Judge orders hearing on health insurance for Buffalo teachers
A state judge said Tuesday that it was “hard to believe” the contention of Buffalo Public Schools officials that it is impossible to restore multiple-carrier health insurance plans to city teachers.
State Supreme Court Justice Patrick H. NeMoyer ordered a hearing on that issue and said he might hold the district in contempt of court if he determines that the health insurance polices were available but that school officials simply chose not to pursue them.
The hearing — scheduled for March 2 and 3 — will be a continuation of the Buffalo Teachers Federation’s efforts to have school officials held in contempt for failing to restore multiple- carrier plans as ordered by four previous administrative and court decisions.
The school system switched to a single-carrier plan in 2005 to save millions of dollars and provide the same range of insurance benefits, said James Schmit, an attorney retained by the school system to handle the case.
By the time the case wound its way through court last October, the policies that the school system was ordered to restore were no longer available, Schmit said.
“We cannot go back to where we were,” he said. “We cannot do it.”
NeMoyer said officials of both Independent Health and Univera will be directed to testify at the March hearing about the availability of the policies.
“I have to have these people in court, and they have to be subject to cross-examination,” he said.
Since unilaterally imposing the single-carrier plan in 2005, the school system has saved more than $40 million while providing teachers medical coverage identical to what they previously received, school officials claim.
But an arbitrator’s ruling and two subsequent court decisions ordered the school system to restore the four previous health insurance options, as required by the BTF contract. Last October, the State Court of Appeals denied the school system’s request that it reconsider the case.
When school officials still refused to restore the multiple-carrier options, the BTF sought the contempt-of-court citation.
BTF President Philip Rumore said the union has long been willing to negotiate a single- carrier plan as part of a new contract.
“For five years, we have stated our willingness to negotiate a single carrier. For five years, the district fought to impose one. It is the superintendent and School Board who continue this battle, not the BTF,” he said.
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