House votes tomorrow on health-cost sharing bill
3:38 PM Mon, May 19, 2008 | Permalink
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Projo Politics Blog |
A bill that would require Rhode Island’s $13,508-a-year part-time lawmakers to pay 10 percent of the cost of their state-provided health insurance is headed for a vote by the House of Representatives tomorrow. But recent comments by top Senate leader raises serious doubts about the bill’s chances of going anywhere after that. In an interview last week after the House Finance Committee approved the bill, Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, said: “It’s my position that we can do it voluntarily and if the House leadership wanted to show real commitment, I think that’s what they would do.” Asked to elaborate, she said: “They could write a letter and begin voluntarily doing it. … I think [that] makes much more sense. What they are suggesting doesn’t make any sense.” Why? “Because they could all do it right now either according to their rules or voluntarily.” So does that mean she personally opposes legislation making the contribution mandatory, as they are for all full-time state employees and the vast majority of private-sector workers who are lucky enough to have employer-provided health insurance? “I think that it should be a voluntary decision,” Paiva Weed said. “It certainly defeats whatever power of example that they are attempting to demonstrate by mandating it, rather than having it be voluntary.” Paiva Weed recently joined the ranks of lawmakers voluntarily paying 10 percent of the cost of the premiums for health-care packages. The full array of medical, dental and vision benefits, which currently costs the state $5,810 for an individual and $16,233 for a family, is increasing on July 1 to $6,305 for individuals and $17,620 for families. Full-time state workers are required to contribute toward the cost of their health insurance premiums in amounts that range from 8 percent to 15 percent, depending in how much they make. Others pay a percentage of their salaries. As it stands — and the numbers keep changing — only 25 of the 57 House members receiving state-provided health insurance have volunteered to pay a share of their premiums, and only 9 of the 32 senators drawing the benefit have done so. The majority currently pay nothing or get a $2,002 annual waiver payment for giving it up. The compulsory contribution bill, sponsored by Rep. Amy Rice, D-Portsmouth, that is headed for a House vote would also eliminate the waiver payments. Since the issue erupted in late April into front-page news — and a favorite radio talk show topic — more and more lawmakers have volunteered to pay the 10 percent share, including Sen. J. Michael Lenihan and Representatives Jon Brien, Ken Carter, Ray Church, Elaine Coderre, Al Gemma, Jan Malik and John McCauley, according to the Joint Committee on Legislative Services Two other House members — Charlene Lima and Rene Menard — have volunteered to forgo 10 percent of their waiver payments, while two senators — James Sheehan and Paul Fogarty — served notice they will forgo the waiver payments entirely when they are handed out in December. (Representatives Serpa and John Patrick Shanley had previously filed the paperwork to do the same.) Those senators still receiving100 percent state-paid insurance include Stephen Alves, Leo Blais, Frank Ciccone, Daniel DaPonte, James Doyle, Hanna Gallo, Daniel Issa, Beatrice Lanzi, John McBurney, Michael McCaffrey, Josh Miller, Joseph Montalbano, Paul Moura, Juan Pichardo, Leonidas Raptakis, John C. Revens Jr., Susan Sosnowski, and William Walaska, all of whom have family plans; and Daniel Connors, Maryellen Goodwin, Charles J. Levesque, Rhoda Perry and Dominick Ruggerio, who have individual plans, according to the Joint Committee on Legislative Services. In the House, those numbers include Representatives Joseph Almeida, Arthur Corvese, Elizabeth Dennigan, John DeSimone, Grace Diaz, Robert E. Flaherty, Raymond Gallison, Arthur Handy, J. Russell Jackson, Donald Lally, Nicholas Mattiello, Joseph McNamara, William Murphy, Eileen Naughton, Peter Palumbo, Peter Petrarca, Henry Rose, William SanBento, Gregory Schadone, Joseph Scott, Agostinho F. Silva, Richard Singleton, Thomas Slater, Peter Wasylyk, Anastasia Williams and Timothy Williamson, all with family plans; and Edith Ajello, Steven Costantino, Gordon Fox, Brian Kennedy, Peter Lewiss and David Segal, who have individual plans. 
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