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We face a very tough economic situation in the state of Michigan. Cutting and raising revenues has become an annual exercise as legislature tries to balance the budget. Fiscal projections continue to predict that the situation is not looking much better. This has greatly affected revenue streams for municipal governments, and school districts. This scenario has caused a multitude of layoffs, furloughs, program eliminations, etc. These cuts have had a tremendous affect on staff, and the people who rely on them.  With this in mind, I will evaluate the merits of any plan that will address Michigan's structural deficit. At this point, there has been no bills drafted, and the plan remains conceptual as he continues to meet with all stakeholders.

 Why can't we talk about Dillion's health care plan?

Published: Sunday, August 9, 2009

By GLENN GILBERT
Of The Oakland Press

Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon would probably prefer it if more praise for his bold idea about consolidating health insurance coverage for all 400,000 public employees in the state came from his own party.

The reaction to his proposal, unfortunately, illustrates how far removed the sad state of Michigan politics is from common sense.

Some of what his fellow Democrats and their allies in unions and the public sector are saying - and not saying, for that matter - paints Dillon as a pariah.

Michigan Education Association unionist Lu Battaglieri called it an "anti-labor, anti-union and anti-collective bargaining" scheme that is even worse than anything the MEA battled during 12 years of conservative former Gov. John Engler.

Many of Dillon's House colleagues appear to be treating him as a leper.

For instance, only two of the six Oakland County House Democrats - Tim Melton of Auburn Hills and Marie Donigan of Royal Oak - returned phone calls from The Oakland Press seeking comment on the issue.

Voters might want to remember that the other four did not care to comment on what certainly is being billed as the most dramatic proposal to come out of the legislature for curbing the cost of government in recent years.

They are Lisa Brown of West Bloomfield Township, Ellen Cogen Lipton of Huntington Woods, Vicki Barnett of Farmington Hills and Vincent Gregory of Southfield. And their offices were all called twice.

This may raise more questions about the process than the actual substance of the proposal, unfortunately.

"They're nervous," said Craig Ruff of Public Sector Consultants, a nonpartisan Lansing think tank. Ruff adds that the anxiety encompasses "a good number of Republicans who have been endorsed by the MEA and municipal employees."

Donigan said some constituents have encouraged her to vote against it, but she tells them "there is no 'it' yet."

"There is no actual plan," Donigan said. "People are jumping the gun. I am telling them to chill out and wait for an actual plan."

Dillon, who lives in Wayne County's Redford Township, said government, university and school employees in Michigan generally receive more generous - and expensive - health insurance coverage than their counterparts in other states and people who work for private companies.

Aligning Michigan benefits with what public workers elsewhere receive and consolidating the state's hundreds of plans into one could help avoid thousands of government and school layoffs, he said. The state is facing a $2.7-billion-plus deficit and Dillon suggests the plan could produce annual savings close to $1 billion.

Donigan did say she saw no reason to lower public-sector benefits to those of the private sector. The goal should be the reverse, she said - to raise private sector benefits.

Dillon would allow local units of government to continue to negotiate their own benefits if they were lower-priced than what the state settles on.

Melton said Dillon's proposal reflects a "topic that needs to be examined."

"We need some bold changes, especially if they are going to save teachers' jobs and put more police officers on the streets."

Melton said public support of Dillon's proposal has been high.

"The status quo shouldn't be the norm," Melton said. "We need people who are willing to put their necks on the line."

"Having been in Andy Dillon's shoes for a long time and taken the bullet on different things over the years, and being frustrated that we can't look at tangible, real solutions that represent real reforms to structural problems, I feel for Andy because he has been under the thumb of the governor, and he has been in a position that he can't be vocal about those kind of reforms," Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop of Rochester told The Oakland Press editorial board.

"He's at the end of his career, and he's just spilling right now with ideas, and this is one that we've talked about in the past," said Bishop, who noted that some Republicans had brought up the idea of pooling insurance in 2007. "It was a good idea then and it is a good idea today. It's just one of those no-brainers that we ought to be doing.

"How many times can we talk about duplication in government and the way we do things? And here we finally have a Democrat who is willing to step up and pull the trigger on something that will stand up to the culture that has put us in the position we are in today. And his own party has just hacked his legs out from under him," Bishop said.

Agree or disagree with Dillon's plan, but please talk about it. If you don't like it, come up with something else.

Democrats ought to be asking Republicans what sacred cows they are willing to part with in exchange.

 We have just been through the cataclysms of bankruptcies for Chrysler and General Motors, with jobs lost and benefits slashed. And the state government won't even talk about reducing or controlling benefits for public employees?

"What's sad is that the plan really tries to mitigate the reductions for some of their constituencies," said Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance.

"Things like this we've got to embrace and support people who are willing to stick their neck out," Rothwell said. 

Dillon's office says a new study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a division of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, reveals that the average cost of health-care premiums for private companies in Michigan that employ more than 1,000 workers is $11,926 a year per employee for family coverage. In contrast, the average cost of health-care premiums for Michigan's public employees generally ranges from $16,000 to $17,000 for family coverage, his office said.

Meanwhile, Dillon has reached out to groups across the state representing a wide variety of local, state and school workers, inviting them to help craft his proposal.

Ruff said he suspects Dillon has sufficient support in the House to get his plan adopted.

"What we've been doing hasn't been working," Dillon told the Associated Press last week. "We've got to change the way we're doing things."

Dillon says he wants to forge a long-term, bipartisan solution to Michigan's chronic financial problems while investing in education and other services needed to help resurrect the economy. And he says many of the key decisions must be in the next few months, before lawmakers get sidetracked by an unusually busy 2010 election season.

"This town's on fire," Dillon said of Lansing. "We should put the fire out, not be worrying about who's the next governor. The future of the state is in our hands right now. And that's my focus."

Good for him. Hopefully, there are enough profiles in courage in Lansing to help him - and us - succeed.

Here's a link to learn more about the Dillion's Health Care Plan
www.newideasformichigan.org/