Most Luzerne County unions paying at least 12% toward health insurance, analysis shows
One of the seven -- the court-appointed support union -- is switching from 10% to the new 12% on
The six others already had been at 12%: court-related, detectives, residual, Mental Health/Developmental Services, Children and Youth and the
An eighth union -- the court-appointed professional unit representing probation and domestic relations support officers -- will increase from 10% to 12% in 2021, contracts show.
The two remaining unions representing assistant district attorneys/public defenders and prison workers have not finalized new contracts and are working under agreements that expired the end of 2018 containing 10% contributions.
In comparison, non-union employees have been paying 10% toward health care since 2014, when prior commissioners started the push to move all workers to that percentage. Strides converting the lion's share of union workers to an even higher 12% will likely step up pressure to increase the non-union percentage in 2022.
Some newer union workers already have advanced to payments of 15%, contracts show:
--Court-related employees hired after
--Court-appointed support workers hired since the start of 2016
--Residual workers hired since the beginning of 2014
--Probation and domestic relations support officers hired after
--Human service workers in Mental Health/Developmental Services, Children and Youth and the
Supervisory employees in these three human service departments also must pay 15% if they were hired since the start of 2017, while those hired before that year pay 10%. These workers are not counted under the 10 union contracts because they instead have special memorandums of understanding that expire the end of 2019 and are under negotiation.
Paying more
County Manager
However, Pedri stressed the contributions of all workers will increase in 2020 because the percentage amounts are based on the actual cost, which is rising.
"
Due to the types of plans and varied percentages involved, two sets of numbers are necessary to present the contribution difference from this year to 2020.
In 2019, employees are paying these amounts every two weeks at 10%, 12% and 15%, records show:
--Single:
--Employee/spouse:
--Employee/child:
--Employee/children:
--Family:
The 2020 contributions every two weeks under the same three percentages:
--Single:
--Employee/spouse:
--Employee/child:
--Employee/children:
--Family:
These dollar amounts apply to the county's Highmark HMO plan, which includes a
At his recent annual forum, Pedri said next year's 3.25% tax hike is essentially covering two increases -- a
Pedri said the health insurance is actually increasing
Overall, the county has budgeted a
Reach
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