At ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä event, PEIA finance board hears concerns from public workers, retirees

Dozens of West Virginia educators, public workers and supporters showed up for the sixth and final public meeting of PEIA’s Finance Board about proposed increases in health care costs for the Public Employees Insurance Agency. Thursday’s hearing was held at the Culture Center in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä where many speakers said they knew they might not be able change the fate of increased insurance premiums for public workers, but they hoped someone would listen.

“I don’t think there’s anything that we can say that’s going to be heard, but I feel like [I] should say it anyway, just so it’s on the record somewhere, that this is contributing to the teacher shortage. This is contributing to people leaving the state of West Virginia,� said Kathryn Dotson, a Kanawha County Schools art teacher.

Dotson and Wright said they had thought about moving out of West Virginia for better pay or benefits.

What might change

Under the newly proposed changes for PEIA premiums from the PEIA Finance Board, public workers would experience:

• 14% premium increase for active workers and 12% premium increase for retirees — an average active worker increase of $31.50 per month
• 40% deductible and out-of-pocket maximum increase
• 100% prescription copay increase
• $150 increase in inpatient and semi-private room copay
• $150 increase in outpatient surgery copays
• $100 advanced imaging copay
• 100% ER non-emergency copay increase
• $203 spousal surcharge increase

And the five-year plan for PEIA, according to a presentation from the Finance Board, predicted some continued yearly increases.

Teacher unions react

“What they’re doing is they’re taking the 10 pay schedules and collapsing down to five,� Brandon Tinney of the American Federation of Teachers — West Virginia said Tuesday. “As a result, people who make the least will pay more, and the people who make the most will pay the least.�

Tinney said since the Legislature passed a plan in 2023, Senate Bill 268, which ensures the state pays 80% of PEIA costs and employees pay 20%, any increase means “our teachers and service personnel and all public employees who are already paid the least in the nation are going to make even less because there’s no pay raise proposal.�

Tinney said the AFT-WV has asked all 55 county boards of education to sign a resolution saying they cannot afford another PEIA increase while still attracting high-quality personnel. He said the union has also asked personnel to sign a similar petition.

“The only way this gets fixed is if Governor-elect [Patrick] Morrisey and the Legislature put more money in the PEIA. They brag about this big surplus every month, but they never put more money into PEIA,� he said.

Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, another teacher union, shared Tinney’s sentiments, saying his anger was not at the PEIA board, but at the Legislature for not putting more money into PEIA and for passing the 80/20 rule of SB 268. He said he also feels the state is pushing employees to look for privatized health care, which could be even more expensive.

SB 268 also mandated the spousal surcharge at the actual value of covering the spouse and created about a $70 million year-over-year increase paid to health care providers, according to information provided by PEIA. The board also is expecting substantial increases in Medicare Advantage due to the Inflation Reduction Act.

‘We don’t want to raise premiums’

PEIA Director Brian Cunningham said Friday he is not blaming the Legislature for the increases and understands the reasoning behind their actions. But, as an example of the increased payments PEIA is making, SB 268 increased reimbursements to hospitals and other health care providers to 110% of Medicare.

“We don’t want to raise premiums,� Cunningham said during the hearing. “But unfortunately, health care costs are going up, not just for PEIA, but for all insurance plans around the country. PEIA must generate enough revenue to be paid in place. There is no other money available, and that’s why these changes are being proposed.�

Cunningham said Friday the board has already taken measures to try to keep from raising premiums too high. For example, it implemented a Comparative Effectiveness Program, which shifts drug coverage to low-cost generics, saving about $2.5 million in the first quarter. He said the board also cut out Medicare Graduate Medical Education payments to academic hospitals and saved about $2 million and is exploring opportunities with 340B.

“These are my family, people I know, friends, neighbors. I don’t want to increase premiums on them. I don’t have a choice,� Cunningham said. “I understand the frustration. I’m going to pay these higher premiums, too.�

Of the few members of the West Virginia House of Delegates who attended Thursday’s event, Delegate JB Akers, R-Kanawha, said before the hearing that he was noncommittal on voting for PEIA funding increases, but he’s listening to his constituents.

“We understand that this is one of those things where there’s give and takes ... on both sides,� Akers said. “The question is going to be, how do we try to get those current prices under control while providing the best insurance possible for our state?�

But Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said he feels the Legislature and executive branch have chipped away at the “promise we’ve made to our public workers,� which he said was unfair.

“I’ve always supported more money for PEIA, and I think that the Legislature has refused to do the heavy lifting here and designate a permanent funding stream board. It needs to be a priority.

�Many speakers talked about their own hardships with attempting to afford health care on their teacher or service personnel salaries, and some spoke of the hardships they’d seen their co-workers quietly endure.

Some workers, like Dotson and Wright, said they had also considered quitting.

“I don’t want to leave West Virginia, like I love being here,� Kanawha County Schools teacher Emily Askew said. “But if we’re going to do this on the backs of the people that want to be here and work and serve West Virginia, there’s not going to be very many people here to do that.�

But from all of those who spoke at the three-hour hearing, the message was clear: The potential increases in PEIA are not acceptable, and they’re tired of fighting.

“I don’t know where the blame lies, but this has got to stop,� said Larry Deitz, a retired deputy from the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office. “I just ask that you do everything that you can to soften this blow as well as possible, because I know that it’s not going to be good, no matter what.�

The board will meet again Dec. 5 to finalize the plan.