County eyes savings with health-care changes [The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.]

Sept. 19--Luzerne County could save more than $260,000 a year by making some nonunion employees with part-time jobs ineligible for county health-care coverage.

At least 27 nonunion part-timers get health coverage, according to a review of county records. County officials are reviewing current personnel policies, including those that determine who is eligible for county health coverage.

"Clearly, some people will be losing their benefits in 2011," Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said.

Petrilla said commissioners plan to update the county's personnel code, which went into effect in 2005 and applies to nonunion employees, at their next meeting on Oct. 20.

The personnel code says only "regular full-time employees" are eligible for health benefits, which are also provided to the spouses and children of eligible employees. A regular full-time employee works between 32.5 and 40 hours per week "on a continuing basis," according to the personnel code.

"We recognize that we need to make sure our policy is clear with regard to definitions of employees and eligibility of benefits," said Andy Check, director of human resources since April.

County Controller Walter L. Griffith Jr. said he wants to see if he can stop payments on health-care claims from employees who should not be eligible for coverage. Griffith complained about selective enforcement of policies.

"We jump into the policy where we want to," Griffith said.

The nonunion part-timers who receive county health benefits include at least eight law clerks for judges, two assistant solicitors, two members of the assessment appeals board and nine conflict-counsel attorneys. Lawyers who work as conflict counsel are assigned cases and clients when a defendant is unable to pay for a private attorney and a public defender has a conflict of interest with another defendant or witness.

Asked in July 2009 why some nonunion part-timers receive county health benefits, then-Human Resources Director Doug Richards said, "That's the way it's always been done."

Health-care costs

Health-care benefits are expected to cost the county more than $15 million this year -- at least 11 percent of the county budget. The budget allocates $10,800 for each employee who gets county health coverage, but the $10,800 allocation is an average estimated cost of single and family coverage plans.

The actual cost of county health benefits depends on how much health care claims cost during the year because the county is self-insured and doesn't pay premiums to an insurer for employee health benefits. The county itself pays the cost of health care claims that are less than $200,000.

The county does pay two insurers -- Geisinger and First Priority Health -- to process claims and administer plans, which provide access to their health networks. The county pays those insurers monthly fees of at least $53 per employee enrolled.

The county requires all nonunion employees and some union employees to pay 10 percent of the estimated cost of their health-care plans. Employee contributions for health coverage totaled about $500,000 last year.

Policies on health-care benefits for union employees are determined by collective bargaining agreements approved by county commissioners. Part-time lawyers in the District Attorney's Office and Public Defender's Office receive health coverage from the county, according to their last collective bargaining agreement, which has expired.

Row-office solicitors

In 2005, the county stopped providing health benefits to part-time solicitors of row offices, according to a memo from Sam Diaz, then-chief of budget and finance. The memo said row-office solicitors could still receive health benefits if they paid the entire cost of their plan estimate.

Peter J. Moses, the solicitor for the Recorder of Deeds and Clerk of Courts offices, is the only part-time employee who pays 100 percent of the estimated premium to get county health benefits, said Benefits Coordinator Jay Zupa. Moses pays $463.38 a month to get single health-care coverage from the county, Zupa said.

Moses represented Greg Skrepenak, the commissioner chairman from 2004 to 2008, as a defense attorney. Skrepenak is serving a two-year prison sentence for accepting $5,000 from a housing developer who received financing through the county.

Commissioner Stephen A. Urban questioned whether Moses is entitled to get health benefits, claiming Diaz did not have the authority to determine who received health benefits.

Commissioners never voted to authorize a decision to provide health benefits to row-office solicitors, Urban said. The personnel code from 2005 does not address whether any solicitor is eligible for health benefits.

"We need some consistency," Urban said. "There should be no expectations."

Petrilla said she doesn't think a part-timer should get health benefits, even if 100 percent of the premium is paid, "because the county is self-insured."

Moses declined comment.

Last year, the county was providing health benefits to two prison board appointees -- Wister Yuhas and Robert Payne. The appointees were not employees; they were not paid for their service.

County Solicitor Vito DeLuca asked an outside law enforcement agency to investigate how Payne and Yuhas got county health benefits from 2005 to 2009. County application forms for health-care coverage include a warning that knowingly trying to defraud any insurance company is a crime.

"Our information is that law enforcement will not pursue it any further," DeLuca said Friday. "It was discovered during the current administration. Our own internal investigation turned it over."

mbuffer@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2073

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