Rhode Island Governor Can’t Raise Health Insurance Premiums For State Union Employees

Rhode Island Governor Can’t Raise Health Insurance Premiums For State Union Employees in Group Health Insurance

Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri set a goal to balance the state’s budget, taking aim at a state employee health insurance plan.

Governor Carcieri threatened to lay off hundreds of workers if union members with family health plans didn’t agree to pay more for their insurance premiums and forgo a pay raise.

Union leaders made a preliminary agreement with the governor — affecting some 4,000 members of Council 94, Rhode Island’s largest employees union.

But Council 94 members strongly voted against the proposal, reported the Boston Globe.

Governor Carcieri then tried to implement an executive order that would have forced the proposal, but that order was denied by Superior Court Judge Patricia Hurst.

Now, Carcieri will seek an immediate stay from the state Supreme Court and threatened state employee layoffs if he didn’t win, wrote the Globe article.

Should the family health insurance of Rhode Island’s state employees be a target for budget cuts?

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