Post by Logan on Feb 3, 2016 5:41:40 GMT -6
Like every legislative session, Iowa lawmakers will again this year engage in debates over the state budget. Some will want to cut programs or refuse to provide adequate funding for education and natural resources. They’ll talk about the need for government to be more efficient and use tax dollars wisely. Amid all this, here is a nugget Iowans should remember: In 2016, health insurance coverage for each lawmaker will cost taxpayers between $7,400 and $10,300, depending on the plan he or she selected. (For the record, per person, state spending for a Medicaid beneficiary is about $3,900.)
While this health insurance benefit is a good deal for elected officials, it is a bad deal for taxpayers, many of whom also pay a good chunk of the cost of their own coverage. It also doesn’t make sense.
Iowa has a part-time, citizen Legislature. Lawmakers do not even have offices at the Capitol. Long ago Iowans decided we wanted our elected officials to be like us and even hold other jobs. They are not full-time employees of the state. Yet they enjoy generous full-time benefits, paid for by their employer — us. Many years ago lawmakers managed to latch onto fringe benefits, including health insurance, negotiated by unions on behalf of state workers. Governors have latched onto the benefits, too. For years none of them paid anything for coverage.
A few years ago, Gov. Terry Branstad asked executive and legislative branch employees to pick up 20 percent of the cost of health coverage. Some workers willingly do so. Lawmakers, however, are only required to pay a monthly premium of $20 — a change recently negotiated by the state’s largest public union on behalf of full-time administrative staff, not elected officials.
Read more: www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/02/02/editorial-lawmakers-should-pay-own-health-insurance/79397106/
While this health insurance benefit is a good deal for elected officials, it is a bad deal for taxpayers, many of whom also pay a good chunk of the cost of their own coverage. It also doesn’t make sense.
Iowa has a part-time, citizen Legislature. Lawmakers do not even have offices at the Capitol. Long ago Iowans decided we wanted our elected officials to be like us and even hold other jobs. They are not full-time employees of the state. Yet they enjoy generous full-time benefits, paid for by their employer — us. Many years ago lawmakers managed to latch onto fringe benefits, including health insurance, negotiated by unions on behalf of state workers. Governors have latched onto the benefits, too. For years none of them paid anything for coverage.
A few years ago, Gov. Terry Branstad asked executive and legislative branch employees to pick up 20 percent of the cost of health coverage. Some workers willingly do so. Lawmakers, however, are only required to pay a monthly premium of $20 — a change recently negotiated by the state’s largest public union on behalf of full-time administrative staff, not elected officials.
Read more: www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/02/02/editorial-lawmakers-should-pay-own-health-insurance/79397106/