Screw You

The Nashville Metro Council has provided a perfect example of the change that has happened over the years. You probably think you are a citizen of the United States. Wrong. At least in the eyes of these politicians and most of the others around the country at all levels, you are a subject.

Do you have problems getting, paying for or retaining health insurance? The answer is to get elected to the Nashville Metro Council.

I have cut-and-pasted the article from the Nashville Tennessean below. It gives a lot of the gory details of a rip-off of taxpayers. Seeing us as subjects rather than as citizens may not sound too important a distinction. Believe me, it is.

A subject is one who owes allegiance to a superior, a master, a monarch. It’s not just someone who gives allegiance. It is someone who owes allegiance. A citizen is an independent political animal who participates in the running of his community and country because the government owes allegiance to, and answers to him. That is a tremendous difference.

It is the mindset of these politicians, and other government officials, that is the problem. It is the mindset that allows them to think in terms of what you and I owe them, not what they owe to their constituency.

Before turning you over to the Tennessean, I want to again express my position on this general area. There should be no retirement benefits for any elected or appointed government position. There should be no health insurance or other benefits for any elected or appointed position except during the period that the office is held and only for full-time positions. Such a mandate would greatly reduce the number of career politicians. Career politicians are almost universal in their contempt for us and in seeing us as subjects.

September 17, 2008

Taxpayers foot bill for 75% of council’s health-care benefit

Politicians say perk rewards long hours

By BRAD SCHRADE
Staff Writer

Worried about your health insurance? You may want to consider running for Metro Council.

A little-known benefit for Nashville’s 40-member part-time legislative body is taxpayer-subsidized health insurance — for life. Council members can carry the benefit even after they leave the legislative body, as long as they serve for parts of two straight terms and have the insurance while in office.

The council itself earlier this year sweetened the benefit, lowering the number of years of service necessary to receive the subsidized health insurance after members leave office. It was done to help a recent former councilman who failed to meet the eight-year service requirement.

There are 18 current members and 28 former members who carry the subsidized health benefit, which is costing taxpayers $362,700 this year. Their ages range from 39 to 85, and in many cases their families are included in the coverage. Some receive the benefit even though they are eligible for Medicare.

“It’s clearly a nice benefit for the council for their service,” Metro Finance Director Rich Riebeling said.

Those who defend the benefit say it’s been in place since the days when council members received less than $7,000 a year, making them some of the lowest-paid elected public servants in the country. The health-care benefit helped make up for the low pay, but it remained in place when the council in 2003 voted to raise members’ pay to $15,000.

The lifetime health care, many say, is the last remaining perk for council members in their service to the citizens of Davidson County. Gone are the free parking passes around town, golf passes to public courses and free movie tickets — all swept away in recent years under new ethics guidelines.

Council members say the part-time job year requires numerous hours of attention to constituent issues, constant monitoring of e-mail, phone messages and long meetings during the week — all activities that cut into a council member’s family and professional life.

Some say they didn’t know how much of the cost Metro taxpayers were paying, but several pointed out that they are paying a share of the cost.

Like Metro employees, council and former members pay 25 percent of the cost, and the city pays the rest. But Metro employees don’t get to take the benefit with them if they leave before they’re eligible for retirement.

The benefit for a family plan can cost Metro as much as $930 a month per member. Metro costs for individual plans start at around $215.

“It’s certainly not a windfall,” said former Councilman Adam Dread, one of the 28 former members who get the benefit. “There’s nothing free about it. What I’m being able to do is keep paying in on what I was paying on before.”

Dread, who was an at-large member, was the outgoing councilman behind the law change earlier this year. Dread served on the council for five years from 2002 to 2007, winning Howard Gentry’s council seat after Gentry became vice mayor when Ronnie Steine resigned in midterm.

Dread, who describes himself as “very conservative” on fiscal issues, said someone in Metro told him he would be able to continue receiving subsidized insurance after he left office.

But he received a notice after leaving saying he didn’t qualify because he hadn’t served the eight years, even though he had been forced to leave office because he had reached the two-term limit — one of those being a partial term.

Dread, an attorney, could have continued receiving the Metro insurance but would have had to cover the full cost, which for a family plan exceeded $1,200 a month. That was a cost he said he couldn’t afford.

Compounding his problem was a stroke he had in 2003, which he says makes him uninsurable.

Dread hired a lawyer and pressed the Metro benefit board for relief. That didn’t come until January when his former colleagues on the Metro Council passed legislation allowing for term-limited council members who serve less than eight years to receive the health benefit.

“It cost me several thousand dollars to do this,” he said. “If I’d dropped it, I would have been uninsurable.”

Not all use benefit

Nationally, major medical coverage can cost an average of $800 to $1,200 a month for a family depending on age of the family members, their health and medical history.

Council insurance benefits have been part of the job for decades, but the benefit for years was restricted to those serving on the council. In the early 1990s, the council changed the law to allow them to continue receiving the subsidized health insurance after leaving office, said Don Jones, the council’s longtime attorney and former staff director.

The change was prompted at the time when a similar benefit was extended to general session court judges, Jones said, and council members asked why they couldn’t have the same benefit. He said the appeal of the benefit for council members would decrease if the co-pay is increased to bring it more in the line with the private sector, where employees can pay up to 50 percent of the cost, Jones said.

Jones said many new members at first aren’t aware that the council has a health benefit, but even after learning about it some keep their existing plans.

“It’s kind of a mixed bag,” Jones said. “It’s a big benefit for those who are self-employed.”

Subsidized health insurance for life is a benefit not many employees would receive, said Kenneth E. Thorpe, chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at Emory University.

“That’s obviously a very generous benefit,” Thorpe said. “That’s the issue you see that’s somewhat different from the federal and state levels.”

State lawmakers elected to their positions get to maintain health insurance after leaving office, but those who serve less than 20 years in office must pay 40 percent of the cost, while those who serve between 20 and 30 years pay 30 percent. More than 30 years in office and a former lawmaker pays
20 percent, which is the payment percentage for the health benefit while serving. State lawmakers also are eligible for a pension, which Metro council members do not receive.

Future costs unknown

David Briley, a former councilman at large, said the benefit was something he considered as he weighed seeking a second term. He said serving on the council has a cost in lost time at work and at home. The insurance gives him flexibility if changes jobs or becomes self-employed again.

“One of the things that balanced out the sacrifice to my family for serving was the portability of the group plan,” he said. “We made a particular sacrifice for eight years and this is the benefit of this sacrifice.”

The city does not project how much the benefit could cost taxpayers in the future. The introduction of term limits in the 1990s, however, ensured that there would be more turnover on the 40-member council, making more people eligible for the benefit.

Many private companies are getting away from promised health-care benefits after retirement because of the unknown costs involved, said Larry Van Horn, a Vanderbilt University economist who studies the health-care system.

He said even though the council benefit may be promised to a relatively small group, it will still carry costs well into the future.

“There’s a real liability to the government if it’s booking that benefit and funding it,” Van Horn said. “That’s a pretty significant expense.”

Councilman Mike Jameson has expressed reservations about carrying the benefit after leaving office. Jameson, an attorney, is among the 18 current council members who receive the benefit. He said he doesn’t think he will use the benefit after leaving office.

“To continue to get it beyond being on the council, maybe you deserve it or not,” Jameson said. “I think it has a perception issue in the same vein as the council receiving free golf passes and parking.”

Some opt out of plan

Roy Dale, a former councilman who served in the 1990s, has had the insurance since he joined the council. Back then, he said, council members made $400 a month for serving. Dale, who owns a civil engineering firm, said he didn’t know how much he or Metro paid for his family insurance plan each month because he gives the bills to his bookkeeper. Records show the city pays $933 a month for his family plan, while he pays $311.

Dale said he has heard council members talk about the health benefit, and even heard one councilman talk about seeking a second term to receive the benefit after leaving office. Dale said he would be willing to pay the full cost to continue receiving the benefit.

“I tend to probably agree the public should not have to foot the bill on these individuals,” he said. “Probably when you leave council you should be able to continue to keep your insurance and pay the cost.”

Former Councilman Leo Waters continues to receive the health benefit. He said the insurance cost significantly less than what he was paying when he had a private plan, but it didn’t influence his decision to run for council.

“Health insurance is so critical these days,” Waters said. “Not everybody qualifies for a group plan. If you know about it, it might influence people to run for council. I think that would be a mistake if the was the only factor because there’s a lot more involved in being a Metro councilman.”

Tagged as: citizen, Health, insurance, nashville, Politics, subject, thieves