Nearly half of the Democratic lawmakers in the House have signed on as sponsors to legislation augmenting the health care pooling reforms put in place for public school employees during the budget battle earlier this fall and the chair of the Education Committee said he plans on taking up HB 5454.
The legislation would essentially make schools with 250 or more employees, and not 100 as in current statute, open up their health care coverage for competitive bidding.
House Education Chair Rep. Tim Melton (D-Auburn Hills) said since the Senate opened the door on repealing the service tax, he's open to addressing the MESSA issue once the replacement is agreed upon. Legislators have told Gongwer News Service they're being asked to revisit the issue by teachers since the Legislature already has embraced repealing the service tax that was also part of the overall budget agreement.
Mr. Melton said there was no good statistical data showing a requirement for 100 employees was the best route to go, but there is evidence a larger group of 250 does make better policy and doesn't run into as much HIPPA compliance issues.
Seems the Senate Republicans have a problem with this.
Matt Marsden, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) said Tuesday, the school health care pooling measure was a significant reform agreed upon during budget negotiations.
"I would strongly recommend the House Democrats leave it as it is," he said.
Or... what? Matt didn't say.
A deal is a deal.