Flint teachers and district headed back to court Thursday over proposed health care insurance change
By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-10-29 15:37:00 | Word Count: 555
The Flint teachers union and Flint School District will be back in court Thursday to determine if the district’s health care change effective Sunday for some 1,100 teachers is “mirror coverage” of the teachers’ current MESSA plan.
United Teachers of Flint Inc. sought an injunction today before Genesee Circuit Judge Joseph J. Farah to stop the district’s switch to HealthPlus of Michigan insurance coverage from MESSA, an insurance provider established by the Michigan Education Association.
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The union contends the district broke a deal to maintain the terms of the current contract in place, including health coverage, as both sides work toward a new contract.
The district would serve as its own policyholder under the new plan, which officials said would save the cash-strapped Flint schools $3 million a year.
Citing a “somewhat of an emergency situation,” Farah called for an evidentiary hearing at 1 p.m. Thursday.
“I think we need to get this resolved one way or another,” Farah said.
UTF lawyer Michael Lee that “it’s simply not possible” that the MESSA plan and the HealthPlus plan provide mirror coverage. Lee agreed that the district may change policy holders, but only if the benefits are not changed.
He said the union and teachers have not received a certificate book that details the health insurance coverage. Farah asked that the union receive the book by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Kendall Williams, the district's attorney, said he is “very confident” going into Thursday’s hearing. He plans to have representatives available from Flint Township-based HealthPlus of Michigan to testify that the HealthPlus plan is the exact same as the MESSA plan.
Williams said the district will pay HealthPlus $12.6 million a year to cover its teachers. He said the district found the same coverage for cheaper, just like you can find the same TV at a vastly different price at two stores.
The district’s MESSA cost jumped 18 percent this fiscal year, Williams has said.
The union is expected to bring in teachers who believe they won’t be treated the same way under the new policy. Lee could not immediately be reached for comment after court today.
Farah mentioned teachers such as Lisa Eikey who along with her husband need expensive medication and another teacher whose husband was being treated in Ann Arbor.
Eikey of Goodrich, a Washington Elementary School teacher, takes a cancer prevention medicine that costs $467 a month that costs her just $5 a month under MESSA. Her husband also requires medication that cost $5,486 a month, but with MESSA costs them $5.
Williams has contended that copays will remain the same for teachers and that there is a vast provider network for teachers to use, including the University of Michigan.
