SARTA cuts health benefits

For years, employees of the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority didn’t have to pay any deductibles or co-insurance costs for their medical benefits.

If a transit worker had to get surgery, SARTA’s health insurer picked up the entire cost, as long as the providers were in-network. The employee was responsible for a $10 co-pay for doctor’s visits, a $50 co-pay for a nonemergency visit to the emergency room, a $250 deductible for an ambulance ride and co-pays for prescription drugs.

For nonunion workers, not a dime was taken out of their paychecks to fund the premiums. SARTA paid the entire bill — $517 a month for singles and $1,514 a month for families. For union transit employees, the cost to them was $14.58 a month, an increase from $6.25 two years ago.

But with SARTA’s health insurance costs swelling to about 16 percent of its budget, the transit agency’s board Wednesday night signaled the beginning of the end of health benefits at little cost to its 191 full-time workers.

Facing a $477,000 budget shortfall and lackluster sales tax revenue in 2010, the board approved a plan from SARTA Executive Director Kirt Conrad that establishes deductibles for SARTA’s 40 nonunion staffers, effective in January.

With the union contract set to expire then, transit officials are declining to discuss ongoing negotiations. But they do not deny that they are pressing the drivers and maintenance workers of SARTA’s union, Local 1880 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, to accept the same cuts in health benefits.

Under SARTA’s new Medical Mutual of Ohio plan, nonunion workers will have to pay annual deductibles of $500 for singles and $1,000 for families, as well as 10 percent of the costs exceeding those thresholds for in-network providers. Out-of-pocket costs are limited to $1,500 a year for singles and $3,000 for families.

Conrad, who joined the agency in August, said he believes SARTA workers were awarded with health benefits more generous than those in the private sector because their salaries lagged behind their counterparts at other Ohio transit agencies.

He added that if every SARTA employee had to pay deductibles and co-insurance costs, it would save SARTA $256,000 a year in premiums.

With no deductibles, the premiums for 2010 will cost SARTA $2.29 million, a 1 percent drop from 2009 because the agency agreed that any employee needing a prescription drug for more than 90 days would have to order refills from cheaper mail order pharmacies.

SARTA also will self-insure itself for all employee health insurance claims up to $50,000, which Conrad said would save about $100,000 to $200,000.

“I’ve had to become quite an expert in health care,” said Conrad.

 Medical Mutual