Hearing: PEIA insurees grateful for grace period, concerned about rising costs
With a proposed 2019-20 benefits plan that has no premium increases and features some enhancements in benefits, speakers at Tuesday’s Public Employees Insurance Agency public hearing focused more on the need to find a long-term funding fix for the state-run health insurance program.
Those making up a comparatively small turnout at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center Little Theater Tuesday evening expressed thanks for a second straight year without cuts to their PEIA coverage, but also voiced their frustration over the lack of progress by the governor’s PEIA Task Force to find a dedicated funding source for PEIA.
“We’ve got two years of grace, but there’s no funding coming down the pike, and we’re about to have a bare-knuckle brawl in the next election,” Boone County teacher Karrena Rouse told members of the PEIA Finance Board.
Kanawha County teacher Jay O’Neal said he was concerned that possible funding sources suggested at Task Force public hearings around the state — including raising the corporate net tax or the severance tax on natural gas — were rejected outright by legislative leaders.
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