The state fund that pays health insurance claims for state workers is running out of money, and state officials are taking instant action to keep it from going broke by the spring, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.
The State Health Benefit Plan, which pays Georgia health insurance claims for state workers, retirees and their dependents, has seen its surplus of larger than $472 million greatly reduced by budget cuts and work force reductions, said Lisa Marie Shekell, spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Health. While the plan has enough money to pay current bills, it could run out of money by next spring, said DCH interim chief financial officer Scott Frederking.
State health officials are moving with significance to prop up the fund with a rapid infusion of money. They plan to elevate the health insurance premiums of workers and retirees by about 10 percent in January. That represents the second hike in two years, resulting in a combined 20 percent jump in premiums. Each of these hikes costs many workers several hundred dollars a year in new health care costs, on top of the pay freezes and job furloughs. Workers say they are also seeing increases in the plan’s medical deductibles and co-pays.
A spokesman for Gov. Sonny Perdue said the state would never let the fund fall to the point of not paying claims. Spokesman Bert Brantley said the actions under way will stabilize the fund.But a group representing state retirees fears the fund will run out of money and not be able to pay the health insurance claims of hundreds of thousands of Georgia workers.
The state Legislature recently approved a $33 million shift in state dollars to the fund, and the state health agency is applying for a $100 million federal grant. “It is a situation that warrants immediate action,” Shekell said.
It will mean that they are not paying their bills asked by Bobbie Jean Bennett, president of the 4,000-member Georgia State Retirees Association. It would be huge.In addition, worker groups are concerned that the state is shifting more of the financial burden of the fund to employees through hikes in premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
