Without any discussion or questions, the Senate Finance Committee advanced a broad-ranging bill affecting the Public Employees Insurance Agency, although the bill had been explored by other committees and during behind-the-scenes discussions.
“Shocking,” said AFL-CIO President Josh Sword, speaking after the 15-minute meeting at which four bills were advanced.
“It’s a 56-page bill that affects 230,000 West Virginians, and they spent less than a minute on it. It’s a real tragedy when lawmakers make a mockery of our legislative process, and that’s just what happened,” he said. “How is it possible that 17 senators — a 56-page bill that affects 230,000 West Virginians in some capacity — how is it possible that not one of the 17 senators have one question, one comment, one remark?”
The bill now goes to the full Senate.
Senate Bill 268 makes a range of changes to PEIA, out of concern that the agency faces growing financial stress.
“I’ve been lobbying for almost 25 years now, and I’ve never seen a bill that has this kind of impact on 230,000 West Virginians, for there to be no discussion, no comments, no ability to offer up amendments. It’s incredible,” Sword said.
A Senate Finance subcommittee discussed the bill a couple of times, while also working on some changes behind the scenes. The Senate Health Committee already discussed a version of the PEIA bill.
Some aspects of the bill spell out the fiduciary responsibilities of the members of PEIA’s finance board. It has a requirement for the director to provide a number of people covered and a five-year fiscal analysis of the cost of covering claims. There’s guidance for the PEIA finance board to base its conclusions on an 80-20 employer and employee match.
There’s an actuarial study to address the financial solvency of the plan.
Another component would improve reimbursements to medical providers to 110% of what Medicare pays. That issue became a frontburner matter when Wheeling Hospital announced it could no longer afford the state’s low reimbursement rate. After Wheeling Hospital said it would no longer take patients covered by PEIA, concern arose over whether other hospitals would follow suit.
The Senate already passed a bill reflecting the reimbursement rate for providers, but it’s reflected in this broader bill, too.
Representatives from the West Virginia Deputy Sheriff’s Association, West Virginia State Fraternal Order Police, Professional Firefighters of West Virginia and the West Virginia State Lodge Fraternal Order Police expressed their concerns over spousal coverage and rising premium costs at a Kanawha County Commission meeting last week.
The senators working on the bill have said it would not remove spousal coverage, but does include a buy-in for spouses who are not covered by PEIA for their own employment.
“It appears the intent of the bill is to find a pathway of solvency for PEIA by reducing benefits and removing people from the plan — as opposed to finding a dedicated revenue stream that could help prop PEIA up,” Sword said.
He had a fresh copy of the 60-page bill and was going through it to try to figure out some of the details.
“So, questions I would ask: How does this affect retirees? How does this affect members’ spouses and dependents? How does this affect our police and firefighters and other first responders that work for city and county governments that now have the ability to opt into PEIA? Those are questions we need to ask.
“There’s another question: If they’re forced to be at 80-20 starting July 1 of this year, how much out-of-pocket are employees or plan participants going to be expected to come up with? There was no discussion, no ability to ask those questions.”
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