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First PEIA Public Hearing Draws Criticism

The first of four public hearings held by the Public Employees Insurance Agency (PEIA) Monday drew criticism about changes to the plan.

The embattled agency has struggled with fiscal solvency and most recently, the announcement by one hospital that the insurance carrier would no longer be accepted. Senate Bill 268, which goes into effect July 1, was a concerted effort between the House and Senate to rescue PEIA by requiring a minimum 110 percent reimbursement of the Medicare rate for all providers, paid for in part by a 24 percent increase in premiums for employees.

About 50 people, including retirees and several educators, were present for the meeting at the Culture Center in Charleston.

PEIA Interim Director Jason Haught talked about the three plan options on the table.

The plan changes reflect the increase in premiums for active and retired state employees. Non-state agencies, retirees, spouses employed by PEIA-participating agencies, or spouses with Medicare, Medicaid or TRICARE coverage are exempt.

Effective July 1, significant changes to the plan include:

A surcharge for spouses of active policyholders – if they have coverage elsewhere but choose PEIA coverage instead.
A hike in premiums to return to a 80/20 employer/employee premium split
Increasing reimbursement to providers to a minimum of 110 percent of Medicare’s reimbursement.

The first of the three options discussed by Haught includes an increase in state employee premiums of almost 24 percent. The increase would vary since enrollment and performance vary from plan to plan. For the non-state fund there would be a 15.6 percent increase. No premium increase would be imposed on retirees.

Option 2 calls for a blended approach with a slightly lower increase in premiums (19.2 percent) but higher deductibles, and out-of-pocket and prescription costs to make up the difference.

Non-state plans that opt into PEIA under option 2 would see a 9.7 percent premium increase and medical deductible and out-of-pocket increases of approximately 35 percent along with a hike in prescription drug costs.

Option 3 is also a blended approach (State plan & RHBT) and would include a 14.6 percent premium increase with retirees being exempt. Changes to non Medicare include a medical deductible increase of 50 percent under plan tiers, out of pocket expenses, and an increase in prescription co-pays or drug costs.

Several retirees and former educators spoke to the panel about their concerns, including Rosa Huffman, a teacher in the Kanawha County school system. Huffman asked why the public is not being given more time to understand and decide on the proposed options.

“Why is this plan being rushed through?” Huffman asked.

Sen. Amy Grady, R-Mason, said comments that the PEIA plan was rushed through the legislature are unfounded.

“It hasn’t been rushed, and that’s the misconception,” Grady said. “This specific plan has been worked on for at least a year. I know I was reaching out to people, saying ‘Give me some input on this,’ I’ve no reason to believe other senators and delegates don’t do that.”

Grady said down the road the legislature may be able to consider taking money from the state’s “Rainy Day” fund to prevent an increase in costs for retirees, a suggestion put forward by West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee.

When asked, the panel informed Lee that there was $74 million in the fund.

“Because I know that was a part of the fiscal note when you looked at Senate Bill version of 268 – whether the premiums would go up 14 percent or 26 percent based on the $74 million in the rainy day account,” Lee said. “I’m guessing that that money could still be used if the legislature appropriated the money, is that true?”

Haught responded, saying that it was his understanding that the expenditure side of the budget would not be completed until May 1st, but stated “theoretically” that was possible.

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, criticized the legislature for passing a bill that he said places strain on retirees.

“I mentioned the word arrogance earlier in regards to our current legislature, in regards to this super-duper majority,” Pushkin said. “I mentioned arrogance to raise premiums on public employees under the guise of a shell game of giving out a pay raise at the same time, while voting to give themselves a raise, a substantial raise for those in leadership.”

“They built into it cost of living adjustments for those at the top of the legislature, something they could not find it in their hearts to do for retirees for how many years?” he continued. “When’s the last time you got a cost-of-living adjustment if you’re a retiree?”

Pushkin contended that Gov. Jim Justice broke his promise when he said that premiums would not go up.

“When asked if he would raise premiums he said, ‘Not on my watch,’” Pushkin said.

Retired educator John Riddle told the panel that retirees are facing an ever-increasing cost of living.

“Let me tell you something, for 18 years of retirement, if you look at the cost of living, retirees on a fixed income are not in a very good spot,” Riddle said. “And all I’m asking you to do is to continue to allow our retirees to have a place at the table to talk with you.”

Three more public hearings are scheduled this week, including two on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Morgantown at the Hampton Inn and in Huntington at the Mountain Health Arena. The fourth public hearing is on Wednesday at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg.

The Finance Board will follow up with a meeting on Thursday, March 30 at 1 p.m. The board will consider comments from the public hearings and adopt the new Plan Year 2024 which will be published in the 2024 Shopper’s Guide.

Visit the PEIA website for more information on the public hearings.

What's Next For Republicans And Democrats In The Legislature?

Republicans bolstered their supermajority on election night but Democrats say they will continue to work for policies that help people.

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Morgan, said he’s buoyed by a 30 to 4 Republican supermajority (what he now calls a super-super majority) in the senate, but he also said that comes with a caveat.

“We’re really good at getting our candidates across the finish line,” Blair said. “But we got some learning to do on how to get amendments done.”

All four proposed amendments to the state constitution failed Tuesday night. Blair said, following the failure of Amendment 2 which would have given the legislature the ability to change or delete property taxes, the legislature needs to continue promoting a drug-free, educated workforce and do a better job educating voters on state revenues. But he said it will be tough to bury the political hatchet with Gov. Jim Justice who opposed Amendment 2.

“I find it off-putting that we’ve been called ‘the swamp’ and we’ve basically been called ‘mired in debt,’” Blair said. “We were called corrupt and that’s not true.”

Re-elected, Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said, as state Democratic party chair, he’ll continue a non-partisan push for policies to help West Virginians.

He did see an election night bright spot in voters defeating all four amendments.

“They still have a very healthy mistrust of Republican policy,” Pushkin said. “They did not want the Republican legislature in control of county budgets. They didn’t want the Republican legislature in control of our public education.”

Pushkin says any compromise in tax reform moving forward needs to be citizen-centric.

“It must be about giving tax relief to the people who really really need it,” Pushkin said. “Not just to the wealthiest West Virginians or to out of state corporations.”

Election results become official when certified by county clerks next week.

House Makes Changes to Medical Marijuana Bill

A bill to legalize medical marijuana will be put to a vote in the House of Delegates Tuesday. Over the weekend, a handful of delegates from both sides of the aisle met with attorneys to discuss potential amendments to the Senate bill that were discussed in a late night floor session Monday. The bill has now taken a much different form than when it was approved in the state Senate just last week.

After a procedural move last week that brought Senate Bill 386, or the Medical Cannabis Act, immediately to the House floor, bypassing the committee process, House leadership acted quickly, delaying further consideration of the bill to allow it to be studied by members and staff over the weekend.

As approved in the Senate, the bill would create a 17-member commission in the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. That commission would oversee the program, creating rules for doctors, patients, growers and dispensers that would then be approved by the Legislature.

A doctor could prescribe marijuana for certain illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, or seizures. Patients with a prescription would also be able to grow up to two plants for personal use. The program would not begin until July 2018.

A handful of delegates, including Judiciary Chair John Shott, met Sunday to discuss some changes they’d like to see to the legislation. From that meeting, two committee substitutes were drafted both of which were taken up by the House Monday night. One was sponsored by Chairman Shott, the second by a bi-partisan group of delegates that include Jordan Hill, a Republican from Nicholas County.

“There was a bi-partisan group that were in favor of the motion the other day,” Hill said, “We had all, you know, gotten together, came up with an amendment on this.”

Hill’s version would have changed the title to “The Patient Freedom Act.” It called for the commission to be independent but still under the DHHR, and would implement a 6 percent sales and a 6 percent excise tax on marijuana. But that version was never taken up Monday evening after delegates voted 51 to 48 to adopt Shott’s version of the bill.

The Judiciary chairman’s version only includes the 6 percent excise tax and keeps the original title “The Medical Cannabis Act.” His bill puts the control of medical marijuana under the Department of Public Health and pushes the rollout date back one year to July 2019.

Shott’s version would not allow the product to be smoked or eaten – only allowing an oil, pill, or patch version of marijuana to be prescribed. However, the oil could be incorporated into a baked good, Shott says, but only if that baked good is made by the patient.

Shott says the bi-partisan group of lawmakers created an amended bill that was still too broad and he’s pushing his fellow lawmakers to back a more cautious approach to a medical marijuana program.

“We modeled our bill after the most recent states, which were Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, and New York,” Shott noted, “This is basically a very cautious approach that each of them have taken after studying what has happened in other states. You know, I think we need to help some of these folks that don’t get relief from other conventional ways.”

Delegate Mike Pushkin, a Democrat from Kanawha County and one of the sponsors of the committee substitute supported by Delegate Hill, argued on the floor Monday night that Shott’s amendment is too restrictive and doesn’t do enough to help the West Virginians struggling with serious diseases that could be helped through access to the drug.

“Anybody else’s phone ringing off the hook today? They want us to vote for this bill, but they want the bill to actually do something; they want a medical cannabis bill. The first amendment doesn’t really do that. It’s not even a toe in the water,” Pushkin said.

Most of the other amendments to the bill adopted Monday night were technical in nature, fixing grammatical errors or incorrect references.

The chamber voted to allow a terminally ill cancer patient who has a valid prescription to cross state lines and bring back a medical marijuana product consistent with West Virginia’s program. Another requires the containers holding marijuana products to be child proof.

The amended version of the bill will be up for a final vote in the chamber Tuesday. It will have to return to the Senate before it can be considered by the governor.

Arrests vs. Treatment: Delegates Debate Drug Trafficking Bill

A bill increasing penalties for drug traffickers was largely the focus of the House floor session Friday. The bill is part of the House leadership’s plans to crack down on people selling drugs in West Virginia to curb the substance abuse epidemic.

House Bill 2648 would increase the penalties for trafficking or manufacturing a controlled substance while in the presence of a minor, making it a felony. The bill carries a penalty of a three year prison term without the ability to receive parole.

The state Division of Corrections was asked to estimate the cost of the bill, but in the fiscal note, the division said they were unable to estimate how many new offenders would be sentenced. The division did say, however, that each new offender would cost the state about $28,000 per year.

The high cost was a concern for some lawmakers, including Delegate Larry Rowe, a Democrat from Kanawha County. Rowe says it’s unlikely most of the people convicted under the bill would be major drug traffickers, but addicts who need treatment.

“Every single day we’ve been in here, except the first few, we have had a bill to raise the penalties on a crime that already exists,” Rowe noted, “We’ve just got to stop doing it, and the economic argument’s very, very wise. We are spending a fortune on corrections; we are being ruined by the amounts of money we spend on corrections as crisis response, when we ought to be spending that same amount of money on prevention.”

Delegate Kelli Sobonya, a Republican from Cabell County, is one of the sponsors of the bill. She argued protecting children in the state, no matter the cost, is what’s important.

“We can talk about the cost of incarceration, but you know, we pass legislation and penalties for two reasons, to be used as a deterrent if it’s high enough, it can be a deterrent, hopefully, you know, people won’t do that behavior, but you know, most likely addicts, they’re gonna do it anyway, because they’re addicted. They make those bad decisions, because they do have an addiction,” Sobonya said, “But you know, for instances like this, I think, you know, that parents need to be held responsible for endangering their children.”

Delegate Mike Pushkin, a Democrat from Kanawha County, opposed the bill, because he says it does nothing to assist in the treatment of addiction, which is where lawmakers should be focused if they want to curb substance abuse in the state.

“These folks aren’t thinking in the long term. They’re not thinking about the penalty, they’re thinking about what’s right in front of ‘em,” Pushkin explained, “And, while I wish this bill, this legislation, would put an end to these stories that we’re hearing; I’m afraid that it will not, and what it will do is put a lot more people who could possibly benefit from treatment; it’s gonna give them longer sentences; not allow them to parole.”

Del. John Shott, R-Mercer, House Judiciary Chair.

Several lawmakers questioned House Judiciary Chair John Shott about hypothetical situations that could come up should the bill take effect. Shott says while those situations may deserve consideration, the law allows local prosecutors some discretion.

“There’s always a hypothetical that pulls at your heartstring in these cases,” Shott noted, “There’s always a hypothetical, but those hypotheticals are based on the absolute worst case scenario. They’re based on an assumption that our prosecutors don’t deserve our trust, they’re based on the assumption that we don’t have any trust or confidence in the legal system to do the right thing, or the common sense and good judgement of our jurors to see through our situation, and do the proper result, or in our judges.”

After over an hour of debate, House Bill 2648 passed 85 to 12 and now moves onto the Senate for consideration.

Children & Family Advocacy Groups Push Legislative Agenda

Children of all ages from across West Virginia gathered at the Capitol yesterday for the Our Children, Our Future campaign’s fourth ‘Kids and Families Day.’ Created in 2014, the group puts together an annual legislative platform which this year includes 12 policies they think would improve the lives of West Virginia working families. Here’s a look at three of those proposals:

State Earned Income Tax Credit:

This year, the Our Children, Our Future Campaign wants the state to create an earned income tax credit. The federal government already offers a similar tax credit for working, low-income families. It comes in the form of a refund that comes around tax time every year. It’s meant to provide families with a lump of cash that could help them get ahead financially. Advocates say a state version would not just help families, but also the economy since most families use that money to purchase necessities.

Carry Jo Grace is the Regional Organizer for the West Virginia Healthy Kids & Families Coalition, and she’s also a mom. She spoke at the Our Children, Our Future event at the Culture Center Tuesday. She explained how much the federal earned income tax credit has helped her family.

“Getting a few hundred or a thousand dollars from the federal government, because we were a hard working family, meant that we could do things like buy our own washer and dryer and not have to truck off to the laundromat every week,” Grace said, “It meant that we could do things like pay for our kids to go to a day camp in the summer time when I was taking classes, instead of trying to find neighbors who could babysit the kids while I went to class.”

Grace says other families like hers would benefit even more if West Virginia had its own version of the tax credit.

300 Rural Community Centers:

The Our Children, Our Future Campaign also wants state lawmakers to use public schools to help create community centers throughout the state. The proposed legislation looks for ways to provide extra money for staffing, so community schools could remain open and provide resources for local children in the afternoon and the evenings. Advocates say the community centers would help kids stay more engaged in their communities and away from drugs or other illegal activities.

Second Chance for Employment Act:

Our Children Our Future Campaign is also reintroducing the second chance for employment act. The act was introduced into the House last year. It provides a way for some convicted felons to have their record cleared after serving their time in prison.

Democratic Delegate Mike Pushkin of Kanawha County is the lead sponsor of the bill. He says the bill will allow people to go back to work and provide for their families

“When you’re talking about these folks that need to get back to work, a lot of them have kids, and they’re better able to provide for their kids, you know, with better jobs,” Pushkin noted.

Chris Kimes is the Government Relations Director for the Our Children, Our Future Campaign.

“Sometimes people get kind of caught off guard when we talk about tax or jobs or different things with child poverty, you know, all this funnels in, because this is opportunity,” Kimes explaines, “We know in West Virginia, if we’re gonna increase our workforce participation rates, if we’re gonna increase companies and jobs in West Virginia, education’s a key to that, and right along with education is the fact of a healthy workforce.”

In the past four years, 21 pieces of legislation advocated for by the Our Children, Our Future Campaign have passed out of the West Virginia Legislature.

Groups Call for Senators to Oppose Gorsuch Nomination

In a conference call with reporters moderated by former delegate Meshea Poore, Margaret Chapman Pomponio, of the West Virginia FREE Action Fund, Andrew Schneider, of Fairness West Virginia, and State Delegate Mike Pushkin gave statements opposing Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Citing Gorsuch’s opinion on the 2014 Supreme Court Case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, in which he sided with the craft store that did not want to include birth control in insurance plans on religious grounds, Chapman and Schneider said Gorsuch would ignore the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community.

Pushkin agreed that Gorsuch would side with corporations.

“It’s safe to say he tends to take the sides of big business, big corporations, rather than siding with the interests of the working people,” the Democrat said. “In that case, this pick is just not good for West Virginia.”

Senator Joe Manchin posted on Facebook Wednesday night that he will vet Gorsuch thoroughly. Senator Shelley Moore Capito issued a statement supporting Gorsuch’s nomination, saying that he’s “a well-respected, seasoned judge.”