Arbitrators Unanimously Reject VSBA Attempt to Further Make Healthcare Unaffordable

December 2, 2021

A panel of three arbitrators unanimously chose your team’s approach to statewide healthcare, dealing a blow to an attempt by the Vermont School Boards Association team to further hike out-of-pocket expenses. 

The 22-page decision makes it clear that your team’s decision to accept the recommendations of a neutral factfinder was key. “Based on the totality of evidence and the arguments of the parties, the arbitration panel unanimously concludes that there is no compelling reason to reject the recommendations set forth in [the] well-reasoned fact-finding report,” the panel wrote.

The panel summed up the arguments made by each side, and the comparison is brutal. The VSBA’s team – representing employers – made the case that healthcare plans for educators are too generous. Indeed, the panel says the employers’ representatives “proposed to increase out of pocket [costs to educators] to reduce cost and utilization by increasing ‘participation’ by members.” The employer team “describes the employee health plans as a ‘Rolls Royce’ from which [their] proposal will only remove some ‘shiny chrome,’” the panel wrote.

In contrast, the panel characterized your team’s proposal in terms of what it means to actual people. Acknowledging your team’s acceptance of the fact-finding report was already a concession, the panel said, “the employees focus on the impact…on the lowest wage earners, and on big users of health care, for whom higher [out of pocket costs] will be financially onerous, and ‘may push employees over the edge.’ The employees say $10 billion in federal stimulus aid to Vermont has left if with a large surplus, yet the employer’s last best offer ‘targets the sick, poor, families and women.”

As you may recall, both teams presented a week’s worth of evidence to the arbitration panel last month. The arbitrators were asked to resolve two key issues: the amount of out-of-pocket expenses and the arbitration process. The new healthcare plan will go into effect Jan. 1, 2023 and will last three years.

Your team agreed with the fact-finder’s report, which recommends out-of-pocket costs for licensed educators to be $600 a year for single plans and $1,000 a year for all other tiers of coverage. The factfinder recommended no increase in out-of-pocket costs for non-licensed employees, which are currently $300 for single coverage and $600 for all other tiers.

By contrast, the VSBA team wanted to see those costs grow each year of the three-year package. For teachers and other licensed employees, that would amount to $800 a year for single coverage and $1,600 for all other tires in the final year. For non-licensed workers, the hike would be to $400 for single coverage and $800 for all other tiers in the final year. If the VSBA had gotten its way, licensed educators would have seen a doubling of out-of-pocket expenses at the end of the three-year package.

This arbitration decision – which you can read here – is a win for your dedicated team of statewide healthcare bargainers and for everyone of you who stood up, organized, wrote letters, and engaged with your local school boards. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more details and will give you an opportunity to ask questions of your team. Click here to read detailed updates, timelines, and comparisons between your team’s approach and the one taken by the VSBA team.