State workers see rates soar for insurance

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Since Jeanne Henry went to work for the state nearly 10 years ago, her nurse's salary has risen about 25 percent. Her health insurance has gone up 300 percent.

But that seemingly large gap understates the actual difference.

When Henry went to work at the Fulton State Hospital in 1992, she was paying health insurance premiums for herself, spouse and four children. The total: $89 a month.

Now she pay premiums for only herself and husband. Come January, the rate will be $356 a month.

"It's outrageous," Henry said. "Our insurance costs need to be seriously looked at."

Although health-care costs are rising everywhere, they are skyrocketing for most Missouri government workers.

Premiums rose an average of 40 percent this year alone. In 2002, they will rise an average or 25 percent more, said Ron Meyer, executive director of the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan.

The quasi-governmental plan oversees the health insurance for about 48,000 state employees, covering all agencies except conservation, transportation and the highway patrol. It includes eight insurance options, although they aren't all available in all parts of the state.

Through 2000, a five-year state contract with insurers kept annual premium increases in the single digits. But under a new contract for 2001 and 2002, insurance rates are rocketing to make up for the past and keep pace with projected inflation.

A national trend

State workers may be experiencing dramatic increases now, but they generally are following a national trend, said Brent Butler, a lobbyist for the Missouri Insurance Coalition.

That may be true, but it doesn't make it any easier for state employees to accept.

Most state workers got no pay raise this year because of a tight state budget. So with their health premiums increasing, they actually will make less money.

"The state is telling us they can't afford to give us a raise -- we got no cost of living increase -- but they're going to force upon us more costs to our living," said Rachel Hoteling, a security aide at the Fulton State Hospital and a single parent of two. "It's really getting harder and harder to deal with. We need to find a solution."

Hoteling and Henry are among those leading a unionization drive. If successful, the Service Employees International Union is proposing to offer a union-run health plan with no premiums for employees who are included in collective bargaining units.

That proposal, however, is a long way from reality.

The union must bid to become an option under the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan for the contract cycle starting in 2003. And there's no guarantee their bid would be accepted.