Augusta — The Maine Education Association (the teachers' union) has responded (below) to our suggestion that the Legislature allow Maine teachers and school districts to explore group self-insurance as an alternative to the union's health plan. For some reason, Maine law currently does not give them that option.
In their response, the union asserts that competition from a group self-insured option would not produce savings. The union says the self-insured plans of the university and state employees are more expensive. Those plans may be more expensive but are their benefits the same or more generous than the teachers' plan?
We have to ask: How will anyone know if there are cost savings unless teachers, their families and school districts are given an option to explore alternatives?
For teachers and taxpayers, this is a pocketbook issue. Teachers have to contribute premiums to cover their families. Local taxpayers will face a property tax increase if adequate cost-savings can't be found. Any chance to save money without compromising on benefits seems like a win-win proposition. It just takes a simple amendment to the law. In these tough times, getting that amendment can't wait.
They Are Lying!
Our distressed economy is bringing out the worst in some people and organizations. Recently, the Alliance for Maine's Future, a right-wing clone of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, launched an attack on your health insurance plan. They allege that if the laws are changed to allow school districts to self-insure for employee health insurance, hundreds of thousands of dollars could be saved.
They are either lying, or they don't know what they're talking about!
The fact is that while state law does not allow school districts to self-insure for employee health insurance, almost every other public purchaser of health insurance, including the State employee plan and the University of Maine Health Trust, are self insured and their health insurance premiums are more expensive than the health insurance plans offered by the MEA Benefits Trust.
The fact is, if changing the state law would save money, MEA would support such a change. What the Alliance for Maine's Future and some school boards around the state are really trying to do is cut your health insurance benefits so they can cut their budgets.
Don't be fooled.They're just lying in an effort to steal your health insurance benefits!
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We'll ignore the name-calling and innuendo and ask again: Why aren't teachers and school boards being given the option to explore self-insurance? Is it intentional or just a mistake?
In last week's newsletter we took care to indicate that COMPARABLE BENEFITS in one town's employee health plan cost less. Had the teachers in that town been insured in the town employee plan, the savings would have been $300,000 according to the town's analysis. That's equal to about four teaching jobs.
So, click here to ask your legislators to act on this opportunity if you haven't done so already. Then, pass this e-mail along to your own contacts and ask them to do the same. Be sure to send it along to your own school board members and town selectmen or council members.
