Lawmakers will push through an emergency measure Monday designed to give the state's Public Employee Benefits Program more time to work out next year's benefits package.
Assembly Ways and Means Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, introduced AB263 Friday asking for a change in state law allowing the program to give members a 30-day period to review the proposed package instead of 60 days.
He said he and his counterpart, Senate Finance Chairman Bill Raggio, R-Reno, have agreed to process it as an emergency measure -- which means it could be headed for the governor's signature Monday afternoon.
To have a new package in place by July 1, Program Manager Woody Thorne said, a new plan would have to be adopted this week under the 60-day rule. Changing the law to a 30-day review, he said, will give his staff and the program board another month.
Thorne said he needs the extra month because the board last week agreed with employee groups that neither of two original options provided for next year's plan was acceptable.
Thorne and his staff came up with an alternative option Friday that spreads the growing cost of health benefits over all classes of members, from state active and retired workers to non-state actives and retirees.
Most would see a $14.36 monthly increase over what they now pay and face higher co-pay rates.
Out-of-pocket costs would also increase, including: an individual deductible of $500 instead of $250; co-pays of $20 per doctor visit instead of $15; and a $50 annual deductible for prescription drug coverage. Currently there is no deductible.
The changes would bring in an estimated $26.3 million, eliminating a projected $20.5 million shortfall and adding $5.3 million to the plan's reserve, which is far below recommended levels.
If approved, the changes would take effect July 1.
Board members and employee representatives agreed they liked Thorne's new plan better than the two previous versions.
But they didn't have time to thoroughly review the proposal Friday, and Thorne admitted his staff would like more time to make sure their numbers are accurate.
Board Chairman Terry Johnson and other members agreed to wait at least until March 14 before acting.
"We do need to take action, but I don't think it would break the back of the system or civilization as we know it to take a week," he said.
Johnson said Friday the board will likely approve the revised plan, along with a suggestion by member Garth Dull to allow employees who don't want to pay for full coverage to "buy down" to a cheaper core plan.
"I would go so far as to say we have an agreement in principle," Johnson said Friday.
The benefits program provides health insurance coverage for some 20,000 state workers and their families, along with active employees from a number of small local governments in Nevada and an increasing number of non-state retirees who have the option of joining the plan. Altogether, it covers more than 31,000 people.
The first option considered by the board would keep the existing plan's benefits. But to do so, Thorne said co-pays and other costs would have to increase as much as 89 percent.
The second option provided for a basic core plan and allowed state workers and other members to buy extended benefits. Board members rejected it, saying the core plan amounted to catastrophic coverage only, leaving almost all normal medical and pharmaceutical costs on the backs of employee members. Extended coverage would have hit them with high costs, including an additional $80 a month for state workers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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