Wise unveils plan to provide health care coverage to workers (who lost jobs to foreign competition)

Dominion Post ^ | 2003/08/06 | AP

[the_devils_advocate_666]

WHEELING (AP) -- The state has created a program to help some unemployed workers and retirees pay for health care insurance, Gov. Bob Wise said Tuesday.

Workers who lost their jobs because of foreign competition and retirees whose pensions are now controlled by the federal Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. can claim a monthly tax credit that will pay 65 percent of the premium for a new health insurance program, Wise said.

Coverage will be provided by Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The program is designed to help about 2,600 people who need assistance, Wise said.

He did not say how much the program would cost.

Workers who lose their jobs because of foreign competition are eligible for federal retraining assistance and income support payments. However, the federal government provides no assistance for health insurance.

Retirees whose pensions were taken over by the PBGC also receive no federal assistance for health insurance.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

See, we don't have to worry about our jobs going overseas, the government will take care of us.

[Enterprise]

Well, I guess this is sort of good news for IBM workers who are going to have to train their foreign worker replacements before they are fired.

[mountaineer]

He did not say how much the program would cost.

Gov. Wise has a little trouble understanding basic financial matters, like how the Sam Hill we're supposed to pay for his giveaway programs. That's how he got elected, though - lots of promises of the moon and the stars, and no idea how to deliver them.

[Timesink]

Gov. Wise has a little trouble understanding basic financial matters, like how the Sam Hill we're supposed to pay for his giveaway programs.

In this case, most likely by skimping on the health care coverage of the EMPLOYED. My father works for the State, and both their insurance plans suck beyond belief. Literally half of the prescriptions he's had written for him in the last couple of years either will not be paid for at all by the state plans, or have copays as high as $50/mo per prescription. If it weren't for the fact that medicine is is one of the few active industries in this state, and thus there are drug reps handing out samples by the ton to every doctor in the state trying to beat the competition, there's no way he'd be able to get the medications he needs.

But you can bet these people on this new plan will be getting every medication their heart desires for no more than $5/mo each.

[Buckeye McFrog]

"..So you'll be on welfare, but hey, you'll have
Health Care..."

Paul Shanklin, 1993

[mountaineer]

My husband works at one of the state colleges (the budget of which Wise already cut by 10 percent, and he's ordering another 10 percent cut - lots of luck attracting any students to such a "quality education"), and you're right about PEIA being worthless. We pay a hefty premium, too.

[FLAMING DEATH]

PEIA is a joke. The West Virginia economy is a joke. Bob Wise is a joke.

I have WVPEIA insurance (West Virginia Public Employees' Insurance Agency).

No dental, no optical, high copays.

Also, they pull stunts like putting up billboards trying to convince people to stop eating fast food, instead of perhaps funding tobacco cessation programs to help people stop smoking. You can't get nicotine replacements or Zyban under PEIA unless you pay for it yourself.

It is easier for them to just tack on a surcharge for a tobacco user, which is what they did. In order to avoid the surcharge, they sent out an affidavit that you had to fill out and send back in before a very short deadline.

My buddy didn't get his in on time, so they tacked on the surcharge. He called PEIA and told them that he missed the deadline. The "polite" lady told him that they had extended the deadline, but he'd missed that one too, so there wasn't anything she could do.

How did they tell their customers of the extended deadline? By printing it in the Charleston paper. Not many in my neighborhood subscribe to that one, since Charleston is over 60 miles away from our county.

No official letter, no posting at the jobsite, nothing. An ad in the freakin' paper. Apparently, too many found out about it from the direct mailing the first time, and PEIA had to give more discounts than it wanted to.

The "kind" lady from PEIA that he talked to over the phone suggested he call the program director, because he was the only one who could make the decision to allow a late affidavit. For anyone. In the entire state. One guy.

Of course, he said "no".

Keep in mind that as long as you work for the State of WV, you have no choice but to use their insurance. So, his insurance, because of a small blunder, is now three times what it should have been, because PEIA apparently presumes that all the people in his family smoke (even his 1 1/2 year old daughter).

But it is good to see that all the benefits I've worked for are going to people who don't work.

The question I would like to ask Bob Wise is, "How does losing their job entitle these people to my money?"

[Timesink]

The really scary thing is that my father is with Carelink, the OTHER state insurance plan, and my parents are seriously thinking of switching over to PEIA when that little once-a-year window opens up again because they thought PEIA would be BETTER. I should probably email them your two posts.

[mountaineer]

My problem with PEIA is that it takes them forever to pay the doctors, the lab, the x-ray people, so I'm getting bills months and months after I had a simple office visit, for things that should have been covered. Of course, a lot of the state agencies are like that - ask any vendor who's still waiting for a payment that was due three months ago!

[Enterprise]

That would sound about right. Lay off good workers so you can get cheaper workers, then give the cheaper workers a better health plan.

[FLAMING DEATH]

As far as I can tell, here's the difference between Carelink and PEIA:

If you have a $100 medical bill, PEIA will pay some of it. I've never been denied coverage because they said any treatment I've had wasn't medically necessary. But, this winter, I did have to pay $80 out of my own pocket for prescriptions and another $26 for chest X-rays when I had bronchitis. I am rarely sick, so I don't know how they would do on more controversial or expensive procedures.

Carelink, while cheaper, from what I've heard, pretty much reserves the right to deny coverage under any circumstances. One of my coworkers needed a transplant, and Carelink said it wasn't medically necessary. A lot of letters from the family and co-workers changed their minds, but then the transplant came too late to save her.

It's pretty bad when you're forced to choose between two equally bad options. I don't know what advice I would give your parents.

[XBob]

6 - "My husband works at one of the state colleges "

Well, pretty soon your husband can get some of this insurance, when they contract with companies in India and the Philippines to teach courses at his university, via the internet.

[mountaineer]

Thankfully, he's not a teacher, but I guess anything's possible! State college professors seem to be a protected class, no matter how incompetent, thanks to tenure.

[waterstraat]

This doesnt make sense, and it aggravates the problems with current trade policies. We are trying to compete with countries that have no health insurance at all, india and china.

The solution is not to increase our medical costs, but to eliminate them.

The only way we can compete with chinese and indian workers is to outlaw at the federal level, all health plans by all american companies. NO american should get any health care by his employer(including dental and vision), from now on. This includes medicaid and medicare which the chinese dont have either. Every company - no exceptions!!!

We must level the playing field. If the chinese dont need health care, then we dont either. This is the only way to get our cost structure down to the level of our foreign competition in the global economy.

[waterstraat]

We also need to be cutting government spending , not increasing it. Unemployed workers are lost tax base, therefore, government spending should decrease by the amount of taxes no longer being paid by workers who lose their jobs to foreign countries.