Georgia teachers, state employees and retirees are paying more for their health care than workers covered by similar government-subsidized programs in Georgia and nearby states, according to a new Department of Community Health study.
The report, released this week, was requested by state lawmakers, who wanted to know why the $3 billion program, which covers 650,000 Georgians, costs so much.
DCH completed the report in time to present it to Gov. Nathan Deal and lawmakers before fiscal 2015 ended Tuesday.
A spokesman for Deal said Friday he couldn’t comment and didn’t know if the governor’s office had received the report.
The report’s findings did not surprise members of the group TRAGIC, which was founded by teachers and their spouses last year to fight rising out-of-pocket heath insurance costs and benefit cuts.
“This report confirms what the teachers and state employees of TRAGIC have been saying since January, 2014: our insurance options are unaffordable and we pay higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs than comparable plans in other states,” said John Palmer, a Cobb County school band director and TRAGIC spokesman. “The question is, what is the Legislature willing to do to help the citizens who work for state of Georgia?”
The Department of Community Health had international consulting group Aon Hewitt study the State Health Benefit Plan, and it essentially told state employees and teachers that they are paying more in out-of-pocket costs, including payroll deductions, than colleagues in surrounding states and those on the University System’s health insurance plan.
The study listed several ways to cut costs for employees on the State Health Benefit Plan, including some that DCH has tried or talked about. They included providing wellness incentives - which the benefit plan does - using telemedicine more, creating health clinics and moving thousands of retirees off of the plan and onto another program.
Another possibility, the study says, is an option Deal and lawmakers would probably rather not consider: putting more money into the plan so employees don’t have to pay so much.
“The study showed that Georgia SHBP requires a greater proportion of overall health care cost to be borne by members,” it said. “In order to improve the Georgia SHBP’s relative position in overall cost share, the Georgia SHBP might consider making the plans offered more affordable through lower employee payroll deduction requirements and/or lower expected OOP (out-of-pocket) costs.”
Aon Hewitt also looked at coverage for non-certified school employees, such as accountants and bus drivers. It found that the “employer contributions” – payments by the state or local school districts – are insufficient to fund the coverage.
State budget officials have long said that teachers, state employees and retirees are subsidizing coverage for non-certified employees by paying higher premiums.
Deal and lawmakers pushed about $100 million more of the cost to cover bus drivers and cafeteria workers onto school districts this year, arguing that the state doesn’t subsidize health care for part-time government workers. The exception is legislators, who are part-time and covered under the State Health Benefit Plan.
Some TRAGIC members worry that Deal and lawmakers will force school districts to cover the full cost of health insurance for thousands of non-certified employees. That would cost school districts tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars a year more for health coverage.
School districts have only recently begun digging out from the effects of the Great Depression, when the state slashed spending and districts furloughed teachers, increased class sizes and shortened school years.
Teacher and retiree groups say the insurance plan has faced problems in recent years in large part because the state spent SHBP reserves to help ease the budget crisis during the recession.
Aon Hewitt suggested two ways to bring down the costs for the non-certified employees: force them to pay much more for their coverage, or design a new plan with fewer health benefits.
TRAGIC officials said non-certified employees should be treated the same as teachers and other state employees.
“Non-certified employees - such as school secretaries, clerks, and bookkeepers - perform essential functions in our schools,” Palmer said. “Many work these lower-paying jobs for the insurance benefits and already have a large percentage of their paychecks absorbed by premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Asking these essential personnel to pay even more is not a viable option.
“The state should not ask people who work alongside each other daily to have two separate types of insurance, where one is a lesser plan than the other.”
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