In following up last week's article "Middletown reduces workers hours to avoid Obamacare", the Asbury Park Press (and others) found it incredulous that the Township was cutting back the hours of 25 part-time employees due to the $31,000 per employee price tag that it would cost the Township to provide health coverage to them under the terms of the soon to be implemented Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). For many (myself included, you can read about it HERE) the $31,000 price tag stated seemed absurdly high and not at all possible, but it is. In its follow-up article from Saturday, "Middletown health plan tops most in cost, coverage" the APP's reporter Susanne Cervenka spoke to the town's insurance broker who stated that Middletown Township’s health benefits are so good " the coverage would fall under a nonexistent “Double Diamond” rating on the Affordable Care Act’s four-tier ranking." Insurance rankings for plans proposed under the Affordable Care Act actually includes Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum level coverage.
The article goes on to state that Middletown expects to pays about $9.3 million this year for employee and retiree health bills or about 14 percent of this year's overall $67.9 million budget which represent about 18 percent of the municipal tax levy. Employee offset the costs by contributing only $520,000 towards their benefits. And on average,health care costs taxpayers who own an average Middletown home worth $375,500 about $337 a year.
That's outragous especially when you consider that according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization focusing on the major health care issues, the average health care costs in the Northeast is $17,441 for family coverage and $6,117 for single coverage which would make Middletown's health care costs nearly double the national average.
At that cost, Middletown could afford to insure all it's employees while cutting its overall cost of coverage in half!
14 comments:
Except for the fact that all of these wonderful benefits are part of collective bargaining. Let's see if the unions go for your proposal to cut their benefits in half.
BUY MIDDLETOWN"S HEALTH INSURANCE FROM A QUALIFIED INSURANCE COMPANY NOT AS DONE CURRENTLY FROM THIS " SELF INSURED" CRAP.......bet it would insure at half the cost. Another thought......the Obamacare options!
Substantially similar benefits can vary widely in cost. Significant savings can be achieved for taxpayers while still providing excellent benefits to hard working Township employees. Certainly, given the magnitude of the costs we're talking about, this is an area that needs careful review.
Retirees who have Medi-Care use that as their primary insurance which pays 80% and their township insurance pays 20%. Maybe he is not aware of that.
A cop retires at 50 years old after 25 years of service. Under state law the town has to cover him and his whole family until 65. At 65 the insurance becomes supplemental. If you have 50 retired police who are not 65 and 50 who were hired to replace them, you are paying over $3m per year just for that.
Hmmm...doesn't Linda Baum work for an insurance company? Just sayin'
BUY IT FROM A QUALIFIED INSURANCE COMPANY WHERE EFFICIENCIES ARE POSSIBLE AND SAVINGS IN COSTS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE .
Of course that would take out of the hands of the TC the tool of intimidation. Now how can they ever manage without those TOOLS ?
When state pensions and benefits are calculated the police are among the most rewarded public employees. They are the youngest of retired citizens and maybe the time is long overdue to re-evaluate both pay and benefits for cops. People in the private sector are not able to retire in their forties with like benefits and get paid for sick days not used either.Any crying on behalf of cops is absurd. Let them contribute more to benefits and get real about what the taxpayers must endure to reward them for their service.
Also consider that many of the cops retire from their police jobs and take second jobs in the public sector and "double dip" in those positions. Pretty damn hard to pity the cops but the taxpayer deserves a break for sure !
Looks like my comment from early this morning didn't make it onto the blog today - hope this isn't because of the content lol. Here it is again:
Hmmm, doesn't Linda Baum work for an insurance company? Just sayin'.
Understand and agree with your angst about the double dippers. But let's not forget all of the double dipping, pension padding politicians, some of our own right here in Middletown.
Police and Firefighters in NJ were paying
8 1/2 % of their salary into the pension system, which was then the highest percentage in the nation amongst public employees, now they contribute 10%.
Do we really want 60 year old cops on the road? Or are we better served with a younger police force?
BTW when Christie was the US Attorney for NJ where did he find a plethora of corruption? With the politicians, not the police.
Anon 11:09,
Well said! Next the taxpayers are entitled to know by name and position whether part-time, fullt-time, appointed, contracted, etc. who is currently on/using the health care plan(s) supported by the Middletown taxpayer. The list needs to include all retirees and active members on payroll and any former employees who are not retires, nor active on the payroll.
Anon 2:16,
No, L. Baum does not work for an insurance company.
Anon 2:39 put the 60 year old cops on desk duty and traffic control -- lend them out to other towns to handle administrative police matters: a lend/lease program.
Anon 2:39,
Many or ALL politicians know how to MILK the system....that's why they are politicians and many are also lawyers so they know how to get away with it...Middletown has it's share of them too!! Enough to make one ill when you think about it!
Hard to have any respect for the politicians or double dipping public employees who can't resist temptation. The current mayor and many previous ones are classic examples of who double dippers are.
Senior police employees are often in their 50's or 60's,especially in this town and are more dedicated to their jobs which are usually in administration by the time they reach that age and are not on the road anymore. Let's be real, there's nothing to feel sorry about when it comes to the cops. They are well paid and have the best of benefits. Private sector employees, even in large corporations rarely if ever get pensions that compare to the police or fire personnel.
Anon 2:16,
Sybil,you at it again? What the hell does Linda's employment have to due with a conversation about health benefits in this town anyway? She's entitled to work where ever she chooses just like anyone else !
Believe there's always a double standard in this community and the "half assed" republican government in this town wants to be exempt from all the rules as they make their own "code of conduct", not necessarily within the law or common decency.
Anon 3:56,
I'm not who you think I am. I had heard that Linda Baum worked for an insurance company, which would've made getting a large account like the township a real coup for her. Oh well, guess I heard wrong. I still think she should keep her nose out of the employees' benefits. Go ahead Dems, fire away - I've got my flack suit on.
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