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Rep. Weaver: State Employees Should Contribute 15 Percent to Health Insurance Costs

AUGUSTA – State Rep. Windol Weaver made a strong case today for his bill to require that state employees contribute to the cost of their health insurance. His proposal, LD 417, would increase an employee’s share of the premium by 5 percent a year for three years, finishing at 15 percent. The change also would apply to state legislators, who are covered under the state health insurance plan.

Speaking before the Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee, Rep. Weaver said the cost to taxpayers has climbed too high to continue with the current system. “It is a valuable and costly subsidy that has become unsustainable in the state’s present fiscal predicament and into the future,” he told the committee at a public hearing. “Now is the time for sensible action to alter the existing benefit package offered to state employees.”

The Maine State Employees Association (MSEA) opposes the plan, according to a statement by Ginette Rivard, vice president of the MSEA. She termed the plan “unacceptable,” saying, “It will take money out of our members’ pockets.” If the 15 percent contribution level were in place now, it would cost a state worker about $1,200 a year.

The State and Local Government Committee has scheduled a work session on the bill for May 4, when members are expected to vote on the measure before sending it on to the full House and Senate. The legislation, entitled “An Act to Require State Employees to Pay 15% of their Health Insurance Costs,” has nine cosponsors in the House and Senate. All nine are Republicans, including Rep. Josh Tardy (R-Newport), leader of the House Republicans.

According to figures provided by the Office of Employee Health and Benefits, the bill would save $2.34 million in the first year, with state workers paying 5 percent of the premium cost. The savings to the General Fund would rise to $4.72 million in the second year and $7.089 million in the third year, when the employee contribution would hit the maximum point of 15 percent.

A fact sheet produced by the Legislature’s Office of Fiscal and Program Review shows that premiums paid by the state this year reached $109.9 million to cover 13,340 active state employees. Premiums average $687 a month, or $8,244 for the year. The state also provides family coverage, with 50 percent of the cost paid by employees.

Rep. Weaver said the 15 percent level would put state employees on a par with the national norms for the private sector. A March 2009 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that, on average, employees with company-sponsored insurance pay 16 percent of the cost of their own coverage and 27 percent of the cost of family coverage.

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