As people across the country struggle to maintain their health coverage in the face of Obamacare implementation (some five million Americans have already received cancellation notices in just the individual market, and employer-based plans come under threat in 2014), Governor Inslee is making sure his public-sector union allies have nothing to worry about.
Inslee recently announced a budget proposal that puts taxpayers on the hook for 85% of the cost of health coverage for public sector employees. State workers would contribute just 15% to the own health coverage. In the private sector employees typically devote 26% toward the cost of their health care plan.
After protecting his political friends from rising health care costs, Inslee admits his budget proposal doesn’t solve the state’s fiscal problems. “This approach is not sustainable,” the governor said in a press conference. “Barring an unforeseen dramatic rise in economic activity and revenue collections, we will face another sizable shortfall next year when work begins on the 2015-2017 budget,” he added. Several holes in the current two-year budget will have to be fixed – including a “backlog of compensation issues,” he said.
Despite high unemployment and ongoing economic struggle of many Washington families, Inslee said he intends to seek a pay raise for state workers. “State employees have also gone without COLA (cost of living increases) increases since 2008,” Inslee said. “That is just too long to wait.” He failed to mention that many state employees receive automatic “step” increases and promotions that increase their salaries, without COLA increases. “So in the next biennium, we fully intend to address those issues,” he added.
Inslee’s plans to push up state costs likely means boosting the financial burden the state imposes on working citizens. Earlier this year, Inslee proposed a $1.2 billion tax increase. The governor’s tax hike was blocked in the Republican-dominated Senate. At his press conference this week, Inslee refused to rule out imposing a state income tax when asked.
With his latest budget announcement Inslee again signaled he is open to taking more money from people. “Revenue enhancements” is the sanitizing term used by Olympia insiders. The rest of us know it better as a tax increase.
His new announcement that taxpayers will continue to bear 85% of public employee health care costs shows that, no matter how budget negotiations turn out, Governor Inslee intends to take care of his political friends.
How do state salaries compare with the private sector? Seems like if you are comparing, you should look at the entire package. But, given your mathematical expertise, this should not be a surprise:
http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2011/jun/20/mckenna-claims-based-on-questionable-math/
How do state salaries compare with the private sector? Seems like if you are comparing, you should look at the entire package. But, given your mathematical expertise, this should not be a surprise:
http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2011/jun/20/mckenna-claims-based-on-questionable-math/