State leaders must deliver on reform promise

From The Beacon, June 2011

Over the coming weeks, state leaders will be meeting to develop a consensus plan to deliver municipal health insurance reform for the communities and taxpayers of Massachusetts. The plan will be included in the state’s fiscal 2012 budget, which should be adopted by late June and signed by the governor by the beginning of the new fiscal year.

Local leaders are counting on the Legislature and Gov. Deval Patrick to enact a strong and powerful reform bill that really works and finally provides true relief for every city and town.

In April, the House of Representatives stood tall and issued a clear and resonant call for reform and relief for local government. By an overwhelming vote, members of the House adopted a powerful municipal health insurance reform measure that would give communities the tools to control soaring costs, preserve essential local services and protect municipal jobs. The leadership of House Speaker Robert DeLeo and the House Ways and Means Committee cut right through the rhetoric and obstructionist tactics of reform opponents and signaled the dawn of a new day on Beacon Hill.

In May, the Senate followed with a reform proposal that is more modest, but contains the same general goal of allowing communities to implement co-pays and deductibles that match what state employees pay, or join the GIC, even if local unions object. The Senate plan contains several new provisions that are being analyzed to make sure they are workable and practical. The most immediate concern appears to be a section that could force communities to increase the taxpayers’ share of retiree plans, as this could be prohibitively expensive for many cities and towns, making it impossible to realize savings from the new law.

As the details are hammered out in negotiations at the State House, municipalities continue to face extreme fiscal distress. Local aid has been reduced for the fourth consecutive year. Stagnant home sales translate into minimal new growth in the property tax base. Reserves have been drained. Thousands of employees have been removed from payrolls.

This is the time for strong, true and real reform. Yet we know that municipal unions will continue to oppose the legislation and seek to chop it down into smaller and less useful pieces. As eyes turn from the Legislature to the Corner Office, it will be more important than ever for the governor to stand up for cities and towns just as the House speaker and members did when the rhetoric was raised to a cacophonous level in April.

Municipal unions and lobbyists may continue to demand more concessions, but passing a weak bill would be the worst outcome of all. The test of any reform is whether it works in the real world. The “minor” provisions that will be pushed would clearly interfere with and block true reform in cities and towns across the state. No one, from the governor to a volunteer finance committee member in a small town to a teacher or police officer about to be laid off due to budget cuts, benefits from a watered-down bill that fails to deliver relief to taxpayers and communities.

It is also important to remember that the House plan is already a compromise that would continue to give municipal unions more bargaining power over health insurance than state unions. Municipal employees would benefit from the legislation in five ways: union jobs would be protected; employee premiums would be lower; communities would establish health reimbursement accounts to offset a portion of costs for employees who are heavy users of the health care system; municipal employees would be guaranteed health plans as good as or better than state employees have; and bargaining over premium contributions would be preserved.

The communities and taxpayers of Massachusetts are counting on strong and real reform this year. Fortunately, this relief is on the way, if state leaders can rise to the occasion. There is every reason to believe this will happen, but just to be sure, let’s give our senators, representatives and even the governor a call to ensure a speedy trip down the path to reform.