The statewide Joint Labor Management Committee met October 15th to discuss changes to next year’s health plan. There aren’t any large-scale changes in this off-cycle year, but there are some items to pay attention to. MOST important is Open Enrollment from October 25th-November 13th. Bear in mind that Veteran’s Day is right before the close of open enrollment; don’t wait until the last minute to review your coverages and make any changes! Two items discussed at the Joint Labor Management Committee (the task force that negotiates healthcare) include ensuring that you make elections that ... Read More >>
Insurance updates
Insurance Bargaining Introduction
Like the MGEC labor agreement, your healthcare as a State employee is negotiated at the bargaining table. But there are some key differences between contract negotiations and healthcare negotiations. The first is timing. The worlds of healthcare and the state’s budget biennium do not line up; it isn’t feasible to have one contract operate with two sets of timelines. As a result, while what happens in healthcare negotiations influences and is referenced in the regular contract, they operate separately in practice. Secondly, like almost all public employers, there is only one healthcare ... Read More >>
State Employee Group Insurance Plan (SEGIP)
Open Enrollment - All benefits except short term disability will be included in open enrollment this year. October 26 - Nov. 15. Information will be posted on the website (https://mn.gov/mmb/segip/) by Oct. 12, 2023. Preferred One was acquired by UnitedHealthcare and will no longer be a provider in SEGIP starting in 2024. State employees will be able to choose from Blue Cross Blue Shield and Health Partners. January 1, 2024 health insurance premiums will increase by 3.0%. See Premium Rates chart. ... Read More >>
Insurance Bargaining Update
Insurance Bargaining concluded on Thursday, June 1. A tentative agreement was reached between the union coalition and the State of Minnesota to provide healthcare for all state employees for the next two years. Unlike previous bargaining cycles where the employer came to the bargaining table with take-away, regressive proposals and we fought to maintain coverage, this year features discussions that actively improve the healthcare experience. Some of the notable features of this year’s agreement include: 6% and 2.7% premium increases for the respective years of the agreement; $0 ... Read More >>
Insurance Bargaining
We are currently within the cycle of bargaining the health insurance plan for all state employees. Because everyone participates in the same plan, bargaining is done as a coalition with all of the other state unions. We are pushing a package that makes the insurance more valuable to our members and their families. While it’s too soon to know exactly where we will land (your humble author is writing this in a break at the bargaining session), Union proposals are moving forward to enhance benefits and solve challenges to gaps and barriers to proper coverage. More to come! ... Read More >>
SEGIP Bargaining Update
As a state employee your health insurance is the product of collective bargaining just as the MGEC contract is. But the process in which it’s bargained is quite a bit different. Because the State Employee Group Insurance Plan (SEGIP) is a benefit that is the same for all state employees, it is bargained in a coalition with all of the state’s unions. That coalition has recently started meeting to determine what the proposals will be for the first round of bargaining with the state, which begins on April 25th. MGEC put out the call for ideas from our members a few weeks back. We heard ... Read More >>