By Dave Thompson
Bismarck, ND – A member of the North Dakota Legislature's Employee Benefits committee says he would like lawmakers to consider whether they should require state employees pay part of their insurance premiums -- in exchange for pay raises.
Rep. Al Carlson (R-Fargo) says in the 2003 session, workers were not given raises -- but were told that they wouldn't have to pay anything on their insurance. But Carlson says that concept needs to be revisited.
"You can only go so long and forego raises for the sake of a health insurance package," said Carlson. "What we need to do is look at the total compensation that we give our employees. And then we have to balance that between salary and co-payments, maybe higher deductibles. Offer them a really good package yet -- but realize that we can't continue to afford that 14% per year increase in the cost of our health insurance premiums."
That 14% was another $17 million in North Dakota's state budget. Carlson says he expects state workers to come in to the 2005 session, asking for significant raises. North Dakota is one of a handful of states that pay the entire premium for state employees health insurance.