Senate Bills 323 and 395 have recently been proposed to amend 2011 PA 152, which limits public employer contributions toward the cost of employee medical insurance. Together the two bills increase the multiplier for individual and spouse medical insurance coverage (from the current $11,385 to $13,445), provide that an employee and dependent shall be covered under the full-family multiplier, and provide that payments made to employees in lieu of medical insurance are excluded from a public employer's annual cost of its medical benefit plan.
We caution our public school clients to be careful in implementing increases in costs for the individual and spouse subscriber category should the bills become law. If you have an existing ratified collective bargaining agreement, an increase to the individual and spouse insurance limitation will likely not affect your costs until the current collective bargaining agreement expires. The terms and conditions of your collective bargaining agreement will dictate the result.
If you have any questions regarding the bills or its potential impact, please call your Clark Hill Education Practice Group attorney for guidance.