EBD approves 2010 health insurance rates

One of the inequities that exists between certain sectors within state employment includes the difference in health insurance premiums between teachers and other state employees. One of the reasons that the difference exists, in my opinion, is that the Arkansas Supreme Court has not given "Lake View" credit to the legislature in increasing health insurance benefits for teachers and other school employees. Therefore, help for teachers has come more slowly, and as a result, a gap has continued to widen between the health insurance premiums paid by the state's teachers and other state employees. The 2010 schedule for health insurance premiums will be as follows:

Active State Employees		$95.78
Active Teachers		$152.70
Retired State Employees		$235.74
Retired Teachers		$527.62

Thanks to House leadership, the legislature did appropriate $15 million in recurring funds for active teachers in this category in the last session. A retired school teacher will pay more in monthly premiums than the other three groups combined ($484.22 versus $527.62). The state budget increased the contribution for state employees from $350 per budgeted position to $390. At the same time, the school group lost $24.11 in subsidy while the insurance increased $31.29. The state retiree only plan dropped $26.66 to $235.74 per month while a school retiree only plan increased $55.40 to $527.62. Yes, on average, school teachers do make more than their state employee counterparts, but all teachers are degreed employees. It is getting hard to imagine anyone who can justify this kind of disparity, and it's difficult to recruit teachers when half of their active rate is 50% higher than their state employee counterpart and their retiree benefit will go towards health insurance premiums.