PEABODY — One by one, North Shore mayors stepped up to the podium at a North Shore Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday and implored the Massachusetts Legislature to do something about what they called dramatic and unsustainable annual rises in health care costs.
The ballooning cost of health insurance for municipal employees "is the most important issue facing every city and town in the commonwealth," Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll told the crowd at the Crowne Plaza North Shore in Peabody. The event was part of the North Shore Business Expo.
"Rising fixed costs like health insurance and pensions are cannibalizing all the gains we get from growth," Driscoll said. "We face $1 million annual increases in health insurance costs. Think of what that does to a community. You want strong schools, nice parks and vibrant downtowns, but that quality of life is in jeopardy if we can't figure out health care."
Newburyport Mayor Donna Holaday playfully kidded her Salem counterpart, telling her to stop all the belly-aching.
"We wish we were in Kim Driscoll's position with an 8 percent increase" in health care, Holaday said. "We had a 16.8 percent increase in Newburyport, which equates to $1 million. How can we sustain that? We can't."
In Beverly, health insurance for employees was $4.4 million in 1995, and back then employees paid only 10 percent of premiums, Mayor Bill Scanlon said. This year the city will pay $20.9 million on insurance for public employees, even though workers are now paying 20 percent of the premiums.
Massachusetts enacted sweeping legislation in 2006 that has, by all measures, led to much greater access to health care insurance — the state has the highest percentage of insured residents — but under the plan, costs have continued to escalate. Last month, Gov. Deval Patrick introduced a bill that would allow the government to have more say in how much doctors and hospitals charge, but there are still many unanswered questions.
"We've heard that something will happen, but we heard that last year and the year before," Scanlon said. "But this year, something has got to happen."
Peabody Mayor Michael Bonfanti said unions, residents and state officials will all have to make sacrifices to keep Peabody "financially stable."
In addition to health care reform, the biggest help that state officials could offer cities is "relief from unfunded mandates and outdated requirements," Bonfanti said.
The prime example of government getting in the way happened last year when the state's Division of Occupational Safety, through the prevailing wage law, mandated that Peabody pay trash haulers $30 per hour — $5 per hour more than the city had negotiated. Salem and surrounding communities continue to pay $25 per hour for trash collectors, Bonfanti said. The order will cost the city $1.4 million over the life of the contract.
"Common sense would say the surrounding communities should be factored in," Bonfanti said. "I guess common sense is not so common. ... We need our state partners not to put unnecessary obstacles in front of us but to support our efforts."
Bonfanti, who announced in January that he will not seek re-election to a sixth term this November, had some parting words for his fellow mayors.
"The last couple of weekends, I have been pondering my 30 years of elected service and have tried to distill it down to find out what I've learned, what experiences, what wisdom, kernel of truth or sage advice I could give you," he said, pausing for effect.
"All I can say is good luck and thank you."
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