Everything you see going wrong in West Virginia in regards to PEIA and public employee salaries, especially teachers, is the direct result of the voting records of those that supported Obama coming into power.
I fully support any effort to fix this problem. I fully support giving our public employees a fair wage with fair benefits.
Furthermore, I absolutely support any group of employees the right to organize and oppose, through walk-outs (strikes), unfair working conditions, without the worry of being “arrested”. (The “contracts” that people are speaking of? If any teachers are reading this, when was the last time you signed said contract? If it was over a year ago, that contract is null. Contracts must be renegotiated each year [I am not a lawyer, but I did research this, and I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night]. If you didn’t sign a contract within the last year, you’re not under contract [seek legal advice on this, from a competent employment attorney within the State of WV]).
I also think that those that created the problem should take ownership of the problem.
Back when PEIA was created, (Public Employees Insurance Agency for those unfamiliar), teachers themselves approved “benefits over raises”. The teachers, with their unions backing their decision, backed a plan to offer “better” insurance in lieu of salary raises. This decision, and so many like it, are based on failed economics out of the gate. The premiums were based on AGE and SALARY, a completely socialist ideal. Not only would rates increase with age, they would increase with salary, and the salaries also increase with age. This is a WIN WIN situation for an insurance agency. There had to have been a decent math teacher that saw that this was a sweetheart deal for the agency and left the teachers out in the cold. I am hard pressed to believe that there wasn’t some shouting from the rooftops by a math or economics teacher among the pack. Also within this deal, an 80-20 split in premiums was accepted. No matter what the premium, the State would only cover 80% of it. That was voted on and approved by the members of the unions. Premium increases occur when the cost of providing the coverage increases. When insurance rates go up, so do the premium rates.
The same voting bloc that supports liberal and socialist ideals are the same people that comprise the hardcore members of unions and are union leaders.
The way the Affordable Care Act was written and enacted, gave no other course to occur. Rates were going up. Now, in hindsight, everything we warned about is coming to fruition. Because of Obamacare (the ACA), rates are going up and those that supported the socialist efforts of those supporting it’s passage are feeling the after effects. Not unlike an Earthquake, Obamacare is causing these ripple effects and because for 83 years, West Virginia was in lock-step with various liberal and socialized political agendas, the outcome of which is finally being felt in the coal fields.
People don’t like to talk about this. They want to point the finger at current leadership and say they’re the people that are responsible for these issues. They may be responsible for FIXING these issues, but make no mistake about it, if you were supporting Obama, if you supported the ACA, you’re to blame much more than anyone that didn’t and much more than any of the people in the legislature at this time that are trying to find it within our means to fix this problem.
Take some responsibility and stand up for what you believed in. Announce it to the entire world that yes, you did support the ACA and you now see, what those of us with enough economic sense were telling you before it happened, it was a mistake and you’re sorry. From here on out, you’ll let the adults set our economic policy and you’ll try to abstain from living in a dream world where your Socialist Utopia exists in theory, locked behind a vault door, so that it won’t escape and ruin civilization as we know it.
