From:
Susan Kniep,
President
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc. (FCTO)
Website: ctact.org
Email: fctopresident@ctact.org
860-528-0323
November
1, 2004
Based upon Court Ruling on
Anthem Stock distribution and Connecticut Education Association (CEA) Press Release (http://www.cea.org/NewsDesk/newsrelease102204.htm),
FCTO proposes the following….
PRESS RELEASE
FCTO
Proposes Changes to State Binding Arbitration Laws based on the Anthem Stock Lawsuit
by Government Sector Unions!
Eliminate HealthCare Costs and Issues from Contract Negotiations and Arbitration!
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
calls upon Governor Rell and all State Legislators to
review the State’s Binding Arbitration Laws with the intention of
eliminating taxpayer financed healthcare benefits from contract negotiations
and arbitration. Between
70% to 90% of municipal budgets pay for personnel related expenses. Taxpayers pay approximately 85% to 95% of
healthcare costs for government sector employees. Today, an average family policy for a union
member costs approximately $15,000 annually.
This equates to a cost to the taxpayer of approximately $12,750 to
$14,250 for each union member’s healthcare policy.
For years, Connecticut taxpayers had
paid the full healthcare premiums for state and local government sector
employees and their families. On
average, their quality of healthcare benefits has exceeded that of the private
sector. Only within the past few years,
have government sector unions begun to pay toward their premium. The Anthem stock distribution encompassed a
timeframe in which the majority of the premium costs were born exclusively by
taxpayers.
Yet, the unions, with no concern for the number of uninsured
or underinsured working taxpayers in Connecticut, want more and have gone to
court to get it. As a
result of their lawsuit to access the stock distribution by
Anthem, they have forced taxpayers in the State and within individual towns to
absorb the costs of litigation and arbitration. With many towns hiring outside legal
counsel, it is now apparent that those costs will well exceed whatever the
unions garner for their individual membership.
State taxpayers pay
approximately $300 million for State employee healthcare and $155 million for
State retire healthcare. This is in
addition to what taxpayers pay through their local property taxes for
healthcare for their municipal employees.
The Wall Street Journal recently wrote “According to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans' average annual out-of-pocket expenses
for health care rose 26% between 1995 and 2001, to $2,182. The Kaiser Family
Foundation, a nonpartisan research group based in Menlo Park, Calif., that tracks
healthcare spending, says that workers' average monthly contribution to
premiums for family coverage alone more than tripled to $174 from $52 between
1988 and 2002. Copays for brand-name drugs that have
generic equivalents jumped 62% to $26 last year from $16 in 2000, while
generics rose to an average of $9 from $8, Kaiser says.”
As Connecticut private
sector taxpayers are forced to absorb the increasing costs of healthcare through their own jobs, they are now expected to give
even more to those working in the public sector.
We look to our State elected officials to protect the
taxpayers of our State and municipalities from the unreasonable demands of the
public sector unions. We ask that
healthcare benefits not be a contract issue, and that the Binding Arbitration
laws be revised accordingly.
In summary, Connecticut's policymakers must understand that:
·
Public employees work
for the taxpayers!
·
State and municipal
taxpayers financially fund union contracts and healthcare benefits!
·
Many taxpayers are uninsured
or underinsured!
·
State and municipal
taxpayers can no longer support the unreasonable demands of the public sector
unions as illustrated by the position the unions have taken on the Anthem stock
distribution!
Connecticut policymakers must therefore:
·
Give financial relief
to Connecticut and municipal taxpayers!
·
Eliminate healthcare
issues and funding
from contract negotiations and arbitration!