Health Care

The House budget has proposed to increase the contribution that state employees make to their health insurance from 15% to 30%. I've drafted a letter to my state senator and representative to ask for their support in stopping this from being implemented.

I hope we can count on both of you to oppose the draconian increases currently being proposed to our health insurance. Most faculty at the University have not had their salary keep pace with the rate of inflation for years. A few years ago, I found that the difference between my salary and the salary of a new assistant professor was greater in absolute value then than it had been when I arrived. New faculty get hired in with salaries that are competitive with the rest of the world. With our pay increases consistently running below the rate of inflation (nearly every year I've been here -- this year, our cost-of-living adjustment is "0", you know), the rest of us lose ground every year. I've always felt that one trade-off I could point to was that we were covering less of our health insurance, which has consistently increased faster than inflation.

The same pattern is true of other University benefits. For example, our families don't have to pay tuition, but tuition has stayed nearly constant for a generation and all of the increases have been for fees -- to the point that this benefit is nearly worthless.

I believe the real solution needs to be some kind of single-payer health care. Nickel-and-diming the state employees isn't going to fix the problem -- and, in fact, just masks the symptoms. Instead of covering up the symptoms by reducing the impact of spiraling health-care increases on the budget, we should be trying to fix the core problem. (And this shouldn't be controversial, because I seem to recall that support for single-payer health care is part of the platform of the Massachusetts Democratic Party... Maybe when Democrats control the House, the Senate, and the corner office, we'll finally see that happen. Oh, wait.) In any event, until that happens I would be VERY disappointed not to see my elected officials make EVERY POSSIBLE EFFORT to keep our contributions where they are.