Council reverses itself on insurance decision
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Hearts were set on saving tax dollars and the dollar signs were big when Harrisburg City Council voted to raise the city's liability in a partial self insurance program from $1,000 to $2,500.
It was believed the move would save the city about $120,000 a year and the benefits of employees would not be changed.
On Thursday, nerves appeared on edge in Council Chambers from the start of the meeting.
The room held numerous city employees who remained in the hallways while council met in secret under the guise of "collective bargaining."
The body emerged into open session to roll back the insurance deductible increase decision made Jan. 30.
The matter was never discussed in public on Thursday.
It is understood after the council decision to raise the city's deductible, employees were hit with an unexpected increase in co-pays and deductibles.
Mayor Valerie Rose Mitchell, following the meeting, said the late January action by council had affected employee benefits that are guaranteed in contracts with the city's unions.
"There is no way we would change benefits without going through collective bargaining," she said.
"We are correcting a mistake none of us wanted to make. We are looking forward to a good working relationship with the city workers."
The fact that the choice made by council caused an increase in co-pays should not have been a surprise to council or city workers.
Insurance agent Steve Williams handed out a fact sheet at the Jan. 24 meeting of the council-initiated insurance committee that outlined the increases.
City employees and one commissioner - the chairwoman of the committee, Commissioner Linda Mitacek - were at the meeting, as was City Treasurer Richard Harper.
The increase in the co-pay was mentioned in a newspaper article of Jan. 25. However, discussion at the committee meeting as reported indicated there would be no effect on employees as the increased co-pay would be reimbursed by the city.
Asked about the effect on retirees, Williams at the committee meeting said they would be subject to the new $2,500 deductible and increases in office co-pay, increasing from $10/$20 to $20/$40, and drug co-pay, increasing from $10/20/35 to $10/40/60.
At the same committee meeting, Williams also warned by changing the deductible from the original policy, the city would lose the status of being "grandfathered," making the policy subject to any changes mandated by the federal government under "Obamacare."
Several questions were left in the air at the meeting, and the session came to an end when it was pointed out a quorum of the committee was not present.
Of the city's unions, only the firefighters union was represented and, at the conclusion of the session, Mitacek had commented that to be successful, the committee needed more participation.