The members of the West Virginia Public Workers Union make the following recommendations to the PEIA Finance Board.

The PEIA Fiance Board has other options they can explore rather than passing on the cost of corporate greed onto the public workers of West Virginia.

No benefit cuts and no cost increases in 2011

The West Virginia Public Workers Union recommends that the PEIA Finance Board cease all planned benefit cuts and cease all benefit plan participant cost increases, including premium increases for the 2011 plan, and at any time such cost increases will exceed the value of any cost of living raise granted to PEIA benefit plan participants, who are either working or retired.

The West Virginia Public Workers Union recommends that the PEIA Finance Board control their in house costs before imposing increased costs and benefit cuts on plan participants. The PEIA Finance Board should cease all executive level pay raises while the Governor’s Statewide Pay Freeze is being enforced on all other state workers by PEIA Finance Board member (& Governor’s Staff) Joe Smith.

The West Virginia Public Workers Union recommends that the PEIA Finance Board can save money by reducing preventable injuries. The PEIA Finance Board should fully support the West Virginia Public Workers Union recommendation for the state to fund, implement and enforce compliance with the 22 year old WV Occupational Health and Safety Act (WV OSHA). Compliance with WV OSHA will reduce preventable injuries, decreasing public workers utilization of medical services which will save PEIA millions of dollars every year.

The West Virginia Public Workers Union recommends that the PEIA Finance Board can save costs by coordinating with the appropriate state agencies who are charged with regulating the out of control hospital corporations, and compel the regulatory enforcement community to take action to reduce unnecessary hospital procedures, take action to reign in the pharmaceutical companies excessive advertising costs being passed onto consumers and to properly regulate third party administrative costs, before enacting any more benefit cuts and cost increases on PEIA plan participants.

The West Virginia Public Workers Union recommends that the PEIA Finance Board provide public workers a voice in these decisions about our compensation and benefit package by allowing public workers to bargain collectively for these health insurance benefits.

The West Virginia Public Workers Union recommends that because a single payer health care system is the long term economic solution to all of the PEIA and post employee benefit financing problems, the PEIA Finance Board should be the leading state advocate for a national single payer health care system and recommend such a plan to the United States Congress and the State Legislature.