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Higher Ed Health Care Board Letter
What's Happening?
Ohio politicians want you to pay more for less health care coverage and force you into a plan that they control, designed and run by a board of political appointees who are accountable to no one.
Who Is on this Board?
The governor, the House majority leader, and the Senate majority leader each appointed 3 members. These board members are not accountable to the voters - they only have to answer to the politicians to who they owe their jobs.
What Does This Board Do?
The terms of health insurance coverage will be dictated solely by the board, rather than negotiated through collective bargaining. The board will decide:
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What services are covered
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Which insurance companies, doctors and hospitals are in the plan
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Who can be covered
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How much you pay for coverage
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Recommit this Health Care plan
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am writing to express my opposition to the provisions of Amended Substitute HB 66 that create a mandatory statewide health care plan for school employees and higher education employees.
HB 66 requires the state to design a mandatory health insurance plan for all education employees. Once implemented, it would immediately force tens of thousands of K-12 public education employees into a plan over which they have no say, controlled by a board accountable to no one. It would then open the door to forcing thousands more public higher education employees into the same plan without including any elected higher education representatives to the Board.
HB 66 ends local control over health insurance, making health care a prohibited subject when it comes to collective bargaining. By setting uniform employee contribution rates for health insurance, HB 66 will have a very disparate financial impact on all public education employees and their families throughout the state, punishing those teachers and school employees who have worked hard through collective bargaining to keep down the cost of health care and maintain access to health care for their members.
Appointing a board with the sweeping powers given to the School Employees Health Care Board is likely to lead to abuses. In the current "pay to play" political environment, why would we want to put an appointed board in charge of well over $2 billion in health insurance premiums including higher education employees?
The only thing stopping full implementation are uncodified provisions of HB 66 requiring another vote of the General Assembly before participation in the state plan becomes mandatory for all school districts and school employees.
I urge you to vote against implementing this plan! I urge you to start again and include higher education representatives before any plans are made to include higher education employees in a health plan. Please, do what you can to stop it. It's bad for me and my family, and it's bad for Ohio.
Sincerely,
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