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Friday, January 06, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - Secrets of health care pact for legislators and staff may be revealed

Howey's Political Report Online today contains this in a caption to a photo of legislative leaders Garton and Bosma:

Auditor of State Connie Nass said the legislature’s cushy health care for life program includes the entire legislative branch. “It includes the legislative branch, CPAs, attorneys, LSA, staff,” Nass said on WXNT’s Abdul in the Morning Show. “This law is very difficult to research. That’s why we need an actuary. It’s convoluted. It’s spread out. It was part of several bills.” Nass said she expects the cost of the program to be high. She said legislators could be eligible as soon “four or five years of service.” She said that for younger legislators, the lifetime costs to the state could be significant. “They could be 25 years old,” Nass said. “That’s a lifetime of coverage for legislators, spouses, ex-spouses.”
More from the caption:
House Speaker Brian Bosma (right), reacting to what appears to be a politically explosive issue in an election year, said he may address the legislator health care for life issue administratively. Bosma told WNXT’s Abdul in the Morning that it is his intent to “drastically alter the program” soon. “A number of changes will be in place over the next couple weeks,” he said. “I do not think this is an appropriate benefit. It will be changed administratively. The program will be very different for those who are elected in 2006 as opposed to those elected in 2004.” Bosma said that those receiving the benefits - which includes the entire legislative branch - may continue to do so even after administrative changes. “We are learning you cannot alter benefits for those already getting those benefits.”
That is interesting; big corporations have been able to do so.

From the body of Hovey's story:

The sources believe the lifetime health benefits was woven into Indiana law around the 1999 and 2000 sessions, during the time period of that PBS report. Several sources say that key players included then-House Speaker John Gregg, Senate President Pro Tempore Robert D. Garton and former Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst. Gregg has since retired and Borst was defeated for re-election in 2004 with lucrative legislative perks a key campaign plank against him. Others involved include the late State Sen. Potch Wheeler and former State Rep. Mike Smith.

Bosma, who aides say didn’t know about the deal when he was House minority leader, is expected to present a legislative package that would roll back eligibility for the program. A senator who asked not to be identified said that Kenley talked about gradually phasing in eligibility of legislators serving from six to 20 years. That same source said that Senate President Garton doesn’t want to change anything, telling his caucus at one point, “We made a promise” to all these legislators.

And merely rolling back some of these perks is fraught with political danger. Several freshman Republicans, like State Reps. Billy Bright, Troy Woodruff, Tim Harris and Bill Davis, won close races in 2004 using legislative perks as a campaign issue. Rolling back some of these perks, short of outright scrapping them, could leave them in a precarious position.

Garton appears to think that a promise to his cronies is more important than the millions of dollars Hoosier taxpayers are going to get suckered into paying at a time when 14 percent of you don’t have any health coverage at all. And if you’re a small business person (4 percent of you) with a pre-existing condition, you can’t get any type of affordable coverage.

Parts of this "arrangement" were reported at the time in the Indianapolis Star (in, I believe two stories, one in Behind Closed Doors) although its significance was not totally recognized. I have been unable thus far to locate the stories from back then.

My recollection is that the life-time benefits plan was put in place through the insertion of seemingly innocent language into several bills, over several sessions, that "happened" to all mesh together in the end and that LSA attorneys may have played a major coordinating role. In addition to language in legislation, as I recall the coverage was effectuated by documents signed off on at various times by members of the leadership.

Two more things. First, despite what you may have read in other blogs today, state employees do not receive health insurance benefits (or direct health care benefits) through PERF when they retire from state government. Neither do public school teachers, as far as I know.

Second, this may be only part of the benefits story. As some readers may recall, two years ago a number of newspapers in the state unsuccessfully sought to gain access to information about pension (as opposed to health) benefits of state legislators. (The ILB had a number of entries on that issue, which I will locate and link to later.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 6, 2006 01:38 PM
Posted to Indiana Government | Legislative Benefits