Explaining the delay, town officials say they have been unable to obtain claims information from Massachusetts officials – making it impossible to calculate the costs and benefits of any potential changes.
WARE – Saying they need more information, selectmen at last week’s contentious meeting again delayed making a decision whether to increase the amount retired public school teachers contribute to their health insurance coverage.
More than 50 of those that would be affected attended. A new meeting date has not been set.
Explaining the delay, town officials say they have been unable to obtain claims information from the state – making it impossible to calculate the costs and benefits of any potential changes.
There are 71 retired teachers. Seven pay 10 percent of their insurance premium while the town picks up the remaining 90 percent; 64 retirees pay 15 percent for insurance with the town paying the balance. Retired town employees pay 50 percent.
According to the selectmen’s public meeting notice, the hearing was convened to “discuss removal of the retired teachers from the State Insurance Commission and movement to the Town’s insurance coverage.”
Savings of $187,000 per year would accrue due to the change, the town manger said.
A spokesman for the retired teachers say the retired town employees cost Ware nearly $1 million more than the retired teachers.
“Please show us how increasing the cost of health insurance (for retired teachers) makes the situation more equitable,” retired high school principal Peter Thamel told selectmen. “It makes it even more inequitable.”
The importance of the state claims data – which has not been provided – is discussed in a report by Allison Genetelli, the consultant Ware hired to review the insurance issue.
According to her report, “moving Ware into HCIT (Hampshire County Insurance Trust)” – an avenue that could provide “lower premiums and improved benefits for” retired and active employees – cannot happen without the state claims data.
That is because the retired Ware teachers “are not allowed to enter HCIT without a minimum of 1-2 years of claims data for review,” Genetelli wrote.
She also noted in her report that the “current practice” of the state “is not to give claims data to municipalities.”
This Catch-22 impasse has bewildered selectmen and the public attending the hearings that began in June.
The state “Group Insurance Commission is saying the data is not available; they are looking into making it available,” Ware Town Manager Stuart Beckley said in an interview. “It is important (information), combined with the Hampshire Council discussions, because they will not allow them (Ware retirees) in, and we don’t know what the price is.”
The Hampshire Council of Governments was formed in 1998 when county residents approved making it the successor to the defunct Hampshire County government structure. The council administers the HCIT, which is available to “all municipalities, schools, nonprofits, businesses and individuals in Western MA,” its website states.