By John Bebow - January 21, 2010
It made headlines this week when some House members called a press conference to trot out out a bill to eliminate lifetime health care benefits for retired Michigan lawmakers.
This is a ruse.
On at least three counts.
First, this reform doesn't save any money. Taxpayers spend a little bit less than $5 million per year on health care coverage for retired lawmakers. NONE of that would be returned to the taxpayers or redirected to other budget priorities. Why? Because the ban on retired legislators' health care would only apply to future retirees.
Second, this idea is anything but new. Similar proposals have kicked around both chambers of the Legislature for years.
Third, this is hardly a partisan stroke of genius. Both Democrats and Republicans have talked about this reform, and introduced bills for years.
"This is an extravagant perk that is out of touch with the realities Michigan residents face," State Rep. Dian Slavens, D-Canton Township, said at this week's press conference, according to Gongwer.
An little over an hour away from the capitol, retired state Rep. Lorence Wenke, R-Galesburg, now a candidate for state Senate and a beneficiary of the benefits largesse, was saying the same thing to the Kalamazoo Gazette… "Michigan taxpayers cannot afford to foot the bill for my wife and me to have health-care benefits for the rest of our lives simply because I served six years in the legislature."
Enough already.
Slavens and Wenke are both right. The law ought to be changed, even if it will result in little more than a symbolic, good-government gesture.
It shouldn't take more than the blink of an eye to pass this simple reform this year.
But it will.
Despite all the bipartisan outrage, this one will, like so many others, likely get held in committee in anticipation of tie-bars and horse trades in the budget discussion as both sides maneuver for ways to take credit for "cleaning up Lansing."
And that's what makes this week's press conference ring so hollow.
3 Comments
Very good topic as the cadillac health plans have been in the news.How many former reps and Senators really put the UAW retirees down about their health care.Two many of our political leaders don't know or care about what kind of medical or disability insurance the blue collar workers have.If they did they wouldn't have catered to the insurance companies the way they have. They are only interested in themselves and their political future.
Don't limit yourself to Lansing. My local township trustees receive free benefits too. We pay a $2,400 annual salary for the position, and one trustee received $19,500 in taxpayer funded health, dental, pension plan, etc. 2009. All that on a $2,400 salary for a less than part time position. If other communities have this problem, think of the total dollars involved.
As a former elected official, I see the importance of thinking out of the box and standing for something other than ones own self or what one gets for serving in Government. I truly believe that if the leadership at all levels could have come together on a plan to cut benefits first for themselves we would not be talking about this right now. I am honored to work with some forward thinking people to better government, but I do not see many around my area, especial on the local level.
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