Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos

WORCESTER - As part of City Manager Michael V. O'Brien's ongoing effort to reduce the city's health insurance costs, he is implementing some co-payment changes for those municipal employees who are members of Local 495, National Association of Government Employees.

There will be an annual cap of $1,000 for both outpatient and inpatient surgeries.

The manager said there will be no changes to primary care doctor visit co-payments ($10) or prescription drug co-payments ($10, $20, $35).

"This is a reform that benefits both the employee and the city through lower overall premium costs," Mr. O'Brien said. "It will also help us preserve municipal services and jobs."

The more than 500 members of Local 495 will join approximately 2,000 municipal health insurance enrollees who have been converted to the same health plan co-pay changes.

The most recent group to do so was the clerical employees in the Department of Public Works and Parks, as part of a two-year collective bargaining agreement it ratified earlier this summer.

Mr. O'Brien said the city had been in negotiations with Local 495 regarding the health plan design changes since February, under the re-opener clause in the union's contract. But the manager said no agreement could be reached and the discussions came to an impasse.

"The existence of an impasse allows the city to proceed to implement the co-payment changes," Mr. O'Brien said. "This change will result in lower health insurance premium costs (approximately 4 percent) for both the city and the Local 495 unit employee."

The new premium rates will take effect Oct. 1. Members of Local 495 will remain on their current health insurance plan and will be issued health insurance identification cards reflecting their new plan co-payments, which go into effect Nov. 1.

Letters were sent Friday to members of Local 495 outlining the changes.

Mr. O'Brien said the co-pay change proposal was initially broached more than a year ago, on the heels of other health insurance changes that have been implemented by his administration.

The higher co-pays went into effect for all non-represented municipal employees on July 1.

The manager said once the changes are implemented by union employees it will save Worcester taxpayers more than $3 million.

"Progress will and must continue, and will result in reducing our overall (health insurance) premium costs by more than $3 million once implemented for all employee groups," Mr. O'Brien said. "The effort to transition to these reasonable, industry aligned co-pays is especially critical at this juncture.

"Volatile energy markets, a softening national and regional economy, and the resultant decline in tax revenues at the state has the potential to destabilize our future budgets and therefore, our core mission," he added. "We must continue to chart the course of reasonable reforms, across the board, in order to redirect these taxpayer savings to better define that future."