BOTH REPORTER Sean Murphy, with his series of front-page stories, and columnist Kevin Cullen, with his March 7 piece “A system that hurts us all,’’ hit the nail on the head relative to the unsustainable health insurance costs and increases municipalities face for their employees.
Resolving this issue is the number one priority of the Massachusetts Mayors Association. Without the passage of real reform by the governor and Legislature, health insurance increases will bankrupt cities and towns. For most cities and towns, annual increases in health insurance costs swallow up any increase in revenue we can generate.
The state Group Insurance Commission is one of the premier health insurance programs in the nation, but it may not work for all communities. Any community that does not enter the GIC must be awarded plan design. Plan design allows the chief executive of the community, with the approval of the selectmen or city council, to implement measures, such as increased copayments, that would keep costs in line with revenue growth. This is the same power the Legislature has over state employees, and is standard practice in the private and not-for-profit sectors.
Each taxpayer in the Commonwealth should find the current system municipalities must comply with to be offensive. The status quo keeps communities bogged down.
The state must allow municipalities to take control of spiraling fixed costs.
Robert J. Dolan,
Mayor of Melrose
The writer is president of the Massachusetts Mayors Association.
RISING MUNICIPAL health insurance costs are not unique to cities (“Mayors want health costs on ballot," Metro, March 10). This affects 301 towns as well. Health insurance has tripled as a percentage of town budgets since 2000.
A volunteer town selectman, I am also a business owner facing a 36 percent jump in premiums (our copayments are $20). Many people pay twice for health insurance hikes: as employees or business owners, and as local taxpayers.
Municipal employees deserve fairness and respect, while town leaders across the state strive to maintain vital services, rein in costs, and seek alternative revenue. No selectman or town administrator wants to lay off firefighters, police, teachers, librarians, and public works staff. Cutting essential services undermines economic recovery.
But cuts are happening, and will accelerate unless we make one crucial change.
That change is to repeal the provision in state law that gives municipal unions an effective veto over changes in health care plan design. A proposal from the Massachusetts Municipal Association preserves bargaining over the municipal-employee split of premiums. But the plans offered would be closer to the private sector, and no less generous than what state employees have now.
Today’s $5 copays would be unlikely. But jobs and services could be preserved. That’s the compromise.
For the sake of the people we all serve, state, local and labor leaders must work swiftly toward a solution that builds public confidence and secures vital services.
Joshua Ostroff,
Natick
The writer is on the town’s board of selectmen, and is vice president of the Massachusetts Municipal Association.
