Health insurance changes added to special session agenda By Laura Hipp lhipp
Rick Guy/The Clarion-Ledger
State Rep. Herb Frierson (right), R-Poplarville, answers a question about a budget amendment from Rep. Jamie Franks Jr., D-Mooreville, during debate in the House chambers at the Capitol on Thursday.
State lawmakers' agenda grew Thursday as Republican Gov. Haley Barbour added items to the special session, including changing health insurance coverage for more than 120,000 state workers and increasing premiums paid by some retirees by 50 percent.
Once money-saving initiatives are passed, lawmakers can decide on a $3.9 billion budget, Barbour said Thursday.
"The worst thing the Legislature could do is to pass a bunch of appropriation bills before they know how much money to spend," he said.
The revised agenda now includes new options for health coverage, removing job protection from workers and altering a law to allow lawmakers to spend all of the state's revenues rather than saving 2 percent — a measure adopted at the urging of the state's last Republican governor, Kirk Fordice.
The House quickly approved the latter item, which lawmakers have done for several years. The Senate must concur.
Several Democrats were upset Barbour didn't include the entire budget when he expanded the agenda.
"It's not there," Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, said of the budget. "We do not need to be hand-led through the process. We do not need elementary instruction from the governor."
Barbour said he told legislative leaders in April that he would take a three-step approach: Pay 2005 agency deficits, decide how much money is available and allocate the funds. He said he called McCoy and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck on Wednesday evening with details.
"Every time I met with legislative leadership, I told them this would be the sequence," Barbour said. "This is the traditional sequence that the Legislature follows when looking at a budget."
One initiative on the agenda would alter the health insurance program for current and some retired state workers. The plan would raise premiums for early retirees, those between ages 50 and 65, by 50 percent over the next two years.
Retiree premiums are 25 percent higher than active workers' and they must pay the entire premium out of pocket.
The state pays $280 per month per employee for premiums. That is expected to rise to $305 in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Barbour wants to increase early retirees' premiums by 25 percent in 2006 and in 2007.
"A lot of people who retired at low wages, they'll have to drop their insurance," said Anita Toler, president of the Mississippi Retired Public Employees Association. "They need to look at it long and hard."
The organization opposed similar legislation in the regular session.
Barbour said those retired workers' insurance premiums still would be less than the market would offer.
Such changes were approved in the Senate during the regular session, but died in the House.
House Insurance Chairman Mark Formby, R-Picayune, said he will sponsor a bill for Barbour's plan. The state is paying more into the insurance program than workers pay, he said. "If we don't adjust it every now and then, it would be a runaway train," Formby said.
Formby's vice chairwoman disagrees.
Rep. Reecy Dickson, D-Macon, said retirees cannot afford premium increases.
Any negative changes to the insurance program could dissuade people from working for the state, she said.
"Many of the employees do not receive much of a salary as it is plus benefits," Dickson said. "They are considered the working poor in Mississippi."
For current workers, Barbour's plan has two coverage options.
"Right now, we have a one-size-fits-all health insurance program for state employees," he said.
One option eliminates premiums and raises the deductible and creates a tax-free health savings account. That allows those who do not use their health insurance often a cheaper choice, he said.
The second choice would require a monthly $25 premium, a similar deductible and more coverage than the first option.
The current deductible for an individual is $450 for physicians within the network and $900 for out-of-network physicians.
For this year, the state will pay $407 million for health insurance premiums for more than 120,000 workers.