Under a plan presented Tuesday, Tinley Park Public Library employees will remain on the village’s healthcare plan, but only if the library absorbs the resulting cost of increased premiums.
Library Director Zach Musil raised concerns last month about Tinley Park’s proposal to renew its health insurance plan without including library employees.
“For decades, the library has been included in the village’s healthcare plan,” Musil said.
Tinley Park Human Resources Director Angela Arrigo said Tuesday many people contacted the village about the issue in the past few weeks.
“There were a lot of questions, and lots of emails and calls that were received,” Arrigo said. “I do also want to recognize that the services that are provided by the library to the community and by library employees are equally as important as the services provided by the village and by village employees.”
Arrigo explained although library employees and their family members represent a small proportion of the total number of people covered by the village’s healthcare plan, their inclusion caused premiums to increase for everyone, in part because the library employees had a much higher ratio of claims relative to their premiums.
“They are a small proportion of the plan but they have had a significant impact, especially in the medical loss ratio numbers,” Arrigo said.
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Former part-time library employee Dana Lacoco objected to the characterization of the library’s high loss rate.
“Those losses are somebody’s medical events,” Lacoco said.
The difference in premiums for the village if the library employees remained on the village healthcare was significant, Arrigo said, amounting to $290,322. The library already covers its own premiums in full, Arrigo said, but its inclusion would still cost the village by causing premiums to go up across the board.
Library and village officials met last week to discuss options, Arrigo said, and the library asked for a plan allowing its employees to remain on the village healthcare. The village agreed the library could stay if it covered the $290,322 difference in premiums, she said.
The alternative would be for the library to migrate to its own healthcare plan. The separate plan closest to the coverage library employees currently receive would cost the library an additional $52,101 to its premiums, as opposed to the $290,322 additional cost of remaining with the village, Arrigo said.
“They have two options,” Mayor Michael Glotz said. “They only have to pay $52,000 to have their own insurance, which would be cheaper. If they stay with the village, because of their high loss rate, it’s $290,000.”
Glotz said the library was not short of funds to pay for the increased cost.
“The money’s there,” Glotz said. “It doesn’t matter to me or the board. If the library wants to stay on our insurance, God bless them, I’m more than supportive of it.”
Library employee Megan Vasquez criticized the village for forcing the library to absorb the full cost of the increased premiums.
“Saying that, ‘Oh, the library would be better off going to another insurance plan because of it,’ you realize that’s your fault, right?” Vasquez said. “Don’t sit here and act like the library is making a bad financial decision when it’s because you are voting, you are forcing our hand to make that bad financial decision.”
Vasquez said the alternative plan would not provide the same coverage as the village’s plan does.
“This insurance you say is the same, it is not,” Vasquez said. “It’s going to make people have to change a lot more than just doctors. We have staff who have little children who go to a special hospital. They’re not going to be able to go to that special hospital anymore.”
The village has worked to formalize its relationships with other government entities, Trustee Kenneth Shaw said, including the library.
“It’s always been a handshake deal,” Shaw said. “Unfortunately, the village can’t operate like that anymore.”
Shaw said as a separate legal entity, the village had no obligation to provide health insurance to library employees.
“I don’t see how the deal makes economic sense for the library,” Shaw said. “If it can come out as neutral for the village, and they’re willing to do it, I guess it’s okay, they have the funds to do it.”
Lacoco said she felt the value the library and library employees brought to the community was being ignored.
“I worked there for four years and how we interact with the community, and what we bring on a daily basis, it’s worth more than just a dollars-and-cents talk. The library is crucial to Tinley,” Lacoco said. “We can look at numbers and charts all day long, but to forget the human element of it, to overlook that, I think would be remiss.”
The Village Board passed an amended partial version of the employee benefits renewal Tuesday night. If the library does want to remain with the village and pay the increased cost, Glotz said, that will have to be approved at a special meeting of the library board before the village can sign off.
“Once the library passes the medical, then we come back on Oct. 20,” Glotz said. “We can’t pass a motion of expenditures for them.”