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Adam Wilson

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Adam Wilson expounds on Washington state government, workers and politics. Wilson began covering those issues for the Olympian in 2004. He can be reached at: awilson@theolympian.com.

Republican: state workers should pay more for insurance

• Published September 22, 2008

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I didn't get to this last Friday, but Sen. Joe Zarelli, the lead Republican on the Senate budget committee, had a follow-up to the rather grim revenue forecast.

If you're facing a $529 million drop in projections, you might consider renegotiating state worker health benefits, Zarelli says. He notes that Gov. Chris Gregoire settled health care negotiations in one day with the coalition of state worker unions, agreeing to have employees continue paying 12 percent of premiums.

In a two-page item making the case for going back to the table, Zarelli includes:

The 2007 Kaiser Family Foundation nationwide survey on employer health benefits found that employees pay on average 28% for family coverage. This includes both small and large companies.

If just large companies were the point of comparison, the average employee in a large firm (more than 200 employees) pays 24% of the cost. Or twice what state government employees in Washington pay for family coverage.

And it should be noted this is what people who receive health coverage through their employer pay. In Washington state, only 62% of employers offer coverage to employees.


My first inclination is to put this in the "not going to happen" file, along with Dino Rossi's suggestion that the governor wait until the Legislature’s in session to bargain with unions. Practically no chance of it happening, politically.

But Zarelli did suggest a hiring freeze before it happened, so we should remember he suggested this first, too.

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