HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 90
(By Delegates Blair, Anderson, Ashley, Azinger, Border,
Calvert, Canterbury, Carmichael, Caruth, Duke, Ellem,
Evans, Faircloth, Frich, Hall, Hamilton, Howard, Leggett,
Overington, Romine, Schadler, Schoen, Smirl, Sobonya,
Sumner, Trump, Wakim, Walters, Webb and G. White)
[Introduced March 12, 2004; referred to the
Committee on Rules.]
Requesting the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to study
a method of privatizing coverage for workers' compensation by
utilization of a combination of health insurance, long-term
disability insurance, an interest-bearing medical deductible
fund for employees, applying interest from the medical
deductible fund toward the payment of the unfunded liability
of the workers' compensation fund and the use of 401K plans to
provide benefits to employees and providing for reduced
employer premiums to the workers' compensation fund to pay the
unfunded liability of the fund, all in lieu of the current
West Virginia workers' compensation system.
Whereas, West Virginia has utilized a traditional state
operated workers' compensation program which presently is
experiencing an unfunded liability of over four billion dollars;
and
Whereas, The Legislature has made significant efforts in Senate Bill No. 2013, passed in the two thousand three second
extraordinary session of the Legislature to provide remedial and
progressive measures to provide greater efficiency and control the
costs of West Virginia's workers' compensation system and in which
the Legislature provided that the workers' compensation commission
conduct a study of the feasibility of the privatization of
workers' compensation in this State; however the Legislature
recognizes and acknowledges that Senate Bill 2013 did not provide
a satisfactory long term and complete solution to the problems and
shortcomings of this State's workers' compensation system and,
further, that additional measures are needed to provide a more
efficient, cost effective and affordable method of providing
workers' compensation coverage for both the employers and employees
of this State; and
Whereas, The Legislature finds that, considering the enormity,
fiscal impact and complexity of the problems involved in workers'
compensation coverage facing this State, it should continue to
study the feasibility of alternative and innovative methods of
privatizing workers' compensation coverage, in addition to and to
complement, the study by the workers' compensation commission of
the feasibility of privatizing workers' compensation; therefore, be
it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is hereby requested to study a method of privatizing coverage for workers'
compensation by utilization of a combination of health insurance,
long-term disability insurance, an interest-bearing medical
deductible fund for employees, applying interest from the medical
deductible fund toward the payment of the unfunded liability of the
workers' compensation fund and the use of 401K plans to provide
benefits to employees and providing for reduced employer premiums
to the workers' compensation fund to pay the unfunded liability of
the fund, all in lieu of the current West Virginia workers'
compensation system, including the consideration of the following
methods of privatizing workers' compensation coverage:
(a) Require employers to obtain private health, sickness and
accident insurance coverage, with a deductible of between
twenty-five hundred and five thousand dollars, for each employee;
(b) Require employers to obtain long-term disability and death
benefit insurance, comparable to benefits currently provided to
employees for temporary total disabilities, permanent partial
disabilities and permanent total disabilities under the current
workers' compensation system;
(c) Require the creation of interest-bearing medical
deductible funds for each employee, to be funded by the employee by
regular periodic payments deducted from employee wages or salary,
to be used to pay health insurance deductibles for medical care for
employees; that upon complete funding of the employee medical deductible fund, that the employee continue to make regular
periodic payments to the fund and that the excess in the fund be
transferred into a 401K plan for the employee, as set forth below;
and that interest income from the medical deductible funds be
applied to payment of the unfunded liability of the current
workers' compensation system;
(d) That employers be required to set up a 401K plan for each
employee, which provides that the employer pay into the plan the
minimum employer match to the employee contribution from the
employee's required contribution to the employee's medical
deductible fund; that the employee contribution to the plan be
funded by funds in the employee's medical deductible fund that are
in excess of the required amount for the fund and that the 401K
plan provide a mechanism to withdraw funds therefrom to pay any
health insurance deductible amounts in the event that the
employee's medical deductible fund is insufficient to pay required
deductibles; and
(e) Provide that employers continue to pay a reduced premium
to the current workers' compensation fund at an affordable rate, to
be applied toward payment of the unfunded liability of the current
workers' compensation system; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and
Finance report to the regular session of the Legislature, 2005, on
its findings, conclusions and recommendations, together with drafts of any legislation necessary to effectuate its recommendations;
and, be it
Further Resolved, That the expenses necessary to conduct this
study, to prepare a report and to draft the necessary legislation
be paid from legislative appropriations to the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance.
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