Teamsters threaten suit over strict benefits system regulations

The Teamsters Union warned the State Employee Benefits Program board Wednesday that its regulations violate legislative intent by effectively preventing employee groups from leaving the state system.

Nevertheless, the board approved the new rules unanimously after a four-hour hearing.

Gary Mauger, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 14 in Las Vegas, said his union has a growing number of state workers who want the union to represent them and provide health benefits.

He said the proposed regulations were "unnecessary and cumbersome." He said they were, in fact, designed to prevent groups of workers from leaving the system for better benefit plans outside. And he said that violates the intent of the legislation passed in 1999.

"You have to understand that your regulations as proposed do not allow anybody to opt out. If they are approved, we certainly are going to challenge these regulations in court," he told the eight-member board that runs the benefits program.

The program provides health and medical benefits to more than 22,000 state workers, dependents and other public employees.

Board Chair Laurie England said the board's responsibility is to make sure the workers are protected and have good coverage available. Board member David Smith added that the rules aren't intended to block groups from leaving the state system.

But Gary Wolff, representing the Highway Patrol Association, said they have wanted out of the state benefits program for more than two years.

"We don't want you to save us from ourselves," he said. "I don't want you to service our guys anymore."

He said the Teamsters will provide his employees with better health benefits for much less money than the state system now takes from employees.

Mauger has said not only Highway Patrol officers but Nevada Department of Transportation employees and other state workers have expressed interest in joining the union program.

He told the board the state law says they should be allowed to get out of the state program if they have more than 300 members in a group and the plan is financially sound.

He said the proposed regulations go far beyond that, allowing the board to judge whether the outside plan is good enough, strictly narrowing the definition of a "group" and limiting the opportunities to apply to join an outside plan to a narrow 10-day window in March. The regulations also impose other conditions and even require bonding.

"This goes far beyond legislative intent," he said adding that none of that is provided for in the statute. He and Wolff charged that the board and benefits program staff are trying to deliberately make the path out so complicated that it's impossible.

A number of other people showed up to complain about the health plan itself but were informed by England and board counsel Brett Kandt that they weren't on the agenda to actually change the plan developed over the past summer.

"We're told we can stand up and publicly comment but that you can't change anything anyway," said Teamsters official Kathy Nauman. "People expected the rates to level off, expected the plan to improve. Neither happened."

The benefits program has drawn complaints from some Northern Nevada state workers who say they are being hit with an extra $75 a month if they want to stay with an HMO instead of joining the state's self-insured program. But Benefits Program director Jan Marie Reid said that just makes things equal with other members of the plan because Hometown Health was charging the same per employee for health benefits as the state has been paying other providers for medical, dental, vision and other coverage.