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STATEMENT FROM THE PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA EDUCATORS ON CHANGES IN THE STATE HEALTH BENEFIT PLAN

Albany High School, November 17, 2005

Maybe It’s Time to Start Over

Folks, let me say this as professionally as I can: You have made a royal mess of this and it is incumbent upon you to clean it up.

As we have noted, the Department of Community Health’s (DCH) handling of this has been a disgrace. It has been very poorly planned. DCH should have had prior assurances from critical providers and hospitals of their willingness to work with United Health Care (UHC) prior to signing with UHC as the sole administrator of the State’s PPO.

How could you have chosen UHC as the sole administrator unless you were certain that the educators and state employees in Southwest Georgia and in many other parts of the state would have an adequate network of providers and hospitals?

I have another question. Where is the governor in all of this? The DCH is an agency that reports to him. How could he have let all of this happen? What does he intend to do about it now?

When you were making the decision to sign up with UHC did you ever once consider anything beyond the overall cost of the plan? Did it occur to you that the quality and scope of the coverage being offered to all employees across the state was every bit as critical as the cost?

PAGE is of the view that there should be NO EDUCATOR LEFT BEHIND.

We are all aware of the problems with the new State Health Plan and while the Governor has extended open enrollment until tomorrow, we are still not at a point where we can say that all educators across the state are being offered the same quality of health care coverage.

It’s time to stop this, back up and address the serious problems before moving forward.

We understand that Phoebe Putney has still not signed on the UHC network and there are still other critical providers unsigned who are necessary to make State Health a viable option for state employees.

The Governor must extend open enrollment again and the Governor must step in and either void this agreement with UHC to be the sole administrator of the State’s PPO or ensure that UHC will be able to provide all educators with adequate health coverage.

The 2006 legislative session which happens to be in an election year will be the time for our voices to be heard – a time of reckoning. We need more funding, educators on the Board of DCH, and better planning and communication from DCH.

Educators are being held accountable for the achievement of students. Shouldn’t the Governor, legislature and DCH be held accountable for the programs they provide?