Without Vote of Commissioners, GIC Executive Director Rejects NAGE's Request to Re-Open Enrollment Period; NAGE Responds
August 20, 2009
In a letter suggesting that the increase in state employees' health insurance premium split does not amount to a "significant financial effect," GIC Executive Director Dolores Mitchell has rejected NAGE's request that the commission re-open the health plan enrollment period to allow state employees to choose which plan best fits their needs, given the unexpected increase passed by the legislature in June.
The problem (or one of the problems) with her letter is, the decision to reject (or as she puts it, not "recommend") the request wasn't Mitchell's to make.
"It's my understanding that the commission, not the commission's executive director, makes decisions on matters such as re-opening enrollment," wrote National President David J. Holway in a letter today responding to Director Mitchell. "The commission has not met since I sent my initial letter to GIC Chair Thomas Shields, et al, making it unlikely that a vote of the commission was taken."
In her letter to NAGE, Director Mitchell also wrote that re-opening the enrollment period would be an "enormous disruption" to the commission and that state employees' new health insurance rates "are not exorbitant ... compared to those experienced in the rest of the market." In other words she seems to be saying, "get over it" state employees. She also repeatedly refers to the change in the premium split as a "5% increase," which it's not. It's an increase of either 25% (from 80/20 to 75/25) or 33% (from 85/15 to 80/20).
President Holway fully addressed Director Mitchell's specious reasoning and asked that a vote on the request be taken by the full commission.
Read Director Mitchell's letter
Read President Holway's response to Mitchell
Read NAGE's initial request