Free health insurance will end for the 700 married couples who work for state government, according to a memo to state workers this week.
NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, July 5, 2007 7:00 pm
Free health insurance will end for the 700 married couples who work for state government, according to a memo to state workers this week.
Beginning in the early 1970s, the state began giving free insurance to couples in cases where both were state employees, said Bill Wood, the state’s chief negotiator.
Back then, he said, it was cheaper for the state to pay the entire premium for one policy than to pay the state’s share on two policies.
It’s not cheaper anymore.
The change will save the state about $3.4 million a year, Wood said.
Beginning Jan. 1, these couples will have to pay the employee share of health insurance, which runs from about $92 a month for single coverage to $326 a month for family under the popular Blue Choice plan.
The change was labeled as an equity issue in the memo.
A year ago, Lincoln Sen. DiAnna Schimek introduced a bill to eliminate the free insurance after some employees told her they believed free insurance for some and not for others was unfair, she said.
Only state workers who benefited from the perk spoke at the public hearing on the bill, which died in committee.
One employee at the hearing pointed out that the fairest thing the state could do would be to provide the same dollar amount toward health insurance for every employee no matter what the premium.
The state pays 79 percent of the premium whether an employee chooses an inexpensive or pricey plan.
Schimek later conducted a study on the issue and determined the policy was best left to the negotiation process, she said.
The free health insurance for married couples has never been a part of the union contract, said Mike Marvin, executive director of NAPE/AFSCME Local 61, the state employees union.
“We have no say over it.”
Marvin said it would be up to a group of employees or a single employee to sue the state on this issue.
The union has agreed not to participate in any litigation on the issue, Wood said.
The health insurance memo also announced there will be higher co-pays for drugs and doctors next year, changes the union agreed to during negotiations this year.
The increases in the health insurance co-pays make Nebraska’s health insurance comparable to plans in other states, Marvin said.
Since union negotiators were trying to get the state to raise salaries based on comparability studies, they could not try to get health insurance benefits above comparability, he said.
Everyone is having problems with rising health insurance, he said.
Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.