GIC health insurance changes discussed; continued action needed ..... MTA President Barbara Madeloni and Vice President Janet Anderson

Greetings,

The Group Insurance Commission took no action on Friday, Jan. 30, when it met to discuss options to close a projected deficit for the current operating year. The options could affect health insurance costs for tens of thousands  of educators, other public employees and retirees.

In anticipation of the meeting, the MTA asked members to e-mail the commissioners and urge them to lobby for a supplemental FY 2015 budget that would close the funding gap and adopt a budget for FY16 that fully funds current benefits for GIC subscribers.

To date, each member of the GIC has received more than 6,000 e-mails from MTA members. We thank you, but we need to keep up the pressure.

Much of the GIC's anticipated deficit, an estimated $120 million, is due to an insufficient appropriation by the state. The rest is traceable to spending an estimated $45 million to $75 million in claims costs exceeding premiums.

We need to continue to remind the commissioners that a lack of adequate and transparent funding by the state should not result in unfair burdens on public service employees.

MTA members - alone or with others - are encouraged to attend the commission's annual public hearing next week on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 12:30 p.m. on the sixth floor of the Hurley Building, 19 Staniford St., Boston.

MTA members who have not already done so are encouraged to click here to send an e-mail to members of the commission.

Click here for additional information on the projected deficit and options that have been proposed to close the shortfall.

Again, we thank you for all you do for your students, for public education and for your communities.

Barbara and Janet