Proposed MI Health Plan Pools All State Employees
Speaker of the House Andy Dillion (D-Redford Township) recently issued a proposal that suggests consolidating the health care plans of all Michigan's public workers - state, local, and public school employees - into a single state health insurance plan. Dillion claims that plan will save up to $900 million a year by efficiently organizing a single insurance “pool.” Other savings would come from careful monitoring of patients to make sure they are diagnosed and treated correctly, in order to prevent wasteful spending.
The proposal will also lump tens of thousands of retired public workers into the plan. It would essentially require unionized public employees across the state to negotiate one extensive health care plan (with various options) to replace the scattered plans that now cover everyone from teachers to police to firefighters; university, and muncipal employees such as courts and police, judges and even the legislature/governor. Under the plan, lower wage employees would pay smaller premiums.
The Michigan Education Association has already voiced objections to the plan, claiming that it is an “assault on collective bargaining.” Michigan Government Jennifer Granholm also critiqued Dillion’s plan, claiming that there are no discernable approaches to save money and that Dillion’s categorization of state employee benefits – i.e. cheaper and better than those of public sector employees – is off-base. In a statement issued Monday, Granholm (perhaps channeling Cuba Gooding Jr.) requested that Dillion "Show me the money" and that she didn't see where the savings would come from.
