Republicans Target Teacher and ESP Health Insurance

On the first day of the 2005-07 legislative session, Republican leaders indicated they intend to use their legislative might to reduce health insurance benefits for teachers throughout the state.

Responding to an orchestrated report released by the right-leaning Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, key Republican leader Rep. Dean Kaufert of Neenah said switching teachers to insurance plans that provide fewer benefits is "probably going to rank near the top of the Republicans' budget priorities." Kaufert is co-chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee.

Assembly Speaker John Gard also expressed strong support for switching teachers to a plan such as the state health insurance plan, which generally has higher premiums and deductibles than teachers' plans.

Governor Doyle said he would veto any legislation that would weaken the ability of teachers to bargain their salaries and benefits.

"On the first day of the new legislative session, Republican leaders have renewed their all-out attack against teachers and the collective bargaining process," said WEAC President Stan Johnson. "It's not enough they have taken Wisconsin teacher salaries to 7.2% below the national average, now they want to slash teachers' health benefits too.

"We will not stand for it," Johnson said. "We call on every teacher and education support professional in Wisconsin to mobilize against this attack on educators, our great schools, and ultimately the children of this state."

Legislators did not say exactly how they would go about trying to reduce health care benefits for teachers, or limiting their choices, but any approach likely would also affect education support professionals either directly or indirectly, Johnson said. It also likely will affect technical college employees, he said.

Johnson said that while teachers' relative salaries have fallen dramatically over the last 11 years, teachers have at least held on to quality health care benefits. Part of the reason for this is they have made sacrifices in salary at the bargaining table to maintain good health care benefits for their families. If they were to lose those benefits, there would be little left to keep quality educators in the profession or to attract the best and brightest to the profession in the future. Wisconsin's great teachers are the heart of Wisconsin's great schools, and if the quality of the teaching corps declines, so will the quality of education provided to the children of Wisconsin, he said.

Johnson also challenged the implication that school costs are the cause of rising property taxes. In fact, schools are declining as a share of property taxes – down from 53% of the property tax bill a decade ago to 43% today.

Johnson said Republicans are terribly misguided in attacking the excellent plan provided by the WEA Trust, which provides insurance for teachers in 78% of the state's school districts.

The Trust’s not-for-profit structure requires that it uses all dollars it receives exclusively for benefits payment and necessary administrative costs. None of the money the Trust collects is spent on sales commissions or stockholder dividends. As a result, public school districts get better benefits at a lower cost, Johnson said.

The Trust’s cost of doing business (expense ratio) is one of the lowest in the insurance industry, and it returns a higher percent of every premium dollar in payments on behalf of members.

In addition, the Trust has taken the lead in health care reform in Wisconsin, developing the New Wisconsin Idea, an innovative four-step plan for tackling the state’s health care cost crisis. These four reforms together would fundamentally alter the state’s health care delivery and financing systems, thereby reducing costs and improving the quality of health care in Wisconsin.

"The Trust is a leader in responsible health care coverage and provides quality benefits at a low cost for Wisconsin's school districts," Johnson said. "It provides the best value available for school districts."

Posted January 4, 2005