Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Communities across Massachusetts continue to weigh their options for reining in municipal health insurance costs by modifying plans.
As of mid-October, 11 cities and towns had adopted Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2011, the new local-option law that allows municipal officials to modify insurance plans or enroll employees in the state plan without going through the full collective bargaining process.
The city of Gardner completed the 30-day negotiation process outlined in the law on Oct. 19, and the city will soon implement plan design changes expected to save the city $830,000.
Several other communities are moving through the new process, while others have reached related agreements to achieve significant savings, including Somerville, Medford and Arlington.
Communities such as Boston, Worcester, Amesbury and Mansfield have made plan design changes through traditional collective bargaining since the debate on municipal health insurance reform began gathering momentum early this year. As the reform moved closer to passage, communities gained leverage to reach agreements with unions to make significant changes in health insurance plans.
The Executive Office for Administration and Finance, meanwhile, is preparing final regulations governing certain administrative procedures for implementing the new law (which amended Chapter 32B of the General Laws).
A public comment period on the emergency regulations, which were issued on Aug. 12, ended on Oct. 10.
The MMA provided comment on several key aspects of the regulations. The association urged A&F to strike a regulatory provision requiring a weighted vote when proposed health insurance changes come before the Public Employee Committee, asserting that the language weakens the legislative intent of one-union, one-vote.
The MMA also expressed concerns about the use of the term “negotiating in good faith,” as it can be confusing and misapplied. The MMA also requested more flexibility over the time period for negotiations, expressed concern about a mandatory annual report (an unfunded mandate) and the required use of registered mail for notifying employees of plan changes, and asked for clarification on the use of co-payments as a benchmark for tiered and non-tiered networks.
Final regulations are set to be promulgated in mid-November.
The MMA is continuing to track how communities are implementing the new reform. To share what’s happening in your community, please contact Megan Devine at mdevine@mma.org.
• Municipal Health Insurance Reform Legislation and Regulations Timeline, prepared by the MMA (192K PDF)