (not talking city employment).
But that got us thinking. If a city worker is divorced and the ex-spouse has custody, and the ex-spouse moved back "home" where his/her own family (parents, siblings, new spouse) lives and works, but if the city working is ordered by the court to provide health insurance, and the city has only MVP, gosh, what happens then?
Employers need to have a traditional health insurnance plan like an indemnity plan (modest deductible with a percentage reimbursement) where you can go to any doctor you want, or a PPO which is similar. And then have HMO's also if they want.
Perhaps what the city should do is connect with the health insurnace for state employees. I'm aware that many municipalities throughout the state participate in that And maybe the city can decide what percent of the premium it contibutes. But then they will have a PPO/indemnity plan and then they have HMO's.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Logged
Because of OBAMACARE costs are going up? This was not what the DEMS promised before the vote. There will be no savings. The unions will successfully fight this and even if it does pass the savings are always illusory. Gary Hughes once jumped up at a Chamber meeting and said he was the owner of MVP.
