City Declares Health Care Plan Open Season
Terry Cohen hit the nail on the head tonight in questioning the wisdom and legality of putting individuals who are not employees on the city’s health care plan. Put plainly, past decisions to do this were mistakes, and perpetuating this sleight of hand is wrong.
To my recollection, former councilman Michael Day was the first beneficiary of this largesse. He came up with a need for coverage and got his buddy the mayor to ram it through.
It’s been asserted that this ‘mechanism’ has been used for several previous directors for the Urban Salisbury organization. The proper, and likely more expensive route, is for the actual employer, Urban Salisbury, to pay for an individual policy for the director if they wish to offer paid benefits.
John Pick admitted there was no policy regarding this practice, even though it’s gone on for some time. Does the city have an administrator? An assistant administrator? A Finance Director? Is it legal? Who is minding the store?
Left unsaid in all of this discussion is the question of the reality of health care benefits.
Almost all employers who sponsor various health care benefits subsidize to a greater or lesser degree the premiums for the policy. Costs for employees and employers alike have been on a steep upward climb for quite some time – everywhere.
What the city has been doing is directly subsidizing, via its premium contributions, folks who are not its employees. The employee’s premium contribution is merely the tip of the iceberg; in most cases, the subsidy by the employer for premium expense is the mass below the waves.
Beyond the issue of the premiums is the matter of what happens when a claim is filed or when a major expense occurs, a major surgery for example. Most larger employers are self-funded these days; I do not know if Salisbury manages its program in this manner. If it does, it pays directly from its funds for these expenses. So offering participation in its program to non-employees is a generous gamble on the part of the city.
One of the problems all employees and employers face with health care insurance is that, unlike our auto or homeowner policies, most employees make some claims against the plan during the course of the year. As we know some of those claims rapidly reach 5 or 6 digit sums. So the likelihood that an enrollee will generate some claims and expenses is quite high.
None of the city’s high priced professional talent appears to have put a pencil to paper in crafting an objective rationale to support this open-ended favor.
If this is such a good deal, why didn’t one or more members of Urban Salisbury add the new and old directors to their benefit rolls? Easy answer class: they know the health benefits cost real money from start to finish and were not willing to chance the hit as long as Aunt Barrie was happy to roll the dice with the peasants’ cash.
Mr. Wilber’s equivocations when asked to stand by his earlier opinion were a classic. The sound you heard was his cash register ringing up another billable hour researching just exactly what he’d opined on the same topic previously (approximately a week’s gross wages for those at the minimum).
Wisely, the council decided to defer definitive action until after the legal beagle and the policy poodle find the scent.
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The cavalier disregard for any adherence to the charter or any sound policies by Comegys, Smith Shields, Pick and Wilbur are obscene. Appointing Comegys to planning and zoning is a disaster. Extending loans to county residents that want city water and sewer is ridiculous without any criteria to qualify for financial hardship–what the hell is Wilbur there for, doesn’t he have any knowledge of municipal law? In my job if we aren’t precise and thorough with every single piece of documentation we risk reprimand or suspension. This city is rapidly circling the drain.
Healthcare for all, “Barrie Parsons Clinton.”
I’m the Mare, I can do whatever I want, city attorney says so, na na na na na!
Oh good gravy, didn’t Jim Ireton throw a butt whompin’ to the Barrie-zilla last night. I watched from home, wished I had went now. Way to go Jim, as always all over them like a dirty diaper : ) What a pile driving move, I want re-runs dang it. Then throw the insurance benefit thing on top of that it and it could have been a half gallon liquor throw down night, who’s got the Jack Black? Whoa
Come on please somebody produce video of that full throttle flush SWOOOSH : )
Could someone please tell me WTF Louise Smith is getting from being the Benedict Arnold of Salisbury? What personal gain is worth selling your soul to Barrie Tilghman for? What do they have on her for her to have blatantly lied and used so many people? Also who is going to make the profit from the bike path, and who made the profit from the sale of the land for the firehouse, and who is profiting from the Aydelotte Farm payoff?
“…the legal beagle and the policy poodle find the scent.”
Classic!!
One would think that Louise Smith would be all over this issue, given her adamant promises to cut out waste and bring the budget home. So far, though, and no one’s surprised, she hasn’t brought forth any incisive questions on any budget subtopic, nor made any helpful suggestions as to how to slow the bleeding. So many had such faith in her - is this all she’s got?? If not, she’d better unleash it soon, before all faith is gone, even from her most poorly-informed and staunch supporters. Frankly, though, it looks like she’s way, way over her head as she realizes how much time and effort is involved in this pursuit, how deep the troubles are, and how well-equipped she is to address them.
“…most employees make some claims against the plan during the course of the year. As we know some of those claims rapidly reach 5 or 6 digit sums. So the likelihood that an enrollee will generate some claims and expenses is quite high.”
This is especially the case in employees who are reaching late middle age, which, curiously enough, probably account for the lion’s share of non-employees who take advantage of the offer.
Were any of the recipients of this great deal offered it in lieu of salary? Probably not, but it would be necessary to find out for sure to get a firm bearing on how much of this is waste.
And didn’t this magnanimous City extension of health insurance really start when Barrie made sure Michael Day got his policy several years ago? Barrie never met a policy/law she could not break/bend to her advantage [BUT to the disadvantage of the taxpayer and citizen]
Maybe the citizens should be offered the same health plan, we aren’t employed by the city either, what makes others better than the taxpayer? Can you say favors and cronyism? Sure you can……