MTA President Max Page Vice President Deb McCarthy issued the following statement:
State employees – including MTA members working at public colleges and universities– and many municipal employees, such as public preK-12 educators, buy their insurance coverage through the Group Insurance Commission. After receiving an outcry of frustration and concern about maintaining affordable health insurance, the GIC and Gov. Maura Healey say they need to see more data about the impacts of increases through a proposed change in cost structure.
We hope that the governor and GIC will use this time to reconsider these devastating increases.
MTA members and leadership have spoken out about the governor’s proposal to force significant health care hikes on to working families through increases in copays and deductibles. These plan changes could increase out-of-pocket costs by hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.
These proposed cost increases likely will affect all MTA members, because even cities and towns that are not part of the GIC use its plan designs to set their own insurance costs, potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of active and retired public employees.
We hope that the governor and GIC will use this time to reconsider these devastating increases. Instead of crafting an austerity budget, Massachusetts should consider implementing the “corporate fair share” legislation proposed by the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition, which would force mega-corporations to pay state taxes they now avoid by unfairly concealing profits in overseas tax havens.
The state also could draw substantial amounts from the state’s very healthy “rainy day fund” without jeopardizing the Commonwealth’s overall fiscal health. We also are prepared to draw on our own members’ health policy expertise for real solutions that can be considered by the governor’s health care task force.
The GIC vote is now expected to take place on Feb. 26.
Learn more about the Hands Off Our Health Care campaign at massteacher.org/handsoffourhealthcare.
